Chapter 25 - The Sins of Evelyn
"Don't move!" David barked, the gun trembling slightly in his hands. "Where is she? Where is Evelyn?"
Julian didn't flinch at the barrel pointed at his chest. Instead, he smiled with genuine amusement, as if David were a child brandishing a plastic toy.
"She’s outside, David. In the car. Her health isn't what it used to be. The tranquilizers they pumped into her veins for two years ruined her kidneys. But her mind? Her mind is sharper than ever." Julian glanced toward the nursery door behind David. "She wants the baby, David. She believes Maya is her second chance. A fresh start to build the family that you and Leah destroyed."
Behind David, Leah stepped into the doorway of the nursery. She had put Maya in the walk-in closet behind two locked doors and had armed herself with a heavy fire poker from the bedroom hearth. Her face was pale, but her eyes burned with feral, maternal rage.
"She will never touch my daughter again," Leah hissed. "I will kill her with my bare hands before she lays a single finger on Maya."
Julian’s gaze shifted to Leah, his smile fading into something dark and dismissive. "Ah, the interloper. The woman who poisoned David’s mind. Evelyn told me all about you, Leah. She said you were selfish. She said you stole her boy."
"Your mother tried to murder Leah over a crib!" David shouted, his voice cracking with emotion. "She poisoned our food! She followed us for months! She is a monster, Julian!"
"She is our *mother*!" Julian roared suddenly, his calm facade shattering in an instant, revealing the volcanic, volatile rage beneath. His eyes dilated, veins pulsing along his neck. "She sacrificed everything for you! She kept me hidden in boarding schools across Switzerland, funded by stolen trusts, so you could have a normal, picture-perfect American childhood! And how did you repay her? You testified against her! You put her in a cage with criminally insane beasts!"
Julian took two aggressive strides forward.
David didn't hesitate. He pulled the trigger.
*BANG.*
The deafening gunshot in the enclosed hallway was accompanied by a blinding flash of muzzle flare. The 9mm bullet ripped through Julian’s left shoulder, spraying dark crimson against the patterned wallpaper.
Julian stumbled backward, grunting in agony, but he didn't fall. The impact spun him around, and his hand clamped over the bleeding wound. Yet, when he looked back up at David, he wasn't screaming in pain.
He was grinning through gritted, blood-stained teeth.
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"You always were her favorite," Julian gasped, and then he pulled a black smoke canister from his deep coat pocket, ripped the pin with his teeth, and threw it hard against the floor.
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