Chapter 7
"Game over, Julianna," Arthur’s voice cut through the roar of the server cooling fans like a whip.
Julianna froze, her fingers hovering inches above the mechanical keyboard. For a second, she didn't turn around. Her shoulders hunched forward, and her breath hitched in the damp air of the server room. Then, slowly, she swiveled her chair around to face them. Her mascara was slightly smeared, and the elegant updo she had worn to the gala was beginning to unravel, stray strands of dark hair framing a face distorted by sheer panic and malice.
"You should have just stayed upstairs, Uncle," Julianna spat, her voice trembling slightly as she stood up from the ergonomic chair. She reached behind her back, her fingers slipping into the pocket of her velvet dress. "You ruin everything. You always have. You favored my brother, and now you’re favoring these nobody medical workers over your own blood."
Elena stepped forward protectively, placing herself slightly in front of Arthur. "Step away from the console, Julianna. The transfer is only at seventy percent. If you force-quit now, the transaction logs will point directly to your personal offshore accounts. You’re trapping yourself."
Julianna laughed, a high-pitched, manic sound that bounced off the metal server racks. "You think I care about transaction logs? Once I’m out of the country, no court in America can touch me. I have dual citizenship, and the Swiss accounts are already secured under a corporate shell."
As Julianna spoke, her right hand emerged from her pocket, clutching a heavy, blunt metal wrench she must have grabbed from the room's maintenance toolkit. She lunged forward with surprising speed, aiming a wild swing directly at Arthur’s head.
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Elena reacted on pure instinct. Years of handling combative emergency room patients had honed her reflexes. She lunged sideways, intercepting Julianna's arm mid-swing. The heavy wrench struck Elena's left shoulder with a dull, sickening thud, sending a sharp wave of pain radiating down her arm, but she refused to let go. She used her momentum to sweep Julianna's legs, sending the elegant woman crashing hard against the diamond-plate steel floor of the server room.
Arthur moved instantly, kicking the wrench away across the floor and pinning Julianna's other arm to the ground with his heavy shoe. "It's over, Julianna," Arthur said, his voice entirely devoid of emotion, like an executioner dropping the blade.
