Chapter 4 - THE VAULT OF SINS
“Let her go!” Sophia screamed, fighting against the guard who had suddenly grabbed her arms, pinning them behind her back.
Adrian moved instantly, charging Julian, but a second guard struck Adrian across the jaw with the butt of his rifle. Adrian crumpled to his knees, blood instantly pouring from his lip.
The ballroom was in absolute chaos. Guests were weeping, huddled beneath tables or pressing against the locked doors. Claire sat on the stage floor, clutching her sister’s rosary, too stunned by her own shattered reality to intervene.
“You coward,” Adrian spat, looking up at his brother. Blood stained his white tuxedo shirt. “You bring a six-year-old child into this?”
Julian neatly folded the crayon drawing and tucked it back into his breast pocket. He looked down at Adrian with cold detachment.
“I learned from the best, brother. I learned from Marcus. And from you.” Julian began to pace the length of the stage. “Twenty years ago, you shot me because I was a liability. You took the empire. You took the power. And I spent two decades rebuilding myself from nothing.”
“I shot you because you were selling our people out to the feds!” Adrian roared, struggling to rise, but the guard forced him back down. “You were a rat, Julian!”
“I was trying to legitimize us!” Julian yelled back, his composure finally slipping. “I was trying to save this family from dying in a bloody street war. But you wanted the crown.”
Sophia couldn't care less about their history. Her chest heaved, panic threatening to consume her mind. Lily. Her sweet, innocent Lily, with her missing front tooth and her infectious laugh. She had left Lily with her trusted nanny, Mrs. Higgins, at the safehouse.
“Where is she?” Sophia begged, tears streaming down her face. “Julian, please. She has nothing to do with this. Take me. Punish Adrian. Just let Lily go.”
Julian stopped pacing and looked at Sophia. For a brief second, something resembling pity crossed his eyes, but it vanished instantly.
“She is perfectly safe, Sophia. For now. But her safety depends entirely on your father.” Julian pointed a perfectly manicured finger at Adrian.
“What do you want?” Adrian asked, his voice rough.
“The ledger,” Julian said simply.
Adrian froze. Even the guards seemed to stiffen at the mention of the word.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Adrian said.
Julian sighed and pulled a silver pocket watch from his vest. He checked the time. “Don't insult my intelligence, Adrian. The Genesis Ledger. The master record of every politician, judge, and police commissioner Marcus bought over the last forty years. The accounts, the blackmail, the routing numbers to offshore billions.”
Sophia looked at Adrian. She remembered the envelope of photos and bank transfers she had brought tonight—the evidence she thought was the ultimate weapon against him. It was nothing compared to what Julian was talking about.
“Marcus hid it,” Julian continued. “And when you took over, you inherited the key. But it's not a physical key, is it, Adrian? It's a biometric lock. A blood vault beneath the old harbor warehouse.”
Adrian wiped the blood from his chin. “If you know where it is, go get it yourself.”
“I tried,” Julian smiled grimly. “But my blood didn't work. It seems Marcus only programmed the vault to recognize the bloodline of the current reigning boss. Your blood.”
Julian walked over to Sophia. He reached out and gently traced the line of her jaw. She flinched, pulling her face away.
“Don't touch her,” Adrian growled, struggling against the guard again.
“And that’s the beauty of it,” Julian whispered to Sophia. “You share his blood. The direct line. I don’t need Adrian to open the vault. I just need you.”
Sophia’s eyes widened. She finally understood. Julian hadn't exposed her true parentage out of cruelty. He had exposed it because he needed a biological key to the greatest fortune in the criminal underworld.
“You take me to the vault,” Julian said to Sophia. “You bleed on the scanner. I get the ledger. You get your daughter. A simple transaction.”
“Don't do it, Sophia,” Adrian warned, his eyes pleading. “The moment he has that ledger, he will kill you. He will kill Lily. He leaves no loose ends.”
“I’m not a monster, Adrian,” Julian said, offended.
“You faked your death and kidnapped a child!” Claire suddenly shouted from the floor. She pushed herself up, her wedding dress stained with dirt and Adrian's blood. She held the wooden rosary tight in her fist. “You're just like Marcus!”
Julian glared at her. “Keep quiet, Isabella. You’re lucky I haven't put a bullet in your head yet.”
Sophia looked around the room. She was trapped. Adrian was subdued. Claire was unarmed. Her daughter was in the hands of a madman.
She looked down at her small black handbag, lying on the floor a few feet away. The one that held her phone. The one that held the rusted key she had found in her mother’s belongings.
Wait, Sophia thought. The rusted key.
She remembered the inscription on the side of it. A series of numbers. She had thought it was a safe deposit box key. But what if it was something else?
“Fine,” Sophia said, making her voice sound defeated and small. “I'll do it. I'll open the vault.”
“Sophia, no!” Adrian yelled.
“I have to!” she screamed at him, letting her genuine terror for Lily mask her calculation. “He has my daughter!”
Julian smiled in triumph. “A wise choice.”
“But I need my bag,” Sophia said, pointing with her chin toward the floor. “My anxiety medication is in there. If I panic, I'll pass out. You can't drag an unconscious woman through the streets.”
Julian studied her for a long moment. He nodded to one of the guards.
The guard picked up the small black handbag and carelessly tossed it to Sophia. She caught it with trembling hands.
She didn't reach for imaginary pills. She reached inside and wrapped her fingers around the heavy, rusted key.
“Let’s go,” Julian said, gesturing toward the doors.
May you like
But as Sophia pulled her hand out of the bag, she didn't just bring out the key. She brought out the small, high-powered pepper spray canister attached to her keychain.
In one swift, desperate motion, she aimed it directly at the eyes of the guard holding her and pressed the trigger.
