Chapter 2 - The Reckoning
Julian stumbled backward.
The pool was right behind him.
He had nowhere to go.
The man leaned in.
The scent of cedar and old money.
It was suffocating.
“My name is Arthur Thorne,” the man said.
The name hit the air like a gunshot.
The silence grew heavier.
Thorne.
The name that built the city.
The name that destroyed empires.
Julian’s friends backed away.
They were gone.
Cowards.
Elena pulled herself out of the water.
Her red dress clung to her.
She looked at her father.
Then at Julian.
The fear in her eyes was gone.
Replaced by a chilling calm.
Arthur signaled.
Two men appeared from the shadows.
Suit and tie.
Earpieces.
The security detail.
“Take his phone,” Arthur ordered.
One of the guards moved.
Fast.
Julian tried to shield his pocket.
The guard slapped his hand away.
The phone was gone.
Crushed under a heel.
“My party,” Julian stammered.
“Is over,” Arthur replied.
He looked at the guests.
“Everyone out.”
They scrambled.
They tripped over their own feet.
They left their drinks.
Their dignity.
The mansion emptied in seconds.
Julian was left alone.
With the man he had just offended.
Arthur tapped his cane against the stone.
Click.
Click.
“You think this is a game?” Arthur asked.
Julian swallowed hard.
“I… I didn’t know.”
Arthur laughed.
It was a dry, hollow sound.
“Ignorance is not a defense, boy.”
He turned to his daughter.
“Elena?”
She stood tall.
She looked at the man who had mocked her.
The man she had once trusted.
“He thought it was funny,” she said softly.
Arthur nodded.
He signaled the guards.
“Hold him.”
Julian tried to run.
A hand clamped onto his shoulder.
Like a steel vice.
He was pinned.
“We’re going to have a conversation,” Arthur said.
“About assets.”
“About reputations.”
“And about what happens when you cross a Thorne.”
Julian saw his father’s car in the distance.
He realized then.
His father wasn't coming to save him.
His father was the reason Arthur was here.
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It wasn't just a party anymore.
It was a trap.
