Chapter 41 - The Falling Empire
"Seventy seconds left on the local jammer," Christian reported, checking his tactical wristwatch. "Medical team reports the micro-capsule in Astrid's chest is isolated. Extraction protocol is ninety percent complete at the safehouse."
I walked over to the mahogany desk, picked up Eleanor’s porcelain teacup, and dropped it onto the hardwood floor. It shattered into a hundred jagged pieces.
"Julian," I said, looking down at my ex-husband, who was curled in a fetal position, shivering. "Remember when you told me to remember my place? On my jet? In front of your cheap little secretary?"
Julian looked up at me, his eyes hollow with despair. "Claire... please... I’ll sign anything. I’ll give you the divorce on your terms. Just don't let them take me to prison. Please..."
"Your place, Julian," I whispered coldly, "is in a federal penitentiary for the next thirty-five years for corporate treason and international money laundering. You signed your own name on Eleanor’s offshore shell filings. Every single crime she committed in the last five years carries your legal signature."
Julian let out a guttural wail, burying his face in his hands as Christian’s men dragged him backward out of the salon, his heels squealing against the polished floorboards.
I turned back to Eleanor. She was cornered against the panoramic window overlooking the Mediterranean. Even now, stripped of her accounts, her muscle neutralized, her puppet destroyed, there was a dark, feral defiance burning in her eyes.
"You think this is over, Claire?" Eleanor whispered, her lips curling into a bloody sneer. "You think this yacht is the only thing I built? The Genesis drive wasn't just financial. It has a second protocol. A protocol Henry was too terrified to tell you about."
Henry’s eyes widened in sheer horror. "Eleanor... no. You wouldn't."
"What second protocol?" I demanded, my gaze shifting between Henry and my mother.
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"Ask your father," Eleanor laughed, a frantic, unhinged sound that echoed against the glass. "Ask him why he really fled to the Arctic! It wasn't to hide from me, Claire! It was to hide what he built for the Pentagon before he ever met me!"
***
