Chapter 9 - THE DEAL
I stopped at the top of the stairs, gripping the banister until my knuckles ached. Julian stood below, one hand resting gently on Emma’s blanket, the other holding a small device.
“Come down slowly,” he said. “Or this goes off. And then… we all have a very bad night.”
I recognized the device. A signal jammer. Everything went dead because of him. The monitors. The alarms. The phones.
“Step away from her,” I said, my voice trembling but clear.
“Come down,” he repeated. “Or I walk out that door with her. And you will never see either of us again.”
I walked down the stairs. One step at a time. My legs felt like lead.
When I reached the bottom, Julian nodded toward the living room. “Inside. Close the door.”
I stepped inside. He followed, carrying Emma effortlessly, and kicked the door shut behind him. He laid her gently on the sofa. Emma stared up at him, wide-eyed but not crying. She seemed confused, not afraid.
Julian looked at me. Close up, he looked older than his photographs. Tired. Hard-eyed. Elena’s brother—yes, I could see the resemblance. The same jawline. The same eyes. But Elena’s eyes had been warm. His were cold.
“Sit,” he said.
I stood my ground. “What do you want?”
“Simple,” he said, leaning against the mantel. “Adrian has cut me out. Everything. The will. The trust. The guardianship. Everything Elena left me. Gone.”
“You killed her,” I said.
Julian went still. Then he smiled, thin and sharp. “So Vanessa talked. Good. She always did like the sound of her own voice.”
“Did you kill her?”
Julian looked at Emma. Then back at me.
“Elena was unhappy. She was planning to leave Adrian. Take Emma. Move abroad. Cut me off too. She told me so. She said she was rewriting her will. Leaving everything to charity. I had to stop her. For the family.”
“So you poisoned her.”
“I gave her something to calm her down. Just enough to make her sleep. To make her listen. But she had a heart condition. No one knew. Not even her.” He paused. “She died in her sleep. Quietly. Peacefully. And then… I made sure the paperwork said what it needed to say. And Vanessa… Vanessa helped me keep Adrian distracted.”
“And now?”
“Now Adrian has erased me,” Julian said, his voice hardening. “So we make a new deal. You go to Adrian. You tell him to restore my rights. Restore my name. Restore everything. By tomorrow evening. Or…”
He gestured toward Emma.
“Or what?” I asked quietly.
“Or Emma’s inheritance becomes worthless if she dies before she turns twenty-five. Adrian knows that. Elena wrote it that way. If both parents are gone… the estate passes to the next of kin. Me.”
My stomach dropped.
“You wouldn’t.”
“Try me,” Julian said. “I have already lost everything. I have nothing left to lose. Adrian has twenty-four hours. Sign it all back over. Or his daughter joins her mother.”
Emma let out a soft little coo and reached for Julian’s hand. He looked down at her, his expression flickering—something almost like grief crossing his face before he smoothed it back into cold resolve.
“I am her blood,” he said quietly. “I am all she has left of Elena. Adrian is nothing. You are nothing. If you cooperate… she stays safe. If you don’t… she comes with me. And no one will ever find us.”
He pulled a folded document from his pocket and set it on the table.
“Adrian knows what this is. It restores everything. Tell him to sign it. Have it notarized. And bring it to me alone. At the old boathouse. Midnight tomorrow.”
“And if I tell the police?”
Julian stepped closer. He leaned in until his face was inches from mine.
“Then I take Emma and vanish. And you spend the rest of your life wondering where she is. And if she is safe. Your choice, Clara.”
He turned toward the sofa, leaned down, and touched Emma’s forehead gently.
“Sleep well, little one. Uncle Julian will see you soon.”
He walked out the front door. Closed it softly behind him.
Silence rushed back in.
I ran to Emma. Lifted her. Held her tight. She was warm. She was whole. She was alive.
I grabbed the document from the table. Stared at it.
Restoring everything. Every right. Every penny.
I walked to the window and watched Julian disappear into the dark.
He thought he was bargaining with a nanny.
He didn’t realize he had just made a deal with someone who would burn the world down before letting him near that child again.
I pulled out my phone. Signal returned. One bar.
I dialed Adrian. He answered on the first ring.
May you like
“Clara? Is everything alright?”
“Adrian,” I said, my voice steady and cold. “Julian was here. He took Emma. He gave me twenty-four hours. And I know exactly where we need to be tomorrow night.”
