Chapter 3
"Touch her, and Elias Sterling will bury you alive!" Victoria screamed, throwing herself in front of the stairs.
The enforcer laughed. "Mr. Sterling explicitly told us he doesn't care what happens to the traitor's bloodline."
But as the man reached for Victoria's hair, a red laser dot suddenly appeared in the dead center of his forehead.
Then another appeared on his chest.
And another on the man behind him.
The enforcers froze.
From the shadows of the open doorway, Elias’s personal strike team emerged, weapons raised and perfectly silent.
Elias walked in behind them, completely composed, wearing a fresh, immaculate suit.
"I told you to collect the debt," Elias said smoothly, his voice echoing in the grand foyer. "I never said you could touch the child."
Elias nodded once.
Suppressed gunfire hissed through the air. The three Syndicate men dropped to the floor instantly, dead before they even hit the tiles.
Victoria collapsed to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Thank you," she choked out, looking up at Elias as if he were a god. "Thank you for saving my daughter."
Elias didn't look at her. He looked past her, up the stairs at little Mia.
"Mia," Elias said gently. "Come here, sweetheart."
The little girl slowly walked down the stairs, stepping over the bodies without a flinch, and placed her small hand in Elias's.
Elias looked down at Victoria, his eyes completely hollow.
"I didn't save her for you," Elias said coldly. "She isn't your daughter anymore."
He turned to leave with the child.
Victoria screamed, lunging for his legs, but two guards pinned her instantly to the marble floor.
"You can't take her!" Victoria shrieked. "She's all I have!"
Elias paused at the door. He looked back over his shoulder.
"Ask Mia what she gave Clara before the party."
May you like
Victoria stopped struggling. She looked at Mia in horror.
"The tea, Mommy," Mia said softly, her innocent eyes completely dead. "I switched your poison with the vitamins, just like the man on the phone told me to."
