Chapter 8 - The Betrayal Within
The deafening crack of unexpected gunfire left a high-pitched ringing in my ears.
Agent Mercer stumbled backward, violently clutching the center of his chest.
A bright, horrifying red stain blossomed rapidly across his white button-down shirt.
He collapsed heavily to the floor, his weapon clattering harmlessly out of reach.
I screamed in sheer horror at the sudden bloodshed.
Julian stood furiously in the broken doorway, thick smoke still drifting from the barrel of his handgun.
He had a massive, bloody medical bandage hastily wrapped around his bruised head.
His eyes were completely wild, fully consumed by paranoid madness.
"Nobody takes my empire away from me!" Julian roared like a wounded animal.
Arthur Vance looked at his bleeding son with a mixture of profound shock and sheer terror.
"Julian, put the damn gun down right now," Arthur ordered, raising his trembling hands.
"He's a federal agent, you absolute fool!"
Julian furiously turned the weapon toward his own father.
"You were going to let them take me down!" Julian wildly accused.
"I heard you talking to your expensive lawyers in the hallway!"
"You were going to use me as the disposable scapegoat to save the family name!"
While the father and son argued bitterly, I dragged myself agonizingly across the floor.
I reached Mercer's side and pressed my bare hands firmly against his bleeding wound.
"The real cavalry is exactly one minute away," Mercer choked out, thick blood bubbling on his lips.
"Hold on just a little bit longer, Jules."
Another massive contraction ripped through me, so violent it completely blurred my vision.
Chloe used the chaotic distraction to quietly crawl toward the gun dropped by Mercer.
Julian caught the sudden movement out of the corner of his bloodshot eye.
He immediately swung his weapon toward Chloe and aggressively pulled the trigger.
Click.
His gun was completely out of bullets.
Chloe didn't hesitate for a single, precious second.
She raised Mercer's heavy pistol and fired one precise, deafening shot.
The bullet struck Julian squarely in his right shoulder.
He screamed in searing pain and dropped his empty weapon to the floor.
Arthur panicked instantly and scrambled toward the hallway to escape the carnage.
But before the billionaire could cross the threshold, the entire building shook violently.
The unmistakable sound of military-grade helicopters thundered directly overhead.
Thick black ropes dropped rapidly past the frosted windows of the server room.
Dozens of heavily armed tactical operatives smashed dramatically through the reinforced glass.
The real, uncorrupted raid had finally arrived.
I felt a sudden, massive, overwhelming release of pressure in my lower abdomen.
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"The baby is coming!" I screamed desperately into the chaos.
"Right now!"
