Chapter 8 - The Confrontation on the Grand Staircase
Before they could exit the garage, a siren blared across the grounds. Julian had discovered Bennett’s escape.
Holding Clara’s hand tightly, Bennett led her back into the main house through the kitchen, navigating the dark corridors until they reached the grand foyer.
Julian stood at the top of the marble staircase, surrounded by six armed mercenaries.
"You should have stayed in the cellar, cousin!" Julian shouted, raising his gun. "You've ruined this family with your weakness!"
"The only thing ruining this family was the greed my father started, and that you inherited!" Bennett shouted back, stepping out into the open foyer, keeping Clara behind him.
"Look at you," Julian mocked. "The great Don Bennett Hale, standing alone, risking everything for a pathetic maid!"
"She is twice the person you will ever be," Bennett declared, his voice echoing off the high ceilings. "And she exposed what a coward you really are."
At that moment, the lights in the foyer flashed off.
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Mateo, working from the central control panel in the panic room, cut the estate’s power grid.
Gunfire erupted in the dark. Bennett pulled Clara behind a marble pillar, returning fire toward the staircase with deadly accuracy. The sound of shattered glass and shouting filled the vast house as Bennett systematically took down Julian’s mercenaries one by one in the pitch black.
