Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The weapon in Elias's hand trembled for the first time in his life.

He stared at the screen. Clara’s pregnancy pad lay discarded on the floor beside her chair.

"There is no baby?" Elias whispered, the betrayal slicing deeper than any knife ever could.

Julian chuckled softly from the armchair. "Oh, there’s no baby, little brother. There never was. Your beautiful, perfect wife is the finest corporate espionage agent the Russian Syndicate has ever produced."

Elias couldn't breathe.

The entire year of their marriage. The whispered dreams of their future. The rage he felt when Victoria pushed her into the pool.

It had all been a masterfully crafted play.

"Why?" Elias demanded, keeping his gun aimed at Julian's chest. "She already had access to my accounts. She could have robbed me blind months ago."

"Because she didn't want your money, Elias," Julian stood up, walking slowly toward his brother. "She needed your biometric signature to access the Genesis Vault. And she could only get it if your heart rate reached a specific level of absolute, unadulterated panic."

Elias suddenly remembered the hospital.

When he rushed in to find her missing. When he thought his unborn child was gone. He had pressed his hand against the medical scanner to bypass the locked ward.

He had given them the keys.

"The pool incident," Elias realized, piecing it together. "Victoria didn't push her. Clara provoked her. It was a setup to fake the poisoning."

"Exactly," Clara’s voice piped up from the speakers. "Victoria was just a stupid, greedy pawn. We used her ambition to distract you."

Elias tightened his grip on his gun. "So what happens now? You empty the vault and kill me?"

Julian shook his head. "No. I take my empire back. But I'm not a monster, Elias. I'm going to give you exactly what you thought you had."

Julian pressed another button.

The glass walls on the monitor suddenly filled with water.

Clara’s arrogant smirk instantly vanished as the water rapidly rose past her knees.

"Julian! What are you doing?!" Clara screamed on the screen.

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"Cleaning up loose ends," Julian smiled. He looked at Elias. "You have exactly three minutes to find her on this ship before she actually drowns."

Julian stepped backward onto a hidden trapdoor, dropping instantly out of sight.