Chapter 38 - Betrayal at the Top
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The silence inside the Geneva vault was deafening as the tactical officers escorted Serena and Julian away.
I stood over the silver briefcase, my chest heaving, my gaze locked onto Lord Alistair sitting in his wheelchair.
"Is it true, Uncle?" I asked, my voice dropping to an icy, dangerous whisper. "Did you bring me to London because you couldn't access my father's reserve yourself?"
Alistair closed his eyes for a long moment, letting out a ragged breath that seemed to age him ten years in seconds.
"I needed the reserve to save the family name, Lydia," Alistair admitted softly, looking up at me with eyes full of desperate greed. "Without Arthur's forty percent voting share, the European Board was going to strip me of Sterling Manor and liquidate our ancestral estate. I... I had no choice!"
"You lied to me," I said, tears of deep anger pricking the corners of my eyes. "You used Clara and me as bait to draw Serena out and open this vault!"
"I protected you!" Alistair argued, his voice rising in panic. "I gave you a home! I brought you into the fold!"
"You brought me into a war," I corrected sharply.
I snapped the silver briefcase shut and locked it with my own private code. I picked it up, stepping past my uncle without looking back.
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"Lydia, wait! Where are you going?" Alistair called out frantically as his wheelchair hummed behind us. "The International Board meets in London in three hours! You can't face them without me!"
"I don't need you, Alistair," I said, walking side by side with Ben toward the vault elevator. "My mother gave me the guillotine. Now I'm going to drop the blade."
