Chapter 8 - The Blood Debt
Eric’s body violently convulsed as the massive dose of adrenaline surged through his bloodstream, instantly fighting off the neurotoxin’s paralytic effect.
He let out a ragged, gasping scream, his heart restarting with a violent thud against his ribs!
"Get up!" I roared over the deafening crackle of the flames, grabbing his shirt collar, pulling his heavy frame upward with a strength I didn't know I possessed. "Get up, Eric! You don't get to die that easily!"
Eric stumbled to his feet, gasping for air, clutching his chest. He looked at me, then at Leo, utter shock flooding his eyes. "Elena... you saved me..."
"I didn't save you for you!" I yelled, shoving him toward the balcony doors as the ceiling beams above us began to groan and snap. "You owe me my sister! You owe me Maya! You are going to take me to Mercer, and you are going to help me get her back, or I swear to God I will kill you myself!"
Eric wiped the blood from his mouth, his eyes hardening into something cold, dark, and utterly ruthless. The pathetic, guilty husband was gone. The man who had built an empire from nothing stood before me in the flames.
"Okay," Eric rasped, reaching down to grab a heavy steel lockbox from under the burning bed frame. He punched in a combination, pulling out two passports, a satellite phone, and a secondary master key drive. "Okay. Let's go get your sister."
We vaulted over the stone balcony railing, dropping onto the wet grass of the lawn just as the master bedroom exploded into a massive fireball behind us.
We ran through the dark estate grounds toward the cliffside garage where Eric kept his unregistered vehicles.
Inside the garage, Eric slammed the satellite phone onto the hood of a black, armored SUV, dialing a long international number on speakerphone.
The line clicked. A calm, female voice answered in French. "State your clearance code, Mr. Whitaker."
"Code Omega," Eric barked, his voice steady as iron. "Activate the asset recovery protocol in Vancouver. Target is Victor Mercer. I want every asset, every account, and every property tied to Mercer Financial frozen or burned within six hours."
"Acknowledged, Mr. Whitaker," the voice replied smoothly. "And what about the secondary target?"
Eric looked at me. I was standing by the passenger door, holding Leo close, staring at him with cold, unforgiving eyes.
"The secondary target is my sister-in-law, Maya Reed," Eric said, his voice trembling slightly. "Find her. Extract her. If a single hair on her head is harmed... wipe Mercer's entire bloodline off the face of the earth."
"Understood, Don Whitaker," the voice said before hanging up.
I stared at Eric. "Don Whitaker?"
Eric closed the phone, looking at me with a heavy, dangerous solemnity. "I didn't just invest in Mercer ten years ago, Elena. I bought his syndicate out three years ago. I am the man who controls the network."
My blood went cold. The ground beneath my feet felt like glass.
"You..." I whispered, my voice breaking into a terrified sob. "You are the head of the syndicate?"
"I took it over to destroy it from the inside!" Eric yelled, taking a step toward me, his hands raised in surrender. "Julian found out because I wanted him to find out! I gave him the ledger so he could take it to the federal government with immunity! I was trying to burn the whole thing down so I could walk away and be the normal husband you deserved!"
"And my sister got caught in the crossfire!" I screamed.
"I am going to fix it, Elena!" Eric vowed, stepping closer, reaching out to gently touch Leo's tiny head. "I swear on my soul, I will give you back your family. And when it's over... if you want to leave me, if you want to put me in prison, I will hand you the keys myself. But right now, you have to trust me to fight."
I looked down at Leo sleeping peacefully in my arms, oblivious to the war raging around him. Then I looked at my husband—a monster who had tried to become a saint, standing in the shadows of his own burning empire.
May you like
I pulled open the passenger door and stepped inside the armored SUV.
"Drive, Eric," I said, my voice cold as ice. "Before I change my mind."
