Chapter 8 - The Price of Greed
The gun barrel shook slightly in Julian’s hand, but his eyes were wide with psychotic desperation. "Move away from the girl, Robert, or I swear to God I’ll put a bullet through your son’s heart right now."
Ethan gasped, shrinking back against the armchair.
Lyra, however, didn't flinch. She stepped out from behind Robert, her amber eyes locking onto Julian with an intensity that seemed to freeze the air in the room.
"You think you own life and death, doctor?" Lyra’s voice rang clear and cold across the penthouse. "You think because you cut wires and sewed them back together in the dark, you control how a body heals?"
"Shut up, you wretched little brat!" Julian screamed, his finger tightening on the trigger.
"You didn't heal him," Lyra continued, ignoring the gun entirely. "You just stopped poisoning him when you wanted him to walk. But your poison didn't matter. Because a child’s hope is stronger than your spreadsheets."
Julian pulled the trigger.
Click.
The gun didn't fire.
Julian stared at the weapon in sheer disbelief, pulling the trigger again. Click. Click.
Marcus Vance lowered his hand from behind Julian, holding the magazine he had deftly popped out of the doctor's pistol while Julian was distracted by the video playback.
"I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, Julian," Marcus said quietly, his face grim as he tossed the empty magazine across the floor. "And I’ve taken a lot of orders from Robert. But I have a daughter. And what you did to that little boy... that crosses a line even a mercenary won't cross."
"Traitor!" Julian shrieked, swinging the empty gun to pistol-whip Marcus.
He never made contact.
Robert Sterling moved with the blinding speed of a man who had just discovered his entire world had been built on a foundation of calculated betrayal. He closed the distance between them in two strides, grabbed Julian by the collar of his expensive suit, and hurled him across the room.
Julian crashed into the glass coffee table, shattering it into a thousand glittering pieces, before collapsing onto the floor in a heap of broken glass and expensive wool.
Before Julian could scramble to his feet, the private elevator doors chimed open again, and four armed city police officers—summoned by Marcus’s quiet override signal moments before the confrontation—swarmed into the penthouse.
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"Dr. Julian Vance," the lead officer said, snapping steel handcuffs onto the screaming doctor's wrists. "You're under arrest for corporate conspiracy, medical fraud, and attempted assault."
As Julian was dragged away, cursing and thrashing like a cornered animal, absolute silence settled over the room once more.
