Chapter 4 - THE BARREL OF A GUN
"Put the gun down, Sofia," I said, my voice remarkably steady, though every muscle in my body coiled like a spring, ready to lunge despite the weapon pointed at my chest.
"Don't take another step, Alexander," Sofia warned, her hand rock-steady as she aimed down the sights. "You have no idea how much work it took to keep this estate running while you were busy playing corporate warlord across the country. Elena was weak. She wanted to leave the entire shipping fortune to Sofia in an irrevocable trust that bypassed my father's syndicate entirely. She had to be removed."
Beside me in the cabinet, Clara let out a weak whimper, trying to push herself forward to shield my daughter. I reached back blindly, pressing Sofia’s face tighter against my chest so she couldn't see the gun or her aunt's battered state.
"You locked Clara in a ventilation shaft for a year?" I demanded, keeping my eyes locked on Sofia's finger resting on the trigger. "You starved her?"
"She wouldn't give me the secondary master keys to the offshore accounts," Sofia shrugged lazily, as if discussing the weather. "I gave her food, just enough to keep her breathing. But she’s stubborn—just like her sister. And your little daughter," Sofia sneered, glaring down at Sofia pressed against my shoulder, "kept sneaking down here at night with leftover crusts of bread and water in a toy cup. That's why I had to teach her her place. A maid's daughter acts like a maid."
A cold, dark rage unlike anything I had ever felt in my life surged through my veins. It wasn't the hot, reckless anger of a boy. It was the calculated, lethal fury of a father whose bloodline had been targeted by a viper.
"You think your father's syndicate protects you?" I asked quietly. "You think because they backed my liquidity last quarter that I am in their pocket?"
Sofia’s eyes flickered with a brief flash of uncertainty. "My father owns half the port authorities in Boston. Without us, your cargo rots on the docks."
"Your father owns the old ports, Sofia," I corrected, a cold smile touching the corners of my mouth. "Three months ago, I quietly bought out the entire northern deep-water terminal in Nova Scotia and secured exclusive federal clearance for all incoming Atlantic freight. Your family's syndicate doesn't back my empire anymore, Sofia. They depend on my scraps to survive."
May you like
Her face went pale. The gun barrel dipped by a fraction of an inch—just a millimeter of hesitation.
That was all the opening I needed.
