Chapter 66 The Kill Switch
The sound of Julian’s head hitting the carpet was the loudest thing Elena had ever heard.
“Daddy! What did you do to him?!"
But Marcus stood there, not even looking remorseful or offering any explanation.
Elena sat on the floor, pulling his broad shoulders into her lap, her hands shaking as she touched his face.
His skin was already turning cold, and his breathing was so shallow she had to lean in close just to hear the faint rattle in his chest.
"Julian? Julian, look at me!" she cried, but his blue eyes remained closed, his face completely slack. He wasn't just unconscious; he looked like a machine that had been unplugged.
Marcus stood a few feet away, casually sliding the black remote back into the pocket of his expensive wool coat.
He looked down at the scene with no more emotion than a man looking at a broken piece of luggage. Beside him, Eva stood with her arms crossed, her eyes raking over the room with a look of pure annoyance.
"What did you do to him?" Elena shrieked, her voice echoing off the gold-leafed walls of the suite. "You didn't even touch him! What is that thing in your pocket? What did you do to my husband?"
"Husband?" Marcus let out a short, dry laugh. He walked toward the center of the room, looking down at Elena as she sat in the dirt and mud on the expensive hotel carpet. "It’s a contingency, Elena. A simple kill switch. When you invest millions of dollars into a piece of hardware, you don't leave it without a way to turn it off. He was designed to protect you, but he was also designed to obey me above all else. He forgot that second part. I simply reminded him."
"He’s a human being!" Elena screamed. "You can't just turn a person off like a lamp! You’re a monster, Dad!"
"Stop calling him that," Eva snapped, stepping forward. Her voice was sharp and filled with hate. "And stop acting like such a victim, Elena. You’ve always been so dramatic. Look at you, sitting in the mud over a man who isn't even real. It’s pathetic."
Elena looked up at Eva, then at Marcus. The rage she felt was starting to burn through the fear. "Why do you hate me so much? Both of you. You’ve treated me like garbage for years. I thought it was because I was the youngest, or because I wasn't good enough at the business. But I know the truth now. I found out everything."
Marcus froze. His eyes narrowed. "What papers?"
"The adoption papers," Elena said, her voice shaking but loud. "I know I’m not a Vance. I know you lied to me my whole life. You told me I was your daughter, but I’m just some girl you took in. That’s why you don't care if I drown in a pit. That’s why you don't care if I’m married to a fucking cyborg program!"
Marcus didn't look shocked. He didn't look guilty.
He just sneered at her, a look of pure disgust on his face. "So you found out. Fine. It doesn't matter, Elena. It changes nothing. I raised you. I paid for your food, your clothes, and your education. I gave you the Vance name. That means you are mine. That means you are part of this family, and you will obey me or I will discipline you exactly how I should."
"Discipline me?" Elena laughed, and the sound was jagged and painful. "My life has been miserable as a Vance. I always wondered why you favored Eva and Alexander. I wondered why I was the one always working late, the one always running the companies while you two were out at parties. Now I know. I was just the help with a fancy title."
Eva rolled her eyes and let out a loud, mocking sigh. "Oh, please. You are such an ungrateful brat, Elena. Daddy gave you everything. He gave you the companies to run. He gave you the assets. You had more power in the Vance Group than I ever did!"
"I had the power because I was the only one doing the work!" Elena shouted back. "I was feeding the family! I was the one making the money so you could buy your jewelry and your dresses and Alexander could party and fuck every blonde he wanted. And when that wasn't enough, when the debt got too high, he made me marry Julian as collateral. He traded me like a piece of stock to pay off his mistakes!"
"You weren't forced," Marcus said, his voice dropping into a low, dangerous tone. "Don't you dare lie now. When the lawyers said we needed a merger to stay afloat, you were the one who walked into my office. You were the one who offered to marry whoever it took to save the company. You wanted to be the hero, Elena. You wanted to prove you were a real Vance. So be that hero to the end. Stay in the marriage and keep your mouth shut."
"I offered because I thought I was saving my family!" Elena screamed, hot tears hitting her cheeks. "I didn't know the man I was marrying was a project you commissioned ten years ago! I didn't know my husband was a dead soldier you brought back to life to be my bodyguard! How could you do that to me? How could you let me fall in love with a ghost?"
"You falling in love was your own mistake, I never asked you to do that" Marcus said coldly. He checked his watch, looking bored with the conversation. "I don't have time for this. The board members are waiting for a report, and the police are still crawling all over the lobby. I’m giving you ten minutes, Elena. That’s it."
He stepped closer to her, his shadow looming over her and the unconscious Julian. "The limousine is waiting in the basement. You will get in that car and you will bring this malfunctioning asset with you. We will go back to the mansion, and the technicians will reset his head. You will go back to being the wife of Julian Thorne, and this entire Savannah mess will be forgotten."
"And if I don't?" Elena asked, her jaw tightening.
"If you aren't in that car in ten minutes, I will deal with you," Marcus warned. "I will withdraw the police guards. I will cancel the lease on this hotel. I will leave you here in this empty building with no money and no protection. Holland’s men are still out there, Elena. They want you. If you don't come with me, I will let them have you. I’m done wasting my resources on an ungrateful child."
"He's right," Eva added, a nasty smirk on her face. "You're nothing without that name, Elena. You have no friends, no money, and now you have a husband who can't even stand up. Good luck surviving the night alone."
Marcus turned on his heel and walked toward the door. Eva followed him, her heels clicking sharply on the floor.
Neither of them looked back as the heavy double doors slammed shut.
Elena was left alone in the silence. She looked down at Julian. His face was so peaceful, so still.
He didn't look like a dangerous soldier or a powerful lawyer. He just looked like a man who had been broken by the same people who had broken her.
She looked at her watch. Nine minutes left.
She reached into her hoodie pocket and pulled out the crumpled Project Angel files.
She began to flip through them with frantic, shaking fingers. She ignored the photos and the history. She looked for the technical stuff. She found a page titled;
Neural Interface & Emergency Protocols.
But there was nothing there that made any sense to her.
Oh goodness, what exactly was going on? How did a man become a man and a machine at the same thing?
Just how complicated and fucked up was her life?
She sat there, shaking and trying to come up with a solution. But she had no idea how to reboot a human robot.
Or was it a robot human? She had no idea.
How did Marcus control Julian?
“I have to take him to daddy, he's the only one who can fix him."
At once, she heard the elevator ding in the hallway and her heart stopped. It was too soon for ten minutes.
Someone was coming. She didn't know if it was her father’s security coming to drag her out, or the killers Holland had sent to finish the job.
She had to do it. She had to wake him up. She was the only person left in the world who cared if he was a person or a project.
Yanking him up, she ran to the hallways and down the stairs to surrender to Marcus in order to save Julian's life. Or at least what was left of it.