Chapter 6 - THE BLOOD LINEAGE
The rain pounded mercilessly against the floor-to-ceiling glass of the penthouse suite.
Sofia dragged her feet as she followed Elena up the dark concrete stairs toward the central vault floor.
Her feet were bare, scraped, and bleeding from the rough concrete steps.
She had lost all of her elite high-society pride.
She was no longer the arrogant heiress who threw wet garbage at service workers.
She was just a terrified hostage trying to stay alive in a war she didn't understand.
"Elena... please," Sofia whimpered, holding her arms around her shivering body.
"My father... he has money... he can pay you whatever you want."
"Just let me go home."
Elena stopped on the landing, not turning around.
"Your father is on the board of directors, Sofia," Elena said smoothly.
Sofia froze.
"What?"
"Your father, Arthur Sterling, was the one who funded Viktor’s mercenary unit," Elena revealed, turning her head slightly.
"This entire evening was a setup."
"You coming to this diner, insulting the staff, causing a scene..."
"It was all designed to draw me out into the open so they could execute me."
"Your father used you as bait, Sofia."
Sofia’s face drained of all color.
"No... no, that's impossible!" Sofia yelled, her voice breaking.
"Daddy loves me! He bought me this dress! He gave me the credit cards!"
"He gave you a dress to make you look expensive while he sent you into a slaughterhouse," Elena spat back coldly.
"He knew Viktor was going to gas the garage."
"He knew you were down there."
"He didn't care if you died as long as I died with you."
Sofia dropped to her knees on the cold stairs, clutching her head in total denial.
"He wouldn't... he wouldn't do that to me..."
Elena walked back down three steps and grabbed Sofia by her chin, forcing the girl to look into her sharp green eyes.
"Listen to me carefully, little girl," Elena whispered fiercely.
"In our world, family is just a target painted on your back."
"If you want to survive tonight, you stop crying about your daddy and you start helping me destroy him."
Sofia stared at Elena, seeing the terrifying truth in her eyes.
The illusion of her perfect, wealthy life was completely pulverized.
"What... what do you want me to do?" Sofia whispered, her voice hollow and empty.
Elena smiled a dark, predatory smile.
"I want you to call your father."
"Tell him you escaped the gas."
"Tell him you have the fake ring in your hands."
"And tell him to meet you in the vault alone."
Elena pulled her encrypted phone out and handed it to Sofia.
"If you try to warn him... if you change a single word of what I tell you to say..."
Elena touched the cold, steel barrel of her pistol to Sofia’s temple.
"...I will end your family line right here on these stairs."
Sofia took the phone with trembling hands.
She dialed her father's private line.
The phone rang once.
Twice.
On the third ring, a deep, arrogant voice answered the speaker.
"Is it done, Viktor?" Arthur Sterling asked coldly over the line.
Sofia swallowed hard, feeling the cold steel pressed against her forehead.
"D-Daddy?" Sofia sobbed, forcing her voice to sound desperate.
"Sofia?!" Arthur’s voice panicked for a second, then hardened.
"Why are you on this line?! Where is Viktor?!"
"Viktor is dead..." Sofia lied, reading the hatred in Elena’s eyes.
"I... I have the pink diamond, Daddy."
"I took it off the server's body before the gas filled the room."
"I'm at the vault door."
"Come get me... please... I'm scared."
There was a long silence on the other end of the line.
Elena watched the phone screen closely.
Finally, Arthur spoke.
"Stay right there, darling," Arthur said smoothly.
"Daddy is coming to get his prize."
The call disconnected.
Elena pulled the phone back and tucked her pistol into her waist band.
May you like
"Good girl," Elena said softly.
"Now, let's go welcome your father to his funeral."
