Chapter 5 - The Fall of the House of Sterling
Chaos consumed the penthouse. Flashbang grenades exploded with deafening booms, blinding Victor’s mercenaries.
In the blinding light and smoke, Clara didn't freeze. As a mercenary reached for her, she grabbed a heavy brass statue from a side table and smashed it against his knee, sending him crashing to the floor. She grabbed his dropped firearm, kicking it away, and scrambled behind a marble pillar.
Through the smoke, she saw Jonathan trying to flee toward a private helipad on the roof.
"Not this time," Clara muttered.
She ran up the iron spiral staircase leading to the roof deck. Rain poured down violently, cold drops stinging her face as she burst onto the helipad. The helicopter rotors were already whirring, creating a deafening roar.
Jonathan was running toward the open helicopter door, clutching a briefcase filled with bearer bonds.
"Jonathan!" Clara shouted over the roar of the wind and rain.
Jonathan spun around, drawing a pistol. But before he could raise it, a figure tackled him low into the slick, wet concrete. It was Julian.
The two brothers wrestled wildly on the rain-slicked roof, inches away from the spinning tail rotor. Julian, driven by pure rage and remorse for the danger he had brought upon Clara, fought with every ounce of strength he had left.
"You ruined everything!" Julian screamed, punching Jonathan across the jaw. "You tried to destroy the woman I love!"
Jonathan snarled, grabbing Julian by the throat and reversing their positions. He raised a heavy tactical knife. "She ruined us! You soft, pathetic little fool!"
BANG.
A single gunshot echoed through the storm.
Jonathan froze. The knife slipped from his hand as he looked down at his chest. Behind him stood Clara, holding a gun she had taken from the guard downstairs, her hand steady despite the pouring rain.
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Jonathan collapsed onto the deck. The helicopter pilot, seeing the chaos, cut the engines and raised his hands in surrender as tactical officers flooded the roof.
Below, Victor Sterling was led out in handcuffs, stripped of his fortune, his empire, and his freedom. Marcus was disarmed and taken into federal custody. The night of terror was finally over.
