I came home after two years in Singapore and found my four-year-old son crawling on bruised knees while my husband’s mistress laughed and called him a little animal. / Chapter 39 / 80

Chapter 39 - The Patriarch's Last Stand

Arthur slowly reached into his suit jacket. Julian reacted instantly: "Hands where I can see them! Move and you die!"

Arthur slowly withdrew his hand, revealing a small, black electronic detonator with a glowing red LED display counting down from two minutes.

"Underneath this lighthouse sit five hundred gallons of industrial aviation fuel left over from the old coast guard depot," Arthur said softly, his voice chillingly calm. "The moment this timer hits zero, or the moment my thumb releases this pressure switch... the entire Spire collapses into the sea. We all go down together."

"You're bluffing," I snapped, stepping forward. "You love your miserable life too much to die here."

"I love the Sterling legacy," Arthur corrected, his gaze burning into mine. "If I cannot rule this empire, no one will. And the Sterling name will not be dragged through public courts by a Singaporean runaway and her bastard brat!"

In that split second, the bodyguard shifted his weight, anticipating Julian's reaction.

Julian fired.

The bullet caught the bodyguard square in the chest, dropping him instantly. But in the exact same heartbeat, Arthur lunged toward the reinforced glass balcony door, slamming his hand down on the detonator’s activation key!

*BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.* The timer accelerated: thirty seconds!

"Clara, grab the detonator!" Julian yelled as he tackled the charging secondary threat.

I dashed across the polished floor, diving toward Arthur with every ounce of strength in my body. We crashed against the heavy oak desk, papers and antique decanters shattering around us. Arthur, fueled by desperate, old-man rage, grabbed me by the throat, his liver-spotted hands digging into my windpipe.

"You should have stayed in Singapore!" he snarled, saliva flying from his lips. "You should have let Brooke break him!"

Black spots danced in my vision. Oxygen left my lungs.

Through the suffocating darkness, I saw Leo's little face smiling at me in the morning sun. I heard him whisper: *Mommy, don't let them take you.*

*Never.*

With a feral cry, I drove my thumb straight into Arthur's right eye socket.

Arthur screamed in agonizing pain, his grip loosening instantly. I slammed my forehead forward into the bridge of his nose, breaking cartilage with a sickening crunch. He tumbled backward, clutching his bloodied face, the electronic detonator slipping from his fingers and sliding across the polished floor.

I lunged forward, snatching the device with five seconds left on the countdown.

My fingers found the manual override switch Julian had trained me to recognize. With a violent twist, I ripped the lithium battery pack out of the casing.

The timer died.