Chapter 21 - Shattered Earth
Julian’s bullet struck Arthur Sterling straight through the shoulder, a brutal impact that spun the patriarch halfway around just as his thumb hammered the detonator switch.
A deafening roar ripped through the foundation of the coastal estate. The shockwave lifted me off my feet, the concussive blast rattling my teeth and stealing the breath from my lungs. Concrete sheared, steel beams groaned in agony, and the entire marble terrace beneath us buckled, splitting down the middle like an eggshell.
"MOMMY!"
Leo’s scream cut through the roar of fire and falling stone.
Instinct overrode fear, overrode pain, overrode the instinct of self-preservation. I didn't look at the ocean boiling sixty feet below in the blackness. I didn't look at Arthur, who was tumbling backward toward the jagged precipice with blood spraying from his collarbone. I threw my body across the widening chasm, sliding on my knees across shards of broken glass toward the reinforced shelter where my son was trapped.
The floor beneath the shelter was dropping. Six inches. A foot.
"I've got you, Leo! I'm here!" I screamed, lunging forward with both hands outstretched.
My fingers hooked into the collar of his little coat just as the slab supporting the shelter fractured entirely. The weight of the falling concrete threatened to drag me over the edge into the churning abyss. My shoulders burned as if being torn from their sockets. Rain battered my face, blinding me, but my grip on my little boy remained ironclad.
"Julian!" I screamed into the storm.
A pair of strong, blood-streaked hands locked around my waist from behind. Julian hauled with every ounce of strength he possessed, pulling both me and Leo backward onto the solid bedrock of the interior hallway. A second later, the entire terrace broke away and plummeted into the churning waves below, swallowed by the roaring sea.
I pulled Leo tight against my chest. His small body shook violently, his fingers clawing into the fabric of my rain-soaked sweater.
"You're safe, baby. Mommy has you. Mommy will never let you go," I whispered, burying my face in his damp hair, weeping tears of pure adrenaline and primal relief.
Julian fell to his knees beside us, panting heavily, blood dripping from a gash across his temple. He peered over the ragged edge where the terrace had stood seconds before. Down in the darkness, amid the white foam crashing against black rocks, there was no sign of Arthur Sterling—only shattered concrete and twisting rebar.
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"Is he dead?" I breathed, my heart hammering against my ribs.
Julian’s jaw tightened as he watched the raging tide. "A fall like that into those rocks... nobody should be able to survive it. But until I see his body, we assume nothing. Clara, we have to move. The structural supports are failing. The whole wing is coming down."
