Chapter 8 - The Shadow of the PastJulian returned to the manor with his mind spinning. He confronted his mother, Beatrice, inside her private sitting room, shutting and locking the mahogany door behind him.
"You said Clara walked away and died because she was too proud to beg," Julian whispered aggressively, throwing the medical report onto her vanity table. "Why does her autopsy show a military-grade toxin, Mother?"
Beatrice turned pale, her hands trembling as she set down her crystal perfume bottle.
"Eight years ago," Beatrice whispered, her voice laced with cold venom, "Arthur was about to hand the entire empire over to Clara. You were going to be left with crumbs, Julian! I couldn't let her take what was rightfully yours."
Julian stared at his mother in quiet horror. "You... you tracked her down?"
"I had a contact slip it into her medicine when she fell ill three years ago," Beatrice hissed, stepping closer to her son. "It was slow. It looked like natural deterioration. I made sure she suffered enough to die in obscurity! But she kept that cursed child alive... and now that little rat is sitting in our house!"
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Instead of reporting his mother, Julian’s eyes narrowed with a sinister realization. The stakes were no longer just about money—if Arthur ever discovered the truth about Clara’s murder, both Julian and Beatrice would spend the rest of their lives in federal prison.
"Then we have no choice," Julian said, his voice dropping into a dangerous hush. "The child cannot remain here."
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