Chapter 12
Julian’s mind raced through a dozen desperate calculations. If he rushed her, she could drop the baby into the deep water before he covered the twenty paces between them. If he stayed back and talked, she might slip into a deeper psychotic break. He needed a distraction—something to break her absolute, terrifying focus on the ritual she was executing.
"You didn't marry into this family by accident, Clara," Julian said loudly, his voice steadying as he forced every ounce of confidence into his tone. He took another step forward, keeping his eyes locked on hers. "Arthur showed me the archive files this afternoon. I know about Eleanor. I know why you chose that pink dress. I know why you came after the Sterlings."
Clara’s serene expression twitched for the first time. The cold, glassy look in her eyes fractured, a sudden flash of raw, unfiltered fury breaking through her pristine mask. She tightened her grip on the baby slightly, her knuckles turning white against the white blanket.
"What do you know about anything?" she hissed, the melodic sweetness vanishing from her voice, replaced by a sharp, venomous edge. "You were born into this golden cage, handed everything on a silver platter without ever earning a drop of it. My family built the foundation of this city, and your grandfather stole it away, leaving my grandmother ruined and forgotten in the gutter. I didn't come here to marry you, Julian. I came here to take back what was stolen, and to burn your corrupt legacy to the ash it deserves."
"Then take the company! Take the house!" Julian pleaded, closing the distance by another ten feet. "Burn the estate to the ground, Clara! I don't care about the money or the name. But leave Leo out of your war. He’s innocent."
"No one is innocent in this house," Clara whispered, stepping closer to the very edge of the wooden dock, her heel hovering inches above the dark, churning water below. "Every brick in these walls is cemented with deception. The cycle has to finish, Julian. The debt must be paid in full."
May you like
She raised the infant slightly, lifting him out over the black surface of the pond as a sudden, violent gust of wind whipped her red curls across her face. Julian’s heart stopped beating. The world narrowed down to the small white bundle in her arms and the dark water waiting below.
"Now," Clara murmured, her eyes locking onto his with a final, chilling resolve. "Let’s see if you can save him the way your father couldn't."
