Chapter 13 - The Serpents’ Bloodline
Arthur froze in his tracks, the barrel of his weapon wavering slightly as the voice washed over him.
It was the exact melody of the lullabies sung to him during his childhood fever dreams.
"Mother?" Arthur choked out, the word feeling foreign and jagged in his dry throat.
The masked woman chuckled softly, the sound cold and devoid of any maternal warmth.
"Eleanor Hawthorne died the night she realized what her husband truly was," she answered, her hands resting calmly on the armrests.
"Drop your hands where I can see them!" Maya commanded, stepping out of the shadows, her sight aligned on the woman’s chest.
"Put the gun away, Agent Thorne," the woman replied without flinching. "You are holding a pebble against an avalanche."
With slow, theatrical grace, the woman raised her gloved hands and unclasped the ornate mask from her face.
Arthur’s breath hitched in his chest as the mask fell away onto the concrete floor with a hollow clatter.
The woman possessed the same piercing green eyes, the high cheekbones, and the proud arch of his mother's brow.
Yet her skin was too smooth, her youth frozen in time, unmarred by the fifteen years that had passed.
"You're not her," Arthur whispered, a sickening realization twisting in the pit of his stomach. "You're too young."
"I am Victoria," she said, smiling with predatory elegance. "Your elder half-sister, Arthur."
Arthur stepped back, his mind reeling as decades of family lies fractured into a thousand jagged pieces.
"My father never had a daughter," Arthur snarled, his grip tightening on his weapon.
"Your father had many things he kept in the dark," Victoria replied, rising slowly from the antique chair.
"He traded me to the Iron Synod before you were even conceived," she continued, circling the perimeter of the light.
"The Iron Synod," Maya repeated, her voice tightening with immediate tactical dread. "The shadow syndicate funding the black-market shipments."
"My father didn't run that cartel," Arthur said, the puzzle pieces clicking together with terrifying clarity. "He worked for them."
"He was their clerk," Victoria mocked, her eyes flashing with venomous amusement. "A glorified accountant who grew too greedy."
Suddenly, the red dot of an infrared laser danced across the front of Maya's tactical vest.
"Sniper!" Maya screamed, tackling Arthur to the ground just as a high-caliber round shattered the concrete where they stood.
Sparks showered over them as deafening gunfire tore through the corrugated metal walls of the dry dock.
"Did you really think you could dismantle our empire with an auction gavel, little brother?" Victoria shouted over the roar of weapons.
May you like
Arthur rolled behind an iron support beam, watching through the smoke as Victoria stepped backward into the shadows.
"Bring him to me alive!" Victoria commanded unseen men in the dark. "The syndicate requires his blood to unlock the vault!"
