Chapter 8 - The Cornered Rat
Julian stumbled backward out of the server room, his heels catching on the edge of the door frame as he tumbled onto his back in the hallway.
"Get away from me!" Julian shrieked, scrambling backward on his hands and knees like an insect.
Briggs didn't even bother to stand up. He simply leaned back in the chair, holding the hard drives, watching Julian with cold detachment as the younger man scrambled back toward the main basement corridor.
Julian reached the reinforced steel door that led back up to the main floor. He grabbed the handle, frantically pulling it, but the deadbolt wouldn't budge. From the other side came the heavy, rhythmic thud of combat boots descending the concrete stairs.
CLANG.
The heavy lock mechanism turned from the outside. The steel door swung open smoothly, revealing the looming shadow of Marcus Vance.
Marcus stepped down onto the concrete floor of the basement. He was alone, having left his tactical operators to secure the perimeter. He didn't carry a weapon. He didn't need one.
Julian backed away until his shoulders hit the cold concrete wall of the wine cellar. He held up his hands, his fingers trembling wildly, his face pale as death.
"Marcus... listen to me!" Julian stammered, his voice rising in panic. "It was a mistake! She provoked me! She's hysterical... she's been seeing a psychiatrist! You know how she gets!"
Marcus took three slow steps forward, his boots clicking in the silent corridor.
"She provoked you?" Marcus asked. His tone wasn't loud. It was soft, almost conversational, which made it infinitely more terrifying.
"Yes! She was talking about leaving... about taking half the property!" Julian lied frantically, his eyes darting back and forth searching for an escape route. "I was just trying to control her! It got out of hand! We can work this out... between families!"
Marcus stopped five feet away from Julian. He looked down at his own knuckles, bruised and swollen, then raised his gray eyes to meet Julian's trembling gaze.
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"My daughter is twenty-three years old," Marcus said softly. "When she was five, she fell off her bicycle and scraped her knee. I held her hand until the bleeding stopped. I promised her then that no one in this world would ever hurt her as long as I breathed."
Marcus stepped closer, towering over Julian. "You made me break that promise."
