Chapter 18 - Sins of the Mother
Viktor Vance did not flinch. He slowly removed his golden lion mask, revealing a handsome, dangerously sharp face framed by silver hair. His ice-blue eyes locked onto mine with a chilling, predatory amusement.
"Julian Alvarez," Vance purred, swirling a glass of expensive bourbon. "You are far more aggressive than your grandfather. I respect a man who willingly walks directly into the lion's den. But you are vastly out of your depth."
"Your mercenaries missed at the warehouse, Vance. Your cyber-attacks are failing. You do not own my family," I stated, stepping closer, ignoring the heavy hands of his bodyguards gripping my shoulders.
Vance laughed deeply, a sound completely devoid of warmth. "You think this is about business, Julian? You think this is about steel and oil?"
He waved his hand, and his bodyguards immediately released me, stepping back slightly to give us privacy on the grand staircase.
"Ernesto did not just stop paying tribute ten years ago," Vance explained smoothly. "He thought he was so clever, faking your mother's death to protect her from the cartel. But Isabella was never running from the cartel, Julian. She was running from me."
My blood ran entirely cold. "What are you talking about?"
"Twenty years ago, when you were just a sick little boy needing a highly experimental, illegal heart surgery that Ernesto's money could not buy, your mother came to me," Vance whispered, leaning in close. "I provided the black-market surgeons. I saved your life. And in exchange, Isabella stole the foundational blueprints of a revolutionary, military-grade steel alloy from Ernesto's private vault and gave it to the Vanguard."
The world seemed to tilt violently. The foundation of our entire empire, the morality I thought we possessed, was built on a desperate, massive betrayal.
"But Isabella got greedy," Vance continued, his eyes darkening with sudden malice. "She kept a copy of the blueprints and tried to sell them to a foreign government to secure her own escape. She stole from the Vanguard. The debt is not Ernesto's. The debt is your mother's. And tonight, I am finally collecting."
My phone vibrated violently in my tuxedo pocket. I pulled it out, answering a call from the safehouse.
It was Ernesto, screaming in absolute panic. "Julian! The safehouse was compromised! They bypassed the steel doors. They took Isabella!"
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I dropped the phone on the marble steps. Vance smiled his terrifying, predatory smile and put his golden lion mask back on.
"I want the entire Alvarez corporation legally signed over to the Vanguard by sunrise, Julian. Or I will mail your mother back to you in extremely small pieces."
