Chapter 16 - THE RECKONING IN THE GREAT HALL
The heavy mahogany doors of the grand ballroom swung open with a resounding crash that echoed through the marble corridors of the Kane estate.
Sterling Kane sat at the head of the long oak dining table, casually swirling a glass of twenty-year-old scotch while reviewing a stack of corporate restructuring documents. Across from him, two of his closest corporate board allies nodded in quiet agreement.
“By Friday morning, the transition papers will be fully executed,” Sterling was saying, a smug smile playing on his lips. “With Everett medically certified as non-responsive and the nurse safely neutralized, the board will— Good lord.”
Sterling froze. The glass of scotch slipped from his fingers, shattering against the Persian rug as amber liquid spilled across the floor.
Standing at the double doors, leaning on a heavy brass cane, was Everett Kane.
His skin was pale, and his posture carried the slight stiffness of a man whose muscles had only recently reawakened from a long imprisonment, but his eyes burned with the cold, absolute fury of an apex predator. Behind him stood Willa, her chin held high, followed closely by Marcus Vance and two federal marshals in tactical gear.
“S-Sterling?” one of the board members stammered, scrambling backward out of his chair. “You said he was—you said he was brain-dead!”
“He was supposed to be,” Sterling whispered, his face draining of all color as he stared at his cousin in sheer, unadulterated terror.
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Everett took a slow, measured step into the room, the sharp click of his cane striking the marble sounding like the tolling of a doom bell.
“You miscalculated, cousin,” Everett’s deep, resonant voice filled the vast hall. “You forgot that a cage made of lies can only hold a wolf until he learns how to chew through the bars.”
