Chapter 4 - The Betrayal
The phone call disconnected, leaving a heavy, suffocating silence in the grand library.
Julian stood frozen, the dial tone buzzing in his ear like an angry hornet.
He looked at his mother, whose eyes were filled with absolute terror for her only granddaughter.
"Where is the ledger, Mother?" Julian asked, his voice dead and devoid of any emotion.
"I don't know, Julian. Your father took that secret to his grave, leaving no clues behind," Evelyn whispered.
Julian didn't waste another second; he turned on his heel and strode purposefully toward Clara’s private dressing room.
He bypassed the security lock with his master code, slamming the door open with a resounding bang.
Clara was sitting at her vanity, applying a damp cloth to her tear-stained face.
She jumped up in alarm as Julian entered, his expression resembling a vengeful god.
"Julian, you’re scaring me. What is going on?" she pleaded, taking a step backward against the mirrors.
Without a word, Julian grabbed her expensive designer purse from the table and dumped its contents onto the floor.
Among the lipsticks, compacts, and credit cards, a small, unrecognized burner phone slid across the hardwood.
Julian picked it up, flipping it open to reveal a single text message received just ten minutes ago.
The message read: 'He knows. Get out of the house now.'
Julian held the phone in front of Clara’s face, his eyes burning with an intense, furious fire.
"Care to explain this, Clara? Or should we talk about your little meeting in the greenhouse tonight?"
Clara’s face drained of all color, her knees buckling as she sank back onto the vanity stool.
"It’s not what it looks like, Julian! Please, you have to listen to me!" she cried, reaching for his hand.
Julian pulled away from her touch as if her fingers were coated in the very poison killing his daughter.
"You sold out my daughter to an underground syndicate. You are going to tell me who they are, right now."
"I didn't sell her out! They have my brother, Julian! They threatened to kill him if I didn't help them!" she screamed.
"They forced me to give them access to the garden gate tonight. I didn't know they were going to hurt Lily!"
Julian stared at her, his heart torn between a lingering love and an absolute, burning hatred for her weakness.
"Your brother’s life just cost Lily hers. If she dies, Clara, there is nowhere on this earth you can hide from me."
He called his security guards into the room, pointing a cold finger at his weeping wife.
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"Lock her in the wine cellar. Remove her phone, her jewelry, and anything else she could use to escape."
Clara was dragged out of the room, her desperate screams for forgiveness echoing down the long, empty hallways.
