Chapter 2 - The Cold Judgment of the Underworld
The temperature in the grand foyer seemed to drop ten degrees the second Victor Blackwood crossed the threshold.
He didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t need to. The sheer aura of dark authority radiating from his tall, athletic frame commanded absolute silence. Jet-black hair brushed back from a sharp, angular face, and eyes the color of fractured ice swept over the chaotic scene in a single, sweeping glance.
At the base of the staircase, his son Ethan was curled into a trembling, sobbing ball, his right arm dangling at an unnatural, sickening angle. A few feet away, Serena knelt on the floor, sobbing hysterically into her hands, her blouse torn, looking like a shattered victim of sudden violence. And sprawled on the cold marble was Lily, battered, breathing heavily, her hands stained with dust and tears.
Victor’s gaze locked onto Ethan first. A muscle ticked in his jaw—a microscopic sign of volcanic fury that made his chief bodyguard, Marcus, visibly flinch near the doorway.
"Explain," Victor commanded. His voice was a deep, resonant baritone that vibrated through the marble floorboards.
Serena was the first to move, scrambling forward with desperate grace to clutch at the hem of Victor’s coat. Her voice shook with masterclass perfection.
"Victor! Thank God you're early," she sobbed, burying her face against his knee. "I—I came downstairs and found her... I found her standing over Ethan, shaking him violently! When I tried to stop her, she attacked me, tore my clothes, and told me she hated this family! She broke his arm, Victor! Look at him! Please, you have to do something!"
The silence that followed was absolute. Even Ethan’s weak cries seemed to echo with agonizing loneliness against the high vaulted ceilings.
Marcus stepped forward, his hand instinctively resting beneath his jacket where a suppressed firearm rested in a shoulder holster. "Boss, should I take the girl to the basement holding room?"
Lily’s heart hammered against her cracked ribs. She looked up from the floor, meeting the terrifying, bottomless gaze of the most feared man in Illinois. She knew this was her only chance. If she let them take her to the basement, she would vanish before morning, and justice for little Ethan would die with her.
Gathering every ounce of remaining strength, Lily forced herself up onto her hands and knees. Blood trickled from a small cut on her lip. Her eyes burned with a fierce, unyielding light that caught Victor completely off guard.
"She's lying," Lily said, her voice steady despite the agony in her chest.
Serena gasped, clutching her chest theatrically. "Victor, look at her! She’s insane! She’s trying to turn it around on me!"
"Shut up, Serena," Victor said softly.
May you like
The command was so quiet, yet so lethal, that Serena choked on her own breath, instantly freezing. Victor slowly detached himself from her grip and took two measured steps toward Lily. He towered over her, casting a long, dark shadow that swallowed her whole.
"You have ten seconds," Victor said, his eyes narrowing into cold slits as he looked down at the bruised nanny. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't let Marcus feed you to the river fishes right now."
