107

Everyone froze. Richard's gun was now pointed directly at Nathan's chest. The silence was so thick it seemed to choke the air.

It was Natalia who broke the tension. She took a step forward, her voice trembling but determined.

“Richard... stop this madness, please.”

It was a surprise to everyone, but something in her tone suggested that she knew Richard's weak spot. However, time had taken its toll. Prison had hardened him to the point of being almost unrecognizable.

For a second, his eyes softened. Despite everything, he still loved her. He had spent entire nights remembering her face, the unbearable pain of losing her and their son Georgie.

That wound was still open, but in his mind, his fate was already sealed: a life of condemnation.

Richard pressed his lips together and raised the gun a few millimeters higher, as if that gesture would seal an unbridgeable distance.

“Don't come any closer, Natalia... or you'll see your other son die before your eyes.”

Her blood ran cold. Natalia felt her knees buckle.

Her lips moved slightly to utter words that cut like a knife.

“So... you did kill Georgie,” she whispered softly. “You're a monster.”

Richard shook his head and let out a hollow laugh, devoid of any joy.

“It was an accident,” he snapped, his voice heavy with contained anger. “Your father used all his power to destroy me.” I spent fifteen damn years paying for the death of my little boy... and for your supposed death. I was on the verge of going crazy. He's the problem, not me!"

His eyes pierced Jarek Strong like knives.

Jarek felt a lump form in his throat. Had he really misjudged him so badly? No, that couldn't be.

For a moment, he thought that perhaps time had softened him. But he knew he couldn't let his guard down. His expression remained unperturbed.

“You're a criminal, and that's not my fault,” he replied harshly. “Accident or not, my grandson Georgie is dead... and you have to pay for the rest of your sentence, you bastard.”

Richard clicked his tongue, a bitter smile that didn't reach his eyes.

“Nothing you say or do will change the fact that you ruined my life, Strong,” he hissed venomously. “If I have to die, I'll make sure I take you with me.”

The old man took a firm step toward him, his face hardened with rage.

“Then come and get me, you son of a bitch.”

Richard laughed, a brief laugh but one full of contempt.

“I won't fall for your tricks this time.” I'm not the same naive fool I used to be,“ he tilted his head. ”I'm not the real demon here, and I'm going to take my Natalia, Suzanne, Nathan, and everyone else away from you. Because they're incapable of seeing who you really are.

Natalia looked at him, breathing heavily. She turned her head toward her father, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Is it true... what he says?”

Old Strong clenched his jaw. He didn't answer right away.

His long silence was like an implicit confirmation. Finally, he spoke in a whisper, almost under his breath.

“I kept you away from everything to protect you... not because I was a demon. I was just a worried father.”

“What about Georgie's death?” Natalia insisted, her voice breaking. “Was that an accident too? Did you frame Richard?”

The old man closed his eyes for a moment. The tension in the room became unbearable.

Nathan clenched his fists, wanting to intervene but knowing that any movement could unleash a tragedy. Suzanne watched, feeling her heartbeat echo in her ears.

Jarek lost his patience.

“He killed him!” he shouted, his voice filled with rage. “Georgie is no longer with us, and who cares about the circumstances! I should have had him killed in prison, as I had planned from the beginning!”

The words fell like thunder in the middle of the room. Everyone was in shock. Natalia took a step back, as if those confessions had physically struck her.

“You planned... to kill him?” she whispered, unable to comprehend it.

Suzanne put her hand to her mouth, unable to hide her horror. The dagger still on the floor seemed to glint with silent danger, as if waiting to come back into play.

Richard smiled sidelong, enjoying the effect the old man's words had caused.

“There you have it, Natalia. That's your dear father,” he pointed, accusingly. The man who swore to protect you, and who in reality manipulates life and death at will.

“Shut up,” Jarek growled, though his voice didn't have the same firmness as before.

Natalia felt an unbearable weight on her chest. She looked at both men, two figures who had marked her life in different ways, and felt the ground beneath her feet become unstable.

Part of her wanted to believe that her father had acted out of love... but another part, the most hurt part, knew that those words revealed something darker.

Nathan broke the silence, his voice firm.

“Enough. This is not a family argument, it's a life-or-death situation.”

But no one listened to him. The resentment between Richard and Jarek filled every corner, like a poison impossible to purge.

Richard gripped the gun tighter, his eyes burning with hatred.

“I swear, Strong, before tonight is over... one of us is going to stop breathing.”

Natalia took another step forward, this time without fear, placing herself between the barrel and Nathan.

“If you're going to kill someone, you'll have to kill me first.”

That moment froze everyone. Even Richard blinked, confused by the coldness and determination in Natalia's gaze.

The clock on the wall ticked away the seconds, but for them, time had stopped.

The tension was about to snap.