Chapter 17 - The Fall The final confrontation came in the grand foyer.
The chandeliers burned bright above them. The staircase loomed behind. The marble floor reflected everything—every step, every face, every lie.
Marcus tried one last time to bargain.
“I can still protect you,” he told Elena. “I can give you a comfortable life.”
Elena looked at him in disgust. “You call imprisonment comfort?”
“No,” he replied. “I call it order.”
Julian moved a half-step forward. “Order built on fear is just another kind of crime.”
Marcus reached inside his coat.
Everyone tensed.
But it was too late for threats.
The police were already outside.
Not because the Blackwoods had called them.
Because the evidence had reached them first.
Marcus stared toward the windows as flashing lights painted the walls blue.
May you like
His face changed as he realized he had lost everything.
And then, finally, he was arrested in the very house he had tried to own forever.
