Chapter 6 - The Traitor Inside
Julian’s eyes burned with a murderous, unhinged rage.
"If you touch her, I will personally tear your heart out of your chest," Julian promised.
Marcus merely laughed, the sound echoing sharply in the confined steel room.
"You are entirely out of options, Julian," Marcus mocked.
Emily’s mind raced frantically as she knelt quietly beside the injured billionaire.
She remembered the heavy iron fire poker Daniel had dropped near the door during the shootout.
It was lying perfectly concealed under a fallen bookshelf just inches from her left foot.
"The ledger is hidden in the master bedroom vault," Julian lied smoothly to buy them time.
Marcus rolled his eyes and lowered his weapon slightly.
"You always were a terrible liar," Marcus sighed.
In that split second of distraction, Emily kicked the heavy iron poker directly toward Julian.
Julian caught it seamlessly, spinning around and smashing it into the knee of the closest mercenary.
The guard screamed and collapsed, his rifle firing wildly into the ceiling.
Julian grabbed the falling rifle and shot the second mercenary perfectly in the chest.
Marcus panicked, firing wildly at Julian before sprinting out of the panic room.
"Stay here and lock the door," Julian commanded, his voice dripping with absolute lethal intent.
He grabbed a fresh magazine from the dead guard and ran out into the hallway after his brother.
Emily quickly slammed the heavy steel door shut and manually engaged the deadbolts.
She pulled Lily into a tight hug, praying silently that Julian would survive the fight.
Ten agonizing minutes passed in complete, suffocating silence.
Suddenly, the intercom speaker on the wall cracked loudly to life.
"Emily, it is Daniel," the bodyguard's rough voice echoed through the speaker.
"Julian is badly hurt, and we need you to open the door right now."
Emily reached eagerly for the lock, flooded with a massive wave of absolute relief.
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Then, she looked closely at the live security feed on the monitor panel.
Daniel was indeed standing in the hallway, but he had a gun pointed directly at Julian's head.
