PART 5: The General's Arrival

PART 5: The General's Arrival

Tactical operators surround terrified corporate elites.

The dining room doors swung wide open, parting automatically as a tall, imposing figure stepped into the room.

It was Commander Arthur Sterling—my uncle, whom Edward had believed to be dead or entirely estranged for over a decade.

He wore a crisp military dress uniform adorned with the highest medals of the Republic, his silver-gray hair cropped short, his eyes burning with an incandescent, lethal fury that made Edward stagger backward against the sideboard.

"A-Arthur?" Edward sputtered, his aristocratic confidence evaporating instantly as he stared at the decorated general standing in his foyer. "How... how did you get in here? This is private property!"

Arthur didn't answer immediately.

He walked slowly across the imported Persian rug, his polished combat boots clicking rhythmically against the stone floor, ignoring Lauren entirely as she shrank back into the cushions of her chair.

"Private property," Arthur repeated, his voice deep, gravelly, and terrifyingly calm. "Built on money you stole, maintained by cruelty, and presiding over the attempted murder of my brother's only child."

Edward swallowed hard, his throat going dry as he tried to summon his corporate authority. "Valerie fell down the stairs! She attacked Lauren! It was a domestic dispute—you have no jurisdiction here!"

Arthur stopped three feet away from Edward.

Without warning, the general raised his right hand and struck Edward across the face with an open-palm backhand so hard it sent the corporate CEO spinning sideways into the dining table, shattering crystal plates and sending silverware flying.

"Domestic dispute?" Arthur roared, the controlled fury finally breaking through his military composure. "You locked my niece in a freezing cellar with seventeen fractures and internal bleeding for refusing to bow to a common parasite!"

Lauren let out a piercing shriek, sliding off her chair onto the floor, her hands trembling over her head. "Don't touch him! Do you know who we are?! We'll sue the military! We'll ruin you!"

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Arthur glanced down at Lauren as if she were a cockroach crawling across his boot.

"Secure the perimeter," Arthur commanded into his lapel mic. "Get the medical team down to the basement immediately. And someone bring me a crowbar. We're opening the vault."