Chapter 19 - Fire on the Pier
"Wait!" Daniel screamed, dropping the knife to the floor. The blade clattered uselessly against the stone. "Don't touch them! Take me! I’ll sign whatever transfer documents you want! The entire Ashford trust, the properties, the Swiss accounts—I’ll surrender every cent!"
Julian smiled—a cold, reptilian movement of his lips. "Oh, Daniel. You still don't understand the law of kings. Signatures can be contested by courts. Surviving heirs can bring lawsuits. But when an entire branch of a family tree simply... vanishes... the law leaves no room for debate."
Julian signaled Vanessa. "Bring them up."
Within two minutes, the cellar door was kicked open. Two armed mercenaries dragged Emily into the living room. Her wrists were zip-tied behind her back, her lip bleeding, but her eyes blazed with defiance. One of the mercenaries held Lily, the infant wrapped in her wool blanket, crying weakly from the cold.
"Daniel!" Emily cried out, struggling against the mercenary’s grip as she saw Daniel bruised, bloody, and surrounded.
"Emily, don't move!" Daniel warned, his voice cracking with desperation. "Julian, you have what you want! Let Emily walk away! She knows nothing about the trust! She has no claim to your fortune!"
"She is a witness, Daniel," Julian said calmly, checking his platinum wristwatch. "And witnesses are messy. Vanessa, the fuel is already primed on the pier below. Take the girl and the child. We leave on the yacht. Let the fire cleanse the cliff."
"No!" Daniel roared, lunging toward Julian with bare hands.
A rifle butt slammed violently into the side of Daniel’s head. The world exploded into white stars and ringing agony. He hit the floor hard, his vision swimming, the taste of copper flooding his mouth.
Through the haze of concussive blindness, he saw Vanessa dragging Emily by the hair toward the exterior stairs leading down the sheer cliff face to the private boat dock. Rain lashed against the glass. The smell of gasoline and salt air mixed in a toxic haze.
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Emily fought like a cornered lioness, thrashing, screaming Daniel’s name, her boots scraping against the rocks as Vanessa hauled her toward the raging sea below.
"Daniel! Save her! SAVE LILY!"
