Chapter 7 - The Viper in the Hall
By mid-afternoon, the quiet atmosphere of the compound was shattered by the arrival of a sleek black sports car that screeched to a halt in the courtyard below.
Avery was sitting in the conservatory with the girls, helping them draw pictures of trees and birds with colored pencils, when the double doors of the room were thrown open with violent force.
A man stepped into the room.
He looked remarkably like Julian—same silvering dark hair, same sharp jawline—but where Julian’s face carried a cold, stern authority, this man’s face was twisted into a mask of arrogant, volatile desperation.
Marcus Vance. Julian’s younger brother.
"Where is he?!" Marcus shouted, glaring at the two security guards who hurried into the room behind him. "Where is my brother? He canceled the board meeting! He's committing corporate suicide!"
Marcus’s eyes swept across the room, landing on Avery, who was sitting on the rug in her diner uniform, and then on the two little girls, who immediately shrank behind Avery's back.
A dark, venomous sneer spread across Marcus’s face.
"So it's true," Marcus sneered, taking three heavy steps into the room. "My brilliant brother halted a fifty-billion-dollar merger because he was playing house with a common waitress he picked up from a diner."
"Get away from them, Marcus," Julian’s voice echoed from the doorway.
Julian walked into the room slowly, his hands tucked into his trousers pockets. He didn't look angry. He looked dangerously, lethal calm—the kind of calm that precedes a hurricane.
"You shouldn't be here, brother," Julian said softly. "The federal prosecutors in Chicago are currently reviewing Arthur Pendelton’s signed confession."
Marcus went pale for a fraction of a second, but he quickly recovered his arrogant composure. "Pendelton is a lying junkie! Whatever he told your security goons was forced under duress! You can't prove a single wire transfer came from my offshore accounts!"
"I don't need to prove it to the courts today, Marcus," Julian said, stepping between his brother and Avery. "I proved it to the board two hours ago. I bought your thirty percent voting shares through a secondary holding company in London while you were driving up here. You no longer own a single share of Vance Global."
Marcus froze. "You... you bought my shares?"
"You're broke, Marcus," Julian whispered, taking a step forward until he was inches from his brother's face. "Your credit lines have been frozen. Your properties in Miami and Aspen are under federal lien. You tried to use my daughters as trading chips to cover your gambling debts in Macau. You are finished."
Marcus’s eyes rolled wildly with psychotic fury. He looked at Julian, then at the security guards, and finally at Avery and the two young girls huddled behind her.
"You think you've won?" Marcus hissed, reaching into his coat pocket.
Before Marcus could pull his hand out, Avery moved with a speed born of instincts forged in bad neighborhoods. She grabbed a heavy bronze paperweight resting on the low coffee table beside her and threw it with all her strength.
CRACK!
The heavy bronze ornament struck Marcus squarely on his right wrist. He let out a sharp cry of pain, dropping a small black USB drive onto the hardwood floor.
In the same second, Julian’s two security guards tackled Marcus to the ground, slamming him against the floor and snapping heavy plastic restraints around his wrists.
Julian stepped forward, picked up the black USB drive, and held it in his palm. He didn't look at his brother as Marcus was dragged away, screaming obscenities into the quiet halls of the compound.
Julian slowly turned toward Avery. She was standing over the coffee table, her breathing heavy, her hands still curled into fists, her brown eyes flashing with fierce, protective fire.
Julian looked down at the bronze paperweight on the floor, then up at Avery.
"Nice throw, Miss Morrison," Julian said, a subtle, genuine gleam of admiration lighting up his eyes.
"He was going to destroy the evidence," Avery said, her voice shaking slightly as the adrenaline began to fade. "I know a snake when I see one."
May you like
Julian walked over to her, looked at his two safe, unhurt daughters, and then looked directly into Avery’s eyes.
"So do I," Julian said softly. "And I think I’ve spent too many years surrounding myself with them."
