Chapter 4 - Blood in the Water
Kieran didn't flinch. He slowly pulled away from Annie, looking down at his daughter.
"Flora, baby," Kieran said, kissing the little girl’s forehead. "Stay here with Annie. Lock the bedroom door from the inside. Do not open it for anyone except Edward or me. Do you understand?"
"Daddy, don't let them hurt Annie," Flora pleaded, her big hazel eyes shimmering with terror.
"Nobody is hurting anyone in this house ever again," Kieran said.
He stood up, adjusting the cuffs of his dark dress shirt. The vulnerability that had softened his features moments ago was wiped clean away, replaced by the lethal, cold mask of a predator preparing for a kill. He glanced at Annie, his gaze lingering on her bruised cheek for a split second. "Lock the door behind me."
Annie nodded numbly, getting up to turn the heavy brass deadbolt the moment he stepped into the hallway.
Down in the cavernous marble foyer, Julian Wells—a bloated, silver-haired venture capitalist wearing an expensive camel-hair coat—was screaming at Edward Vance. Two armed bodyguards in tactical vests stood flanking Julian, their hands hovering dangerously near their holsters.
"You touch my daughter again, you ex-military rent-a-cop, and I’ll have your badge and your citizenship revoked!" Julian roared, spittle flying from his lips. "Where is Kieran? Where is that arrogant bastard?"
"Right here, Julian," Kieran’s voice rang out from the top of the sweeping marble staircase.
Julian spun around, sneering. "Ashbourne! What kind of sick game are you playing? Miranda came home hysterical! She says your psycho nanny attacked her, stole her engagement ring, and coached Flora to lie about it! You had your goons throw her into the mud!"
Kieran descended the stairs slowly, one measured step at a time. The sound of his leather dress shoes clicking against the Italian marble was like the slow cocking of a firearm.
"Your daughter laid her hands on my child’s caregiver," Kieran said smoothly, reaching the bottom landing. He didn't stop until he was standing a mere foot away from Julian, looking down at the older man with eyes dead of emotion. "She struck Annie Mercer ten times while forcing my six-year-old daughter to count the blows."
Julian scoffed, waving a dismissive, heavily ringed hand. "Oh, please! Even if she slapped the girl, who gives a damn? The girl is a servant! You’re throwing away a twenty-billion-dollar maritime merger over a replaceable orphan from the foster system? Are you out of your mind?"
The atmosphere turned suffocating.
"A servant?" Kieran asked, his voice a dangerous whisper.
"Yes! A domestic! You pay her thirty dollars an hour to wipe your kid's nose!" Julian barked. "I’ve already contacted the District Attorney. He’s a personal friend. We are filing grand larceny charges against that Mercer girl for the missing emerald necklace Miranda claims she took, and child endangerment charges for feeding Flora contaminated food! If you don't hand the girl over to my men right now, Ashbourne, I will pull my equity from your new terminal project by midnight, and your board will vote you out by sunrise!"
Kieran stared at Julian for three long seconds. Then, a slow, terrifying smile crossed his lips.
"Edward," Kieran said quietly.
"Yes, Mr. Ashbourne?"
"Disarm Mr. Wells’ companions."
The two tactical bodyguards reached for their jackets, but Edward and three concealed Ashbourne operatives moved with horrifying speed. In the span of four seconds, Julian’s guards were pinned against the marble floor, their firearms stripped and sliding across the foyer tiles.
Julian paled, taking a panicked step back. "Kieran! You can't do this! This is assault! I am a member of the Union League—"
Kieran closed the distance, grabbing Julian by the lapels of his thousand-dollar coat and slamming him back against the solid oak front door. The force shook the heavy glass lanterns above.
"Listen to me very carefully, Julian," Kieran snarled, his face inches from the trembling older man. "You think you control the board? I bought forty percent of your debt through a shell corporation in Zurich three weeks ago. I hold your mortgages on the Manhattan towers. I own your shipping lines in Savannah."
Julian’s eyes bulged with sudden, suffocating horror. "What... what did you say?"
"I was going to forgive the debt as a wedding gift to your daughter," Kieran whispered, his knuckles turning white as he twisted the fabric of Julian's coat. "Instead, I am calling the SEC at dawn. I am submitting the offshore audit logs your crooked CFO handed me yesterday. By noon tomorrow, Wells Global will be suspended from trading. By next week, your daughter will be in a state penitentiary for felony assault of a minor and child abuse."
"You... you wouldn't," Julian gasped, clawing at Kieran’s iron grip. "The scandal... it will ruin Flora’s reputation... the media will swarm—"
"The media will report exactly what I tell them to report," Kieran hissed. "Now take your trash, leave my property, and pray to whatever god you believe in that Annie Mercer does not develop a permanent scar. Because if she does, I won't just ruin you financially. I will take everything you own until you are begging for bread on the sidewalk."
Kieran released him violently. Julian stumbled, gasping for breath, clutching his chest. Without another word, the disgraced patriarch scrambled toward his car, leaving his disarmed guards scrambling behind him.
Kieran watched the taillights disappear through the iron gates. He wiped a microscopic speck of dust from his sleeve, turned to Edward, and said, "Lock the outer perimeter. Deploy the drone surveillance. If Miranda Wells comes within a thousand yards of this property, put her in zip ties."
"Understood, sir," Edward said. "And the nanny?"
May you like
Kieran looked up toward the third-floor balcony, his jaw tightening. "Move her belongings into the main suite corridor. She’s not sleeping in the staff quarters ever again."
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