Chapter 18 - The Viper’s Demand
Julian took his time walking across the polished marble floor. Every guest parted like the Red Sea before him, terrified of the legend, the ghost, the man who had supposedly clawed his way back from the bottom of the Mediterranean.
Adrian stood his ground beside me, leaning hard against his cane, his knuckles whitening as if he were barely keeping himself upright.
"Julian," Adrian rasped, his voice tight, strained, playing his role with frightening perfection. "You're dead. The maritime authorities declared you lost at sea ten years ago."
Julian let out a rich, melodious laugh that made the hairs on my arms stand up.
"The maritime authorities are bureaucrats, Adrian. They see what they are paid to see." Julian stopped three paces in front of us, resting his hands inside his pockets, his posture towering and arrogant. "I see you survived my little welcoming gift in Ohio. Truly miraculous. Science has made incredible strides, hasn't it? Or perhaps... you were simply too stubborn to die."
The audacity of his words sent a collective shudder through the surrounding crowd. Reporers who had slipped into the ballroom frantically aimed their concealed recording devices.
"You admit it?" I cried out, stepping half an inch forward, letting the trembling fury in my voice sound like desperate hysteria. "You blew up Adrian's plane! You destroyed my father! You took everything from us!"
Julian looked at me, clicking his tongue with mocking sympathy.
"Oh, Elena. Sweet, naive Elena. Your father was an incompetent sentimentalist. He wanted to give away our defense patents for pennies to save the Vale family’s failing airline division. I merely did what any true Vance would do: I severed the diseased limb to preserve the body."
Julian turned to the assembled crowd, raising his voice so every billionaire and politician in the room could hear every syllable.
"Adrian Vale is a dead man walking! Over the last twelve hours, Vance Maritime and my international consortium have acquired thirty-eight percent of Vale Holdings' floating shares on the European markets. By sunrise tomorrow, I will file for an emergency board meeting. I will strip Adrian Vale of his CEO title, liquidating his assets to settle the historic debts owed to the Vance Defense Group!"
A murmur of shock rippled through the room. Several Vale board members who were standing nearby blanched, their eyes darting nervously toward Adrian.
Julian stepped closer, his gaze dropping to me, his smile turning cruel and possessive.
"And as for you, Elena... blood calls to blood. I am prepared to offer you an olive branch. Walk away from this broken cripple tonight. Sign over your father’s remaining voting proxies to me, and I will restore your family’s fortune. You will be the wealthiest heiress in North America."
Julian reached out his leather-gloved hand toward me.
"Choose, niece. The Vance dynasty... or a dead man’s ruined throne."
The entire ballroom held its breath.
I looked down at his outstretched hand, then slowly turned my head toward Adrian. Adrian looked up at me, his eyes full of fabricated vulnerability, his chest heaving slightly as if awaiting his execution.
I took a deep breath.
Then, I took a step forward. I raised my hand, reaching toward Julian’s outstretched palm.
Julian’s grin widened with triumphant disgust.
And then, with the speed of a striking cobra, my hand bypassed his fingers entirely, swung across the empty air, and delivered a resounding, thunderous slap across Julian Vance’s face.
*SLAP!*
The sharp crack echoed through the cavernous hall like a gunshot.
Julian’s head jerked to the side. The entire room froze in utter, petrified disbelief.
I leaned in close, my eyes blazing with pure, venomous fire, and spoke into the silence of five hundred paralyzed elites:
May you like
"You may share my blood, Julian. But you are nothing more than a thieving rat crawling out of the sewer to steal what greater men have built."
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