Chapter 18 - The Poisoned Well
The realization hung in the air like poison gas. Charles hadn't freed Victoria. He had exterminated her.
"She's dead?" Clara whispered, her knees shaking so violently she had to brace herself against the counter. "You killed your own stepmother?"
"I eliminated an unpredictable liability," Charles replied smoothly. "Victoria was brilliant, but her vanity made her sloppy. Her obsession with torturing you, Clara, almost cost us the empire. Now, the slate is clean. Julian is about to become a fugitive suspected of orchestrating his mother’s fatal prison break to claim her hidden assets. The U.S. Marshals already have an anonymous tip that Julian provided the C-4 explosives through his military contacts."
"You bastard!" Julian roared.
"The federal task force will arrive at your Mendocino cottage in approximately twelve minutes," Charles said, checking an antique Patek Philippe wristwatch. "You have two choices, Julian. You can engage the tactical team, be gunned down on your own porch, and let Maya become a ward of the state—at which point my Swiss legal team will adopt her within twenty-four hours. Or... you can walk out the back door, leave the baby in the nursery, and run."
Charles paused, his smile razor-sharp. "Five seconds to decide, little brother."
Before Julian could answer, the iPad screen went black. Charles had terminated the call.
In the distance, over the roar of the ocean wind, the deep, rhythmic thumping of twin-rotor military helicopters began echoing across the coastal mountains.
"He’s not giving us twelve minutes," Julian said, his military training snapping him into immediate, icy focus. He rushed to the kitchen closet, pulling out two tactical vests and throwing Evelyn a key to her cuffs. "Get out of here through the woods, Evelyn. If you go to the authorities, tell them the truth."
Evelyn didn't wait. She grabbed her coat and vanished through the shattered back slider into the pitch-black redwoods.
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"Julian, where are we going?!" Clara cried, tears streaming down her face as she strapped Maya securely into the front tactical carrier, buckling the baby against her chest. "They have the sky! They have the roads!"
"The sea," Julian said, cocking his assault rifle and grabbing a waterproof pack. "We take the sea."
