Chapter 2 - NO WAY OUT
Julian pulled Lily behind a marble column.
“Stay close to me.”
“Daddy, I’m scared.”
“I know.”
He kept his voice calm, though every nerve in his body was screaming.
A beam of emergency light flickered on near the stairwell.
Then another.
The mansion glowed blood-red under the backup system.
Eleanor stood halfway up the staircase.
Beside her was Victor Hale, the Vance family’s head of security.
He held a shotgun.
Julian’s stomach dropped.
“Victor?”
The older man avoided his eyes.
Eleanor smiled.
“Did you really think everyone here worked for you?”
Julian looked at Victor.
“You watched her throw Lily over that railing.”
Victor said nothing.
“You have children.”
Still nothing.
Eleanor stepped closer.
“Enough emotion. Give me the phone.”
“No.”
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
Victor raised the shotgun.
Lily whimpered.
Julian slowly placed his phone on the floor.
Eleanor nodded.
“Kick it over.”
He did.
She picked it up, removed the SIM card, and crushed it under her heel.
“You see?” Eleanor said. “Problems disappear when you stop pretending rules matter.”
Julian glanced toward the hallway.
The security room was thirty yards away.
If he could get inside, he might access the camera system.
But Victor stood directly between him and the corridor.
Eleanor noticed his eyes move.
“Don’t.”
Julian looked back at her.
“You erased the footage?”
“I’m working on it.”
“That means you haven’t.”
Eleanor’s jaw tightened.
That was all Julian needed.
He grabbed a bronze sculpture from the table beside him and hurled it at the chandelier.
CRASH.
Glass exploded.
Victor instinctively turned.
Julian grabbed Lily and ran.
“STOP THEM!”
A shotgun blast ripped through the foyer.
Marble shattered behind Julian’s shoulder.
Lily screamed.
They sprinted down the west corridor.
Julian shoved open the library door and locked it behind them.
Seconds later, Victor slammed into it.
“Open this door!”
Julian dragged a heavy chair under the handle.
Lily was crying.
“Daddy, are we going to die?”
He dropped to his knees.
“No.”
“You promise?”
Julian hesitated.
Then he put both hands on her cheeks.
“I promise I’m going to fight like hell before I let anyone hurt you.”
A crash sounded at the door.
Julian scanned the room.
Bookshelves.
Desk.
Fireplace.
Old portraits.
Then he remembered something.
His father had built this library.
And his father trusted nobody.
Julian pulled down a leather-bound copy of The Federalist Papers.
A mechanical click sounded behind the bookshelf.
Lily stared.
The shelf moved.
A narrow passage appeared.
Julian grabbed her hand.
“Come on.”
They slipped inside just as the library door splintered open.
Victor entered.
The shelf had already closed.
Inside the darkness, Julian and Lily moved through a narrow stone corridor.
“Where does this go?” Lily whispered.
Julian swallowed.
“I haven’t been down here since I was fifteen.”
They reached the end.
A steel door waited.
Julian pushed it open.
Behind it was a hidden office.
And on the desk sat a laptop.
Its screen was already on.
One folder was open.
May you like
The title made Julian’s blood run cold.
PROJECT LILY.
