Chapter 79 - The Matriarch's Poisoned Silver
The response was instantaneous and violent.
High-pressure emergency air banks slammed into the submarine’s ballast chambers with a roar like an artillery barrage. The *Montgomery Sovereign* shuddered violently, arresting its deadly plunge at 1,520 feet, and began a rocket-like ascent toward the surface.
The sudden shift in momentum threw Elena backward onto the bridge deck. She wrapped her entire body around Maya, absorbing the brutal impact against the titanium deckplates with her shoulder and ribs. Loose equipment, unbolted monitors, and spent brass casings clattered past them, tumbling toward the aft bulkhead as the submarine tilted upward at a steep forty-five-degree angle.
*ASCENDING: 1,200 FEET... 900 FEET... 500 FEET...*
Elena dragged herself up, gasping for air, her arms trembling as she held Maya close. The baby had stopped crying, wide-eyed, clutching Elena’s torn shirt with her tiny fists.
"We did it," Elena sobbed, pressing her forehead against her daughter’s cheek. "We’re going home."
Suddenly, the bridge elevator doors dinged.
Elena spun around, drawing her revolver, but her hand froze.
Stepping out of the elevator cab was a phantom.
Victoria Montgomery.
She was barely recognizable as a human being. Her jaw hung slightly askew, held in place by dried ribbons of blood. Her left leg dragged behind her, completely limp. But in her right hand, she clutched a heavy brass-plated emergency flare gun—and wrapped around her left arm was the detonator harness to the sub's auxiliary scuttling charges.
"You really thought... you could take my empire with a bastard?" Victoria rasped, her voice dripping with pure, concentrated insanity.
"Victoria," Elena said, leveling her gun steadily at the matriarch's heart. "Alistair is dead. Julian is dead. The dynasty is over."
"The dynasty is *never* over!" Victoria screeched. "If I cannot rule the Montgomery trust, no one will! The scuttling charges are wired to this bridge! When we breach the surface, I’m blowing this sub into a million pieces!"
"You'll die too, you lunatic!"
"I died the moment Alistair put his seed in you!" Victoria spat, taking a dragging step forward, her finger curling around the detonator’s master toggle. "Look at her! She has his eyes! The same arrogant, thieving eyes!"
*SURFACE BREACH IN 10 SECONDS...*
The ocean outside roared as the submarine breached the thermocline.
Elena lowered her gun slightly, speaking with chilling, razor-sharp precision. "Julian didn't die for the company, Victoria. His last words weren't about the money. He called you a poison."
Victoria’s eyes widened, a momentary flicker of unbearable agony piercing her manic rage. "He... he loved me!"
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"He hated you," Elena lied with brutal conviction. "He cursed your name as his father carved the heart out of his chest."
Victoria let out a wail that sounded like an animal being torn apart. Her hand jerked on the detonator.
