Part 26
The doors to the master stateroom were double-hinged mahogany, locked tight.
I didn't need an axe this time. I simply kicked the center lock with everything I had left, the wood splintering under the force.
The doors swung open.
Inside, Thomas was standing near the bed, his face pale with a mixture of terror and desperation.
In his hand, he held a sleek silver briefcase—the cold-storage unit that contained the global access keys to Vale International's primary accounts.
But what made my breath catch was the large, soundproofed crib in the corner of the room.
Lily and Arthur were inside, awake, their large eyes looking at me with confusion, but they were unhurt.
"Don't come any closer, Victoria!" Thomas screamed, his voice cracking as he backed away toward the open porthole.
"I'll throw the keys into the ocean! I'll wipe the entire Vale fortune off the earth!"
"You think I care about the money?" I said, walking toward him slowly, deliberately, my boots clicking against the carpet.
"You still don't get it, do you, Thomas?"
"You spent five years married to me, and you never realized that the money was just a scoreboard."
"I built that empire because it was my father's dream. But these children? They are my life."
He reached behind him, his hand trembling as he opened the porthole, the freezing sea air rushing into the room.
"One step closer and I jump with the briefcase!" he threatened, trying to look brave, but his sweat-slicked forehead betrayed him.
"Then jump," I said, stopping five feet away from him.
"The briefcase is biometric. It requires my thumbprint to activate the transfer anyway."
"Without me, that metal box is just twenty pounds of useless steel."
"You have nothing, Thomas. No money, no country, no allies. Alistair Sterling is bankrupt. Your guards are down."
"You are completely, utterly alone."
He stared at me, the reality of his total defeat finally sinking into his small, pathetic mind.
His eyes flicked from me to the crib, and in a final, desperate act of malice, he lunged toward the children.
May you like
He never made it.
I closed the distance between us in a heartbeat, grabbing a heavy crystal decanter from the nightstand and smashing it squarely across his jaw.
