Chapter 23 - The Poison in the Well
The silence that followed was broken only by the ragged wheeze of Emma’s breath.
Julian didn't run. He didn't reach for a weapon. He stood there on the deck of his rented cruiser, the rain flattening his silver hair against his skull, and the polished veneer of Julian Vance completely rotted away.
"You really are your father's daughter, Lauren," he whispered, his lip curling into a sneer of pure venom. "Always so sanctimonious. Always pretending that Thomas built that fortune on clean hands. Where do you think the startup capital for your boutique investment firm came from? It came from the very offshore trusts you just handed to the Department of Justice."
"I don't care about the money, Julian," I said, stepping between him and the stretcher as the two state troopers drew their tasers. "I haven't cared about the money since the day I realized Eleanor and Chloe were feeding off it like parasites. Step away from Emma."
Julian let out a short, bitter laugh. "You think you won? You think because Eleanor is in cuffs and Chloe is disgraced that this ends? Do you have any idea what was in the compound Chloe took from Emma’s safe?"
The air left my lungs.
"What did you do, Julian?" I asked, every nerve ending in my body screaming.
"Chloe didn't just swap the vials with saline to make Emma sick for the party," Julian said, his eyes glittering in the dark. "Chloe didn't know the difference between sterile water and an active beta-blocker antagonist. She thought she was giving Emma something that would mimic an asthma attack so you’d have to leave the estate and miss the press announcement. But I gave Chloe the replacement vials, Lauren. Not Eleanor. Me."
"You poisoned our daughter?" My voice was barely a whisper. The horror of it tore through my mind like a physical blade.
"I gave her a peptide inhibitor," Julian said calmly, as though discussing an exchange-traded fund. "It suppresses her arterial pressure just enough that without the specific counter-agent, her heart will enter ventricular fibrillation within forty-eight hours. The counter-agent isn't stocked in any hospital in Maine. It’s sitting in a temperature-controlled lockbox in the master cabin of this boat."
The two state troopers lunged forward, grabbing Julian by his arms and forcing him against the bridge console, clicking metal handcuffs around his wrists.
"Where is it?!" I screamed, dropping the fire extinguisher and grabbing Julian by the lapels of his coat. "Where is the counter-agent, Julian?!"
"It was my insurance policy, Lauren," Julian snarled, his face inches from mine, spitting rain and blood from a split lip. "You let me take this boat past the three-mile limit, or Emma doesn't see tomorrow morning. The troopers can search the boat for three days—they'll never find the hidden compartment behind the false water tank. Her time runs out at dawn."
Maya rushed onto the deck, dropping to her knees beside Emma’s stretcher. "Lauren, her pulse is erratic! She’s burning up! We need to get her to Maine Medical Center now!"
"She won't make it to Portland!" I yelled, my hands shaking uncontrollably as I looked at Julian’s smug, defiant smile. Even with metal around his wrists, he thought he owned me. He thought the life of my child was a currency he could trade for his freedom.
"The key code, Julian," I demanded, my voice dropping into a register I didn't recognize. "Give me the code."
May you like
"The coordinates for international waters, Lauren," he countered smoothly. "Tell the troopers to unhook me, get off my ship, and let me navigate. Once I'm clear of the territorial shelf, I'll text you the code. That’s the deal. Take it, or plan a funeral."
***
