Chapter 14 - Brother Against Brother
Julian’s head whipped sideways, his teeth shattering as he crashed over the heavy mahogany desk. The black detonator flew from his grip, skittering across the hardwood floor toward the balcony.
Julian scrambled on his hands and knees, spitting blood, his face twisted in psychotic rage. He grabbed a heavy bronze sculpture from the side table and swung it wildly at my head.
I ducked beneath the swing, driving my shoulder hard into his wounded ribs. We crashed through the glass coffee table, shattering it into thousands of jagged pieces.
"You always thought you were better than me!" Julian screamed, clawing at my eyes, his fingers slick with sweat and blood. "Dad loved you! Claire loved you! But you were weak, Daniel! You spent your life playing hero while I built this family's fortune!"
"You didn't build a fortune, Julian," I snarled, catching his throat in both hands, pinning him against the floor. "You sold weapons to terrorists! You murdered the woman who treated you like a brother!"
Julian choked, his face turning dark purple beneath my grip. His hand fumbled along the shattered glass on the carpet, his fingers closing around a heavy jagged shard.
"Daniel, look out!" Lily screamed from the sofa.
Julian lunged upward with the glass shard, aiming straight for my jugular.
I caught his wrist inches from my throat, twisting his arm with all the combat training burned into my muscle memory. Julian screamed as his wrist snapped. The glass shard tumbled harmlessly onto the rug.
I hauled him to his feet by his collar, dragging him toward the floor-to-ceiling glass window overlooking the grand ballroom below.
Down in the ballroom, two hundred feet down, the party had suddenly stopped. The music had died. Uniformed FBI agents and tactical teams with heavy rifles were pouring through the double doors, surrounding the stage, cutting off the exits.
Julian stared down at the sea of blue jackets, his eyes wide with absolute, horrifying realization.
"It's over, Julian," I whispered into his ear. "Everything you stole. Everything you killed for. It's gone."
Behind me, the sharp click of a revolver hammer made the hair on my neck stand up.
"Let him go, Daniel," Vanessa’s voice shook with hysterical fury.
I turned slowly.
Vanessa was on her feet, Claire's silver star clutched in one bloody hand, the snub-nosed revolver in the other.
She wasn't aiming at me.
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She was aiming directly at Lily’s chest.
***
