Chapter 2 - THE CONSPIRACY IN THE SHADOWS
Arthur Vance stepped into the bedroom, his heavy frame filling the doorway. In his right hand was a silenced Glock; behind him stood two armed guards from the estate security force. Arthur was a man with cold gray eyes and a scar running along his jawline from his days in military intelligence—a man who had been on Bianca’s private payroll for a decade.
"Julian," Arthur said calmly, aiming the weapon at my chest. "Step away from the girl. Your sister is right. This situation is extremely sensitive. We need to handle this quietly."
"You knew," I said, standing in front of the bed, shielding Evelyn with my body. "You searched this room three years ago. You brought in the tracking dogs, Arthur! You told me her scent ended at the railway station!"
Arthur’s face remained an unreadable wooden mask. "I follow orders from the managing trustee. Now move aside."
From the bed, Evelyn pulled the frayed veil over her face, shivering violently. But beneath the terror, her hand crept toward my pocket, pressing a heavy iron key into my palm—a key she had managed to pry off the inner wall of her prison during her long confinement.
"She... left the spare... in the iron grate..." Evelyn whispered behind me.
I gripped the key tightly. Anger, hot and blinding, surged through my veins. The man I had trusted to protect our family had helped bury my wife alive.
"Bianca," I called out, staring past Arthur's barrel. "You built a prison inside our own home. How did you think this would end?"
"It ends with you accepting reality, Julian!" Bianca yelled from the corridor. Her composure was returning, cold and calculated. "You were never fit to run Vance Shipping! You're a romantic, a dreamer! Father was a fool to leave the controlling stake to you just because you were the firstborn son! Under my leadership, our stock has tripled! I won't let a penniless art restorer ruined my empire!"
"She wasn't a penniless art restorer," I snapped. "She was the woman I loved."
"Arthur, execute protocol B," Bianca commanded sharply. "Sedate them both. Transport them to the cabin in the North Woods. We'll report an unfortunate gas leak."
Arthur nodded to his men. "Grab him."
The two guards rushed forward. I didn't wait for them to reach me. I grabbed the heavy bronze desk lamp from the bedside table and swung it with all my strength. The heavy metal base slammed into the first guard’s temple, knocking him unconscious instantly.
The second guard lunged, tackling me around the waist. We crashed into the antique vanity, shattering the mirror into a hundred glittered shards. I punched him repeatedly in the ribs, flipping him over and slamming his head against the hardwood floor until he went limp.
Arthur raised his gun to shoot, but Evelyn knocked a silver water pitcher off the nightstand, sending it crashing onto Arthur’s polished boots. The momentary distraction was all I needed. I leapt forward, grabbing Arthur’s wrist and twisting it upward. A shot fired, blowing a hole in the ornate plaster ceiling.
I slammed Arthur into the heavy mahogany doorframe, disarming him. As his weapon clattered to the floor, I kicked it beneath the bed and delivered a brutal right hook to his jaw. He collapsed to his knees, dazed.
"Julian!" Bianca screamed, backing away down the hall in utter shock.
I grabbed Evelyn, lifting her lightweight frame into my arms once more, wrapping her trembling body in my heavy cashmere coat.
"We're leaving," I said, my voice echoing down the corridors of the mansion.
"You won't make it off the grounds!" Bianca shouted, her voice shaking with rage as she backed toward the grand elevator. "The gates are locked! The guards are everywhere! You have nowhere to go, Julian! Every judge, every chief of police in this city owes their position to Vance funds!"
"Then I'll tear down the city," I said cold-bloodedly.
I didn't take the main staircase. I knew the estate inside out. I sprinted down the private service hallway toward the old servant's stairwell—a narrow spiral staircase constructed inside the brick chimney stack.
As I carried Evelyn down the dark, dusty steps, her breath against my ear was faint.
"Julian..." she whispered. "The notebook... in the floorboards... under the mattress."
"What notebook?" I asked, taking three steps at a time.
"She didn't just lock me away to take your shares..." Evelyn said, her voice dropping into a ragged cough. "She... she murdered your father, Julian. I found his original will... hidden in the priest hole walls... three days after she locked me in."
May you like
My heart stopped. My father hadn't died of a heart attack three years ago.
He had been murdered. And the evidence had been trapped beneath my feet while I mourned his loss.
