Chapter 8 - The Confrontation
The maintenance room spun around Eleanor as the horrible truth set in.
"Arthur set us up," she whispered, her voice cracking.
Marcus nodded slowly, aiming the gun directly at Eleanor's head.
"He offered me twenty million to clean up his messy little family tree."
Julian struggled against his ropes, screaming at the man who was his biological father.
"You're sick!" Julian cried.
"You would kill your own sons for money?"
Marcus looked at Julian with cold, dead eyes.
"Money is the only bloodline that matters in this city, boy."
Leo's mind raced, assessing the tactical situation.
There were three mercenaries in the room, plus Marcus.
He only had a small knife and his wits.
"If Arthur wants us dead, he's going to blow this tunnel soon," Leo stated loudly, trying to distract them.
"If you kill us, you'll die down here with us."
Marcus frowned, a flicker of doubt crossing his confident face.
"Arthur assured me I would have a twenty-minute head start."
Suddenly, a massive explosion rocked the tunnel above them.
Dust and debris rained down from the ceiling, plunging the room into near darkness.
Arthur hadn't waited.
The blast knocked the mercenaries off their feet.
Leo lunged forward in the chaos, slashing the rope binding Julian's hands.
"Run!" Leo yelled over the deafening noise of crumbling concrete.
Eleanor grabbed Julian's hand and scrambled toward the only exit.
Marcus roared in anger, firing blindly into the dust cloud.
A bullet grazed Leo's shoulder, sending a shock of hot pain through his arm.
Leo ignored the pain, tackling Marcus to the ground before he could fire again.
The two struggled on the floor as chunks of the ceiling began to collapse around them.
Marcus was strong, but Leo had the desperation of a boy fighting for his true family.
Leo managed to punch Marcus in the jaw, disorienting the crime boss just long enough to roll away.
"Leo, hurry!" Eleanor screamed from the hallway.
Leo sprinted toward his mother and brother, diving through the doorway just as a massive concrete beam crushed the spot where he had been standing.
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As the dust settled, a cold voice echoed from the end of the escape tunnel.
"I should have known you rats would survive the collapse," Arthur said, stepping out of the shadows with an assault rifle in his hands.
