Chapter 16 - The Brother’s Betrayal.The barrel of Julian’s shotgun trembled, the black steel reflecting the emergency red lights pulsing from the hallway overhead.
“Put the gun down, Julian,” I commanded, my voice entirely steady as I maintained my grip on our father’s collar.
“You have no idea what they promised me!” Julian screamed, his voice cracking with a mixture of hysteria and desperate ambition.
“Dad said when we take this empire back, I’ll be the sole heir—not the disgraced failure you always painted me to be!”
Arthur, cowering on the concrete ledge, suddenly found his voice, hiding behind the son he had manipulated for years.
“Shoot her, Julian!” Arthur hissed, his eyes wide with frantic self-preservation.
“She’s going to ruin everything we built; she’s nothing but a mutineer who should have stayed at the bottom of the ocean!”
I looked at my brother, seeing not a sibling, but a frightened boy entirely consumed by the toxic shadow of our father’s legacy.
“You think they’re going to give you an empire, Julian?” I asked softly, taking a slow step forward despite the shotgun pointed at my chest.
“The Crimson Lotus doesn't share power with amateurs; the moment I’m dead, you’re just another loose end they need to tie up.”
Julian’s eyes flickered with doubt, his gaze darting toward the heavy footsteps of syndicate enforcers echoing up the stairwell.
He realized too late that he had traded one prison cell for a firing squad in a foreign country.
“I’m sorry, Celeste,” Julian whispered, his finger tightening convulsively on the trigger.
Instead of freezing, I dropped flat onto the reinforced concrete, sweeping my leg out with devastating force to catch Julian off balance.
The shotgun blast roared overhead, obliterating a structural pillar and raining concrete dust down on us as the recoil knocked Julian backward.
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Before he could recover, I lunged forward, slamming the butt of my pistol into his jaw and knocking him instantly unconscious.
“No time for family reunions,” I muttered, grabbing Arthur by the arm and dragging him toward the open elevator shaft.
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