Chapter 6 - Bloodlines and Broken Trust
The confession hung heavy in the stifling air of Room 14, suffocating the last remaining traces of oxygen. Williams slammed the heavy wooden door shut, throwing the deadbolt and shoving a splintered dresser against the panels just as heavy boots thudded onto the outer walkway.
"Your father?" Miller repeated, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper as she lowered her service weapon an inch. "Vance doesn't have a son. His family records show he was an only child who lost his parents in a fire."
"The official records are scrubbed," Julian spat, kneeling down to frantically scoop the scattered files back into the black duffel bag. "He abandoned me when I was twelve because I saw him take a bribe from a syndicate boss named Marcone. He put me away in a juvenile facility under a false name to keep me quiet, and when I got out, I spent fifteen years building a dossier to bring him down from the inside."
Clara backed away toward the bathroom window, her hands gripping the wooden frame as she shoved the glass pane upward. The cold night air rushed inside, carrying the muffled sound of heavy combat boots marching along the second-floor walkway just outside their door.
"They're outside," Williams whispered, his weapon raised as he aimed dead-center at the peephole. "Miller, they're setting a breaching charge on the frame. We have less than ten seconds."
"Wait," Miller said, her mind racing as she pieced together the impossible puzzle. If Julian was Vance's son, and Vance had ordered the hit on Clara... then the entire federal investigation Miller had dedicated her life to was built on a foundation of systemic corruption. "Julian, if you're working against him, why were you trying to drag Clara out of this room when I arrived?"
Julian paused, the silver-plated pocket watch clutched tightly in his fist. His eyes darted to Clara with a mixture of guilt and desperation.
"Because she was holding the bait," Julian confessed rapidly. "Vance knew the internal affairs division was auditing his accounts. He planted those fake ledgers in her apartment to frame her as a cartel mole, and he sent me here to make sure she was 'eliminated' before she could clear her name. But when I saw her crying in this room... I couldn't do it. I tried to pull her out to save her life."
Outside, a sharp, metallic click echoed through the wood, followed by a muffled, concussive thump. The door bulged inward as the heavy breaching charge blew the deadbolt straight out of the rotting pine frame.
"Move, move, move!" Williams yelled, shoving Clara headfirst through the narrow bathroom window.
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Miller grabbed Julian by the arm, dragging him toward the escape route just as the splintered door crashed inward in a cloud of grey smoke and flying splinters.
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