Chapter 8 - The Price of Blood
The takedown was swift, ruthless, and entirely orchestrated by Declan’s cold fury.
He stood with his hands in his pockets, watching as federal marshals slammed his uncle Thomas against the mahogany bar, wrenching his arms behind his back in zip-ties. Thomas shrieked curses, his face bright red, spitting threats about family loyalty and retribution. Declan didn't even blink.
Margot was backed against the mantle, her silk dress stained with spilled champagne, her composure entirely shattered.
""Declan!"" she cried out, tears of genuine panic streaming down her powdered cheeks. ""I am your mother! Everything I did was to keep the company from falling apart! You were going to destroy our heritage for some foolish corporate morality!""
Declan walked up to her, stopping mere inches from her face. The look in his gray eyes was so utterly dead that Margot recoiled.
""You didn't build an empire, Margot,"" Declan whispered, his words cutting like surgical steel. ""You built a graveyard. And you tried to put the only woman who ever truly loved me inside it.""
""She’s dead, Declan!"" Margot screamed, losing all pretense of sanity. ""Julian found the basement! He told me! She died screaming in the dark like the dog she was!""
Declan smiled—a terrifying, humorless baring of teeth. ""She didn't die screaming, Mother. She died fighting for me. And while you spend the rest of your miserable life in a federal penitentiary in Danbury, wearing orange jumpsuits and scrubbing latrines, you can remember that it was Laurel’s evidence that put you there.""
Declan turned on his heel, signaling the federal agents. ""Take them away. All of them.""
Julian Vance attempted to draw a concealed Glock from his waistband as he tried to slip through the French doors. Declan moved with blinding, feral speed. Before the fixer could clear his holster, Declan caught his wrist, snapping the joint with a sickening crack, disarming him in one fluid motion, and driving his knee into Vance’s sternum. Vance collapsed, gasping for breath on the floor.
Declan leaned over the gasping enforcer, his voice a low hiss. ""If you ever breathe her name again, Vance, the federal prison won't be able to protect you from what I'll do to you.""
Leaving the chaos of the Newport mansion behind, Declan ignored the flashing sirens, the shouting journalists, and the descending media circus. He stepped into the back of his armored town car, slamming the door.
His phone buzzed. It was Dr. Evans.
May you like
Declan answered with a trembling hand, his voice breaking. ""Tell me.""
""Declan, get to the clinic right now,"" Evans said breathlessly over the line. ""We initiated the bypass. Her core temperature is rising. Her heart... Declan, her heart is trying to beat.""
