Chapter 7 - The Hostage
I froze completely, terrified to look back.
Slowly, I turned my head.
Julian was perfectly fine, sitting in his chair with his hands raised.
Marcus was back on his feet, limping heavily, but he was holding a black handgun pointed directly at Julian’s chest.
"Don't move, Sarah!" Marcus yelled.
"Or I put a bullet in his heart right now."
I stopped running and pulled Emma tightly against my side.
"Let them go, Marcus," Julian demanded calmly.
"This is between you, me, and Victoria."
Marcus spat blood onto the cobblestones.
"Victoria wants all of you gone," he snarled.
"She is tired of waiting for the poison to finish you off."
He gestured with the gun toward the mansion.
"We are all going inside, nice and slow."
We marched back to the house in terrifying silence.
Marcus forced us into the grand library, where Victoria was waiting by the fireplace.
She was sipping a cup of tea, looking as calm as if she were at a Sunday brunch.
"Ah, the happy family returns," Victoria smiled cruelly.
She set her teacup down and picked up a stack of legal documents from the desk.
"Julian, you are going to sign the entire Bennett estate over to me right now."
"If you do, I will let Sarah and her miserable children leave this house alive."
Julian glared at her with pure hatred.
"You tried to kill me in that car accident," Julian stated.
Victoria laughed softly.
"I tried to kill you twenty years ago during that storm, too."
"You were always a stubborn cockroach, Leo."
My heart stopped completely.
She knew his real name.
She knew he was the boy from my past.
Julian looked at me, a profound shock washing over his face.
"Leo," Julian whispered, the final puzzle piece of his broken memory clicking into place.
He remembered me.
"Sign the papers, Leo," Victoria ordered impatiently.
"No," Julian said firmly.
Victoria’s smile vanished completely.
She pulled a small remote control from her pocket and pressed a button.
A hidden television screen on the library wall flickered to life.
It showed a live feed of Brandon's bedroom upstairs.
Brandon was tied to a chair, and a masked man was holding a syringe filled with clear liquid directly over the boy's neck.
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"Sign the papers," Victoria repeated softly.
"Or your new son dies right now."
