Julian froze. The penthouse office was suffocatingly silent, save for the low hum of the air conditioning.
"What did you just say?" Julian's voice was terrifyingly low.
Before the assistant could repeat himself, the office doors were shoved open. Grandma Eleanor strode in, leaning on her cane, flanked by personal bodyguards. Her face was a mask of pure, unadulterated fury.
"You despicable, heartless monster!" Eleanor roared, her voice echoing against the floor-to-ceiling windows. "You don't deserve the Vance name!"
Julian stood up, wiping his hands with a towel, looking both annoyed and confused. "Grandma, what are you doing here? Don't tell me Serena dragged you into this, too. Did she pay off my assistant to come in here and lie to me? Tell her to stop playing these childish games. I'm not falling for it."
Eleanor didn't say a word. She marched right up to him, raised her cane, and cracked it hard against the side of his head.
Julian stumbled backward, clutching his bleeding temple in shock.
"Over this cheap bitch," Eleanor spat, pointing a trembling, ringed finger at Chloe cowering on the couch, "you destroyed your own children's memorial! You scattered their ashes on the floor! And you still have the gall to blame Serena?! She's gone, Julian! You pushed her over the edge, and she's gone!"
Sensing the drastic shift in the room's atmosphere, Chloe immediately deployed her trump card. Tears pooled in her wide eyes as she clumsily slid off the couch and fell to her knees before Eleanor.
"Mrs. Vance, please!" Chloe sobbed, looking the picture of pathetic innocence.
"If you're angry, hit me, but don't hurt Julian! I know Serena hates me, but the baby in my belly is a Vance! I'm just a helpless woman who loves your grandson. Why is Serena trying to drive me to suicide?"
Her usual tactics never failed to bring men to heel. But Eleanor Vance had navigated fifty years in corporate America and high society; she could spot fake tears from a mile away.
Eleanor let out a terrifying laugh. "What a cheap actress. You were the one whispering poison in his ear. You manipulated him into punishing my great-grandchildren. You orchestrated their deaths, you vicious little psychopath. I will see you burn in hell before I die!"
Eleanor signaled to her guards: "Grab her and throw her out the window!"
The guards stepped forward. Chloe screamed and scrambled backward.
"Stop!" Julian bellowed, throwing himself between them, his chest heaving. "Nobody touches her! She's pregnant! I won't let any of you lay a finger on her!"
He turned to his grandmother, his eyes full of defensive rage.
Eleanor looked at Julian in shock: "Liam and Lily are dead! They were killed by this bitch! And you're still protecting her?"
Julian was in complete denial: "Liam and Lily are dead? Serena is gone? Impossible!"
"That scheming woman actually got you to come all the way downtown just to harass Chloe?!"
"It's all the kids' fault! I was busy taking care of Chloe's baby, and those little brats threw a massive tantrum just because we didn't go to some theme park! They're exactly like their mother—stubborn and self-righteous!"
"If I hadn't sent them to the desert to teach them a lesson, they'd grow up to be totally useless!"
Julian pointed at the door. "Tell Serena to end this farce right now! Tell her to bring the kids here, get on her knees, and apologize to Chloe, or I will divorce her and strip her of everything she owns!"
Eleanor stared at him. The fire in her eyes slowly melted away, replaced by a profound disgust.
She raised her hand and slapped him hard across the face. The strike was so vicious it sounded like a gunshot.
"You animal!" she whispered, her voice choking.
"Liam and Lily were only six, barely out of kindergarten, what do they know about corporate discipline?!"
"You spend all your days messing around with that slut, but when did you ever care about your real daughter and son?!"
Eleanor's chest heaved as she pointed a shaking finger at Chloe's pale face. "For this tramp, you murdered your own children. You destroyed your family."
"You kept saying Serena was being unreasonable," Eleanor continued, her voice rising with grief.
"Have you forgotten who she is? Have you forgotten that she gave up the Sterling family throne, gave up her entire fortune, and endured the mockery of high society just to marry a nobody like you?!"
"She rebuilt Vance Enterprises from the ruins! Without her, you'd be destitute on the streets! And this is how you repay her?!"
Julian froze, his cheek burning red. The undeniable certainty in his grandmother's tone began to chip away at his stubborn wall of denial.
"Grandma... what are you saying?" he stammered, his mask of confidence instantly crumbling. "Are... are you telling the truth?"
Eleanor didn't answer. She turned toward the door and gave a nod.
Two LAPD detectives in plain clothes walked into the office carrying manila folders.
"Mr. Julian Vance?" the lead detective, Miller, asked, looking exhausted. "We've been trying to contact you for days. We're here regarding the investigation into the deaths of Liam and Lily Vance."
Julian gasped. He backed up until his spine hit his desk. "No... no, no, no. There must be some mistake."
Detective Miller opened his folder and placed the official death certificates from the LA County Coroner on the desk.
"The bodies were found a week ago in a remote sector of the Mojave Desert," Miller stated professionally, though his eyes held nothing but contempt.
Julian's eyes locked onto the black text. Cause of death: Severe dehydration, hyperthermia, and massive blood loss due to animal predation.
"No..." Julian whispered, his legs giving out as he slid down the edge of the desk.
Miller tossed a few photos onto the desk. "We don't normally show these, but given your evasive behavior, you need to see them."
The photos showed the desert floor, featuring small, mangled, sun-scorched bodies in tattered clothes. But on the remains of their severed arms, identical birthmarks were clearly visible—the very marks Julian used to kiss.
Finally, Detective Miller placed a scorched Apple Watch on the desk. "We recovered this from the boy's wrist. The lab managed to extract the last recorded voice memo."
Miller pressed play.
The room filled with a burst of static, followed by the howling of the desert wind. Then, a tiny, raspy, trembling voice spoke. It was Liam.
"Daddy... please come get us. We're sorry, we won't ask to go to Disney anymore, we promise. Please, it's so hot out here, and we don't have any water. Lily fell asleep, and she won't wake up. There are coyotes howling outside. Daddy, I'm so scared. We want Mommy... please..."
The recording stopped.
Grandma Eleanor let out a gut-wrenching wail, burying her face in her hands. "My babies... my poor, sweet babies."
Julian stared at the Apple Watch. Everything blurred. He felt as if the walls of the penthouse were closing in on him. A violent pain shot through his chest; he thought he was having a heart attack.
"Why..." Julian gasped for air, his hands clawing at his chest, his eyes wide with horror. "Why didn't they have water? They had survival training... I paid for it..."
He looked up, tears streaming down his face, his mind in absolute chaos.
"I didn't mean to. I swear to God, I just wanted to scare them! I was mad at Serena! I wasn't trying to kill them!"
Realizing the gravity of the situation, Chloe crawled over to him and grabbed his arm. "
Julian, baby, this isn't your fault! You were just being a strict dad! It's Serena's fault! She spoiled them and made them incapable of surviving! Maybe they were just destined to die young! It was fate!"
Julian's head snapped toward her. For the first time, he didn't see a fragile victim; he saw a hideous, parasitic monster.
"Shut up," he growled, his voice laced with lethal menace. "Keep your fucking mouth shut."
He turned his bloodshot eyes to his executive assistant, who was still cowering by the door.
"I ordered a private security team to tail them from a distance. I ordered them to drop coolers of water and protein bars at the three-mile mark. Why wasn't it done?!"
The assistant burst into tears. "Mr. Vance, forgive me! Ms. Bennett... she intercepted the orders!"
"She paid off the security team to leave the perimeter entirely. She had logistics pull all the water and food."
"When the rescue team called to say the kids were missing, she answered the phone! She told them to lie and say the kids were safe at home! She did all of it!"
Eleanor threw a thick stack of printed documents onto the floor. "While we're getting to the truth, take a look at these. Your precious 'first love' wasn't forced to go to Europe. She left you because you went broke, and she became a sugar baby for a Russian oligarch in Monaco! After being charged with fraud, she fled back here."
"She's five months pregnant, Julian. You've only been sleeping with her for three. The baby in her belly isn't even yours!"
Eleanor spat on the floor by Chloe's feet, turned her wheelchair, and rolled out of the office, the detectives right behind her.
Chloe's face went deathly pale as she scrambled backward, waving her hands frantically. "Lies! They're all lies! Julian, you have to believe me! Serena forged those documents! The baby is yours!"
Julian slowly stood up. He felt like a ghost haunting his own body. The reality of what he had done crashed over him like a tsunami of broken glass, bringing agonizing pain.
He had mocked his wife, tortured her, and even smashed the ashes of his murdered children. All for a whore, and all for his fragile, pathetic ego.
"You played me," Julian whispered, stalking toward her like a predator.
"No, Julian! Please!"
He lunged at her, grabbed her by the throat, and hurled her violently across the room. Chloe hit the edge of the heavy glass coffee table with a shriek.
She crumpled to the floor, clutching her stomach as a pool of dark red blood began to seep through her white designer dress.
"My baby! Julian, save me!" she screamed, writhing in agony.
Julian stood over her, his eyes dead and hollow. Instead of reaching out, he pulled his foot back and kicked her viciously in the ribs.
"Guards!" he bellowed.
Two burly men rushed in.
"Take this trash to the state asylum," Julian ordered, his voice devoid of humanity. "Throw her in a padded cell. No visitors. No painkillers. Keep her alive, and make sure she suffers every single day for the rest of her life."
As they dragged a screaming, blood-soaked Chloe out of the office, leaving a trail of blood on the white carpet, Julian stumbled backward.
He grabbed his car keys and sprinted for the private elevator. "Serena. I have to find Serena."
