Chapter 3 - The Broken Glass
The silence that followed Leo's words was far more terrifying than the screaming that had preceded it.
Julian froze. His gaze locked onto the metallic blue case of the iPhone in the boy's hands. His eyes dilated, the pupils shrinking into tiny dots of pure, unadulterated desperation. Everything—the merger, the family empire, his freedom, his life—hung on the contents of that small piece of glass and aluminum.
"Give me that phone, Leo," Julian said. His voice dropped an octave, devoid of any warmth, carrying the cold weight of a threat.
"No," Leo said simply. He took one step backward toward the library archway. "You hurt Aunt Evelyn. You hurt Grandfather. I saw you."
"Leo, hand your uncle the phone right now!" Richard demanded, stepping forward, his hands out, trying to adopt a firm parental tone despite his trembling body. "You don't understand what you're doing. Give it to me!"
"I'm not giving it to anyone," Leo repeated. "I sent it to the cloud three seconds ago."
Julian let out a guttural sound—a mix between a roar and a gasp—and lunged across the foyer.
He moved with terrifying speed for a man in a business suit, clearing the distance between the stairs and the library archway in three massive strides. His face was contorted into a mask of rage, his hands reaching out like claws to snatch the phone from the boy’s grip.
"You're dead!" Julian screamed, his voice echoing off the walls. "You little piece of shit, give it to me!"
"Julian, NO!" Victor yelled, trying to grab his brother's jacket, but he was too slow.
Before Julian’s fingers could close around the phone, Evelyn moved.
Despite her apparent injuries, despite her heavy pregnancy, she propelled herself off the hardwood floor with terrifying agility. She didn't head for Leo. She headed for the heavy bronze floor lamp standing beside the orchid arrangement.
With a sharp, guttural shout, she shoved the fifty-pound iron lamp directly into Julian’s path.
The heavy metal base caught Julian across the shins. He tripped violently, his arms flailing, and crashed face-first onto the hard floor. His nose smashed into the dark walnut planks with a sickening CRACK. Blood sprayed across the floor, catching the hem of Richard's trousers.
The foyer dissolved into complete madness.
"Security! Get in here!" Marcus screamed, pulling out his own phone and screaming into the mic. "Lock the gates! Lock all the doors! Do not let anyone out!"
Evelyn scrambled over to Leo, putting her body between the boy and the groaning Julian, who was clutching his broken face on the floor. She grabbed Leo by the shoulders, her green eyes burning with an intense, calculated flame.
"Did you get the angle from the landing?" she whispered furiously, her voice devoid of any tears or breathlessness.
Leo looked up at her and gave a single, slow nod. "Everything, Aunt Evelyn. Just like you told me to do this morning."
Evelyn smiled—a small, dark, cold sharp smile that vanished as quickly as it appeared. She immediately turned back to the crowd, collapsing against the library doorframe, holding her stomach, and letting out another agonized moan.
"Help me..." she whimpered, letting her head fall back against the wood as heavy footsteps began thundering down the exterior driveway outside. "Please... somebody save my baby..."
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Arthur Pendelton looked at the blood on the floor, looked at Julian groaning in a pool of his own crimson, looked at the quiet boy with the phone, and slowly closed his eyes.
"God help us," the lawyer whispered. "It's already begun."
