Chapter 8 - Julian’s Confession
Mara snatched the gold keycard, spun on her heel, and vanished back into the swirling white smoke.
Julian Bellamy was retreating toward the backstage exit, his remaining bodyguards forming a tight wedge around him. Marcus Varrick was already gone, having fled through a private panic tunnel the moment the shooting started.
“Move, you idiots!” Julian snarled, shoving his bodyguard toward the heavy reinforced exit door. “Get the car to the south ramp! We leave the country tonight!”
“Leaving so soon, Julian?”
A shadow detached itself from the fog.
Mara stepped onto the stage, her gray suit stained with soot, her eyes cold and pitiless. The bodyguard raised his rifle, but Mara didn't hesitate. She fired a three-round burst into the man's tactical plate; the kinetic impact knocked the wind from his lungs and hurled him backward down the wooden steps.
Julian stumbled back against the backstage wall, trapped. He reached for a snub-nosed revolver concealed in his inner coat pocket, but before his fingers could wrap around the grip, Mara closed the distance like a striking viper.
She drove her hand into his chest, pinning him against the wall with crushing force, her forearm pressed hard against his trachea. The billionaire choked, his eyes bulging as his heels lifted off the floor.
“Wait… wait…” Julian gasped, clawing desperately at her arm. “You think… you think this was just us? You think Marcus and I… had the power to lock Mercer House?”
Mara pressed harder, cutting off his air. “You signed the checks, Julian. You paid the arsonist. You killed eight children.”
“We were following orders!” Julian rasped, saliva flying from his lips as his face turned dangerously blue. “We didn't own the development rights! We were the front! The shell company… it wasn't Bellamy Global! It was City Hall! The Mayor… the Governor… they needed that land cleared for the military logistics corridor!”
Mara’s eyes widened slightly. “What are you talking about?”
“The fire wasn't an insurance scam!” Julian wheezed, his voice filled with genuine, suffocating terror. “It was an eviction for an off-the-books government contract! If you expose this… if you release those files… you aren't just taking down two billionaires, Mara. You're declaring war on people who erase entire cities!”
Mara stared into the eyes of the man who had haunted her nightmares for five agonizing years. She saw the truth in his terror—and it was far larger, far darker, than a simple corporate land grab.
“Then they had better prepare for war,” Mara whispered.
May you like
She brought her fist back and struck him across the jaw with ruthless precision. Julian Bellamy’s eyes rolled back, and he collapsed onto the stage, unconscious.
***
