Chương 18 - Poison in the Champagne
The ballroom descended into tense, paralyzing panic. Nobody moved. The Council members—billionaires, arms dealers, corrupt prime ministers—backed against the gold-leaf walls, realizing that the civilized facade of the evening had been shattered in seconds.
Julian Vance slowly clapped his hands, walking forward through the parted crowd.
"Always so dramatic, Elias," Julian sighed, shaking his head. "You never did appreciate the subtlety of diplomacy."
"Diplomacy ended when you sent Ward to murder my son," Elias replied, his gun never wavering from the center of Julian’s chest.
"A test of reflexes," Julian said casually, stopping five paces away. He turned his attention to Saraphina, his eyes raking over her with clinical fascination. "And you... little Saraphina. You look so remarkably like your mother. She, too, had that absurd, suicidal courage."
"Keep my mother's name out of your mouth," Saraphina said, her voice dropping into a register that made even the hardened men around her flinch. "You orchestrated the bloodbath that destroyed my family. You stole our assets, erased my name, and thought I would rot in a cottage in Kingston."
"I saved you, girl!" Julian hissed, his aristocratic veneer cracking. "If I hadn't hidden you with those foster records, Anton would have killed you himself! He was paranoid! He thought you held the key to the family vault!"
"She *does* hold the key," Elias stepped forward, his massive frame radiating lethal intent. "And now we're going down to that vault. You're going to open the blast doors, Julian. Or I will dismantle you piece by piece in front of every backer you have left."
Julian smiled—a cold, terrifying stretch of thin lips. "Do you truly think I would gather the entire Council here without insurance?"
Julian raised his champagne glass.
Suddenly, red laser sights converged from the mezzanine railings—not onto Elias, but onto the Council members themselves.
Panic exploded. The high-society guests shrieked, trampling each other as they realized Julian had turned his own private security on them.
"You're liquidating the Council?" Saraphina breathed in disbelief.
"The Council is obsolete," Julian said, dropping his glass. It shattered on the marble. "The modern world doesn't need old men squabbling over shipping routes. It needs one absolute authority. Once you and Elias open the vault, the funds transfer directly to my private accounts in Singapore. And the two of you—along with everyone in this room—will perish in an unfortunate gas leak."
"Not on my watch," Saraphina whispered.
With blinding speed, Saraphina reached beneath her velvet skirt, pulling a ceramic blade concealed against her thigh, and drove it directly into the shoulder of the guard standing to Julian's right.
The guard screamed, dropping his weapon.
Elias fired twice into the mezzanine, dropping two snipers, while Marco—who had slipped in disguised as a waiter—detonated smoke canisters across the ballroom floor.
Thick, blinding grey smoke swallowed the ballroom instantly. Gunfire erupted into the haze.
May you like
"To the vault!" Elias roared, grabbing Saraphina's wrist, pulling her through the blinding smoke toward the reinforced service doors behind the stage.
***
