Chapter 7 - The Lullaby of Betrayal
The crack of metal against bone echoed through the corridor like a gunshot.
The gunman crashed backward, his pistol skittering across the tile. Claire lunged forward, grabbed the weapon, and pulled Lily from behind the shelf in one fluid, desperate motion.
"There they are!" the second gunman shouted from the end of the hall.
A suppressed round whistled past Claire’s ear, splintering the mahogany trim of the pantry door.
Claire fired blind toward the corridor, the recoil shocking her wrists, but the sharp crack of the gunshot reverberated like thunder in the enclosed space. She wasn't trying to aim; she was raising the alarm.
Downstairs, the alarms shrieked to life.
Heavy steel security gates slammed shut on the lower floors. The stairwell doors burst open with a crash, and Gabriel Varrick appeared like an avenging fury, backed by six heavily armed guards.
"Clear the floor!" Gabriel roared.
The second gunman turned to fire, but Gabriel’s weapon barked twice. The man collapsed instantly, dead before he struck the marble.
The backup lights flashed white as the secondary generators kicked in, flooding the corridor with blinding light.
Victoria stood frozen against the shattered glass railing of the atrium, her face completely drained of color, her fingers clutching a leather satchel containing passports and offshore bearer bonds.
Gabriel walked down the hallway with terrifying, measured steps. The gun in his hand was lowered, but the murderous intent in his gray eyes was suffocating.
"Gabriel, thank God!" Victoria cried out, her voice trembling in a desperate act of innocence. "The Morettis breached the private elevator! They tried to take Lily! I tried to stop them—"
"Quiet," Gabriel said. His voice was deathly soft.
Claire stepped out from the pantry, holding Lily tightly against her chest, her hands trembling, her face smeared with sweat and soot.
Lily lifted her head from Claire’s shoulder. She looked at Victoria, then looked up into her father’s face.
"Daddy," Lily said.
The word was small, but it shattered the silence like glass. It was the first word she had spoken to her father in twelve days.
Gabriel stopped in his tracks, his breath hitching. "Lily..."
Lily pointed a small, shaking finger directly at Victoria.
"She sang the song, Daddy," Lily whispered, her voice clear and unbroken. "In Mommy’s car. Mommy was crying, and the bad lady was humming the song on her telephone. And then Mommy told me, *'Remember Victoria’s song, Lily. It’s the song of the snake.'*"
Victoria’s eyes widened in horror. "Gabriel, she’s four years old! She’s confused! She’s traumatized!"
"Elena’s last message to me was a voice memo," Gabriel said, his voice dropping into a register that made the seasoned guards behind him look down at the floor. "She said she was betrayed by someone who knew our family’s private route. But the audio cut out before she could say the name."
Gabriel took two steps toward Victoria.
"Elena always called your mother’s favorite tune 'the snake’s song.' Because your family smiled at our table while stealing our contracts from behind our backs."
"Gabriel, please! We were going to be married! I did this for us! You were too soft on the docks—the Morettis offered us an alliance that would make us untouchable!" Victoria screamed, losing all pretense of sanity.
Gabriel didn't even raise his gun. He simply looked at Marcus.
"Take her to the lower docks," Gabriel commanded. "Call the federal prosecutor’s office and deliver the Moretti manifests. Let them dismantle the syndicate from the outside. But Victoria Sinclair stays with us until she signs over every account she stole from my wife."
"Gabriel! No! Gabriel!" Victoria shrieked as Marcus and two guards grabbed her arms and dragged her toward the freight elevators, her desperate screams fading down the shaft until the heavy doors clanged shut.
Silence returned to the penthouse.
Gabriel stood in the center of the ruined corridor, surrounded by shattered glass and spent shell casings. Slowly, he turned toward Claire.
His eyes fell upon his daughter, who was clinging to the broke nanny’s neck with complete, unyielding trust.
May you like
Gabriel walked forward, dropped his weapon onto a hall table, fell to his knees in front of Claire, and buried his face against his daughter’s little knees, his shoulders shaking with silent, wracking sobs.
***
