Chapter 13 - The Missing Page
Alexander’s calculated composure vanished instantly. The smug, patrician smirk melted away, replaced by a sudden, predatory tension.
"What did you say?" Alexander demanded, taking two sharp steps back toward them, his hands clenching into fists inside his leather gloves.
Julian didn't flinch. He supported Victoria’s weight, keeping his posture rigid and unyielding. "You heard me. Elena thought she burned every copy of the maternity ward records twenty-two years ago, and you thought you swept the board with your SEC paperwork. But Clara was thorough. She left a complete affidavit with her sister—Chloe’s mother—before she died."
Alexander’s eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. "A bluff. If such a document existed, Elena would have destroyed it years ago."
"Elena didn't know it existed," Victoria chimed in, her voice raspy from smoke inhalation but laced with a sudden, razor-sharp clarity. She pushed herself fully upright, shaking off Julian’s support as her old, calculating intellect reasserted itself. "Elena only hunted down Clara and the baby she knew about. She had no idea Clara’s sister was working in the hospital laundry room the night of the swap, copying every single ledger by hand."
Alexander stared at them, his mind racing as he calculated the devastating implications of a surviving, unassailable affidavit. If Chloe possessed those ledgers, Alexander’s hostile takeover of Blackwood Holdings would be instantly voided by federal fraud charges, stripping him of everything.
"Where is she?" Alexander hissed, taking another step forward. "Where is the girl?"
"Safe," Julian said smoothly, turning toward the stairwell. "Far away from here. And she has instructions to hand the affidavit directly to the federal prosecutor if we don't walk out of these ruins in the next ten minutes."
Alexander’s face flushed with a dark, violent fury. He reached inside his overcoat—not for a manila folder this time, but for something heavy and metallic that gleamed faintly in the dim light.
"You're not walking anywhere," Alexander whispered, his voice dripping with venom as he pulled a snub-nosed revolver from his holster.
Julian instinctively shoved Victoria behind him, his heart hammering against his ribs. "You shoot us down here, Alexander, and the federal wire triggers automatically. You'll spend the rest of your life in a maximum-security cell."
Alexander raised the barrel, aiming it squarely at Julian’s chest. The metallic click of the hammer cocking echoed loudly in the damp vault.
"I'll take my chances with a jury," Alexander said, his finger tightening on the trigger. "A tragic accident at a demolition site. It happens all the time."
Before Alexander could fire, a sudden flash of light cut through the gloom of the stairwell, followed by the screech of heavy tires in the courtyard above.
"Drop the weapon! Federal marshals! Drop it now!" a voice roared from the top of the stairs.
May you like
Alexander froze, his eyes darting frantically toward the exit as heavy boots began to stampede down the concrete steps.
---
