Eleanor lunged forward and violently threw the crumpled fax directly at Kevin's face.
The sharp edge of the thick paper sliced across Kevin's cheekbone. A thin line of bright red blood instantly welled up on his skin.
Kevin gasped, his hand flying up to cover the cut. Audra screamed, rushing to his side, her hands shaking as she touched his face.
The temperature in the room plummeted.
Aurora stepped in front of her parents. Her body shielded them completely. She stared at Eleanor with the eyes of an apex predator looking at its next meal.
Uncle Roger pointed a fat, trembling finger at Aurora. "Do you know what you've done?! The Yates family just pulled all their investments! Our supply chains are frozen! The family is bankrupt because of you!"
Uncle Howard stepped up, his face red with rage. "You curse! You come back for one day and destroy a century of our legacy!"
Aurora looked at the two grown men throwing a tantrum. A cold, mocking sneer twisted her lips. "You bloodsucking parasites. You run the family into the ground, and your only survival plan is to sell a woman? Pathetic."
The insult hit Roger right in his fragile ego. His face turned purple. He waved his hand at the bodyguards. "Teach this bitch a lesson!"
Two massive men, each weighing over two hundred pounds, stepped forward. One reached out his massive hand to grab Aurora's shoulder.
Aurora didn't retreat. She didn't even blink.
She shifted her weight, her hips twisting with explosive kinetic energy. Her right leg snapped up in a vicious, perfectly angled side-kick, driving the heel of her boot directly into the side of the first bodyguard's knee.
CRACK.
The sickening sound of breaking bone echoed in the small room. The giant man let out an agonizing scream and collapsed, his leg bent at a horrifying, unnatural angle.
The second bodyguard's eyes went wide. He reached for the stun baton on his belt.
He was too slow. Aurora stepped into his guard. Her hand formed a rigid blade, and she chopped down hard on the side of his neck.
The man's eyes rolled back, and he dropped to the floor like a sack of dead weight.
It took less than two seconds. Two elite bodyguards were neutralized.
The room fell into a terrified, dead silence.
Eleanor stumbled backward, her cane clicking frantically against the floorboards. She stared at Aurora as if she were looking at a demon. Roger and Howard swallowed hard, shrinking back behind the remaining guards.
Kevin lowered his hand from his bleeding face. He looked at his daughter, standing there, radiating violence to protect him. The decades of cowardice inside him shattered completely.
Kevin pushed past Aurora. He marched right up to his mother, staring down at her with a fire he hadn't felt in years.
"Enough!" Kevin roared, his voice shaking the walls. "If there is no place for us in this house, then we are leaving!"
Eleanor looked at her submissive son in pure shock. Her fear quickly morphed back into toxic pride. "Fine! Walk out that door, and you are dead to this family!"
Kevin gritted his teeth. "I've been suffocating under this filthy name for too long."
Eleanor's hands shook with rage. "Get out! Take nothing! I will make sure you freeze to death on the streets of Redwood City!"
Audra didn't waste a second. She ran into the bedroom and grabbed a single, small duffel bag containing Vera's old belongings. Nothing else.
Aurora looked dead into Eleanor's eyes. Her voice was a soft, lethal promise. "Remember what you said today, old woman. Soon, you will be on your knees begging us to come back."
Eleanor scoffed, trying to mask her lingering terror.
Aurora turned around. She placed a protective hand on her father's back and guided her parents out the door. The remaining bodyguards parted like the red sea, too terrified to even look at her.
Outside, a freezing drizzle had started to fall.
The heavy iron gates of the estate slammed shut behind them with a loud, metallic clang.
Kevin stood in the rain, stripped of his wealth, his home, and his family name. But as he looked out at the street, his back was straighter than it had been in a decade.
Aurora raised her hand and flagged down a passing yellow cab. She opened the door, ushering her parents into the dry backseat.
Before she got in, Aurora looked back at the massive, glowing mansion. Her eyes were devoid of mercy.
She slid into the cab, pulled out her encrypted phone, and sent a two-word text to K. Stone.
Annihilate them.
