"Well, this feels like déjà vu, doesn't it?" Alistair sneered, pointing his gun at Julian. "Tell me, Julian, should I shoot Dr. Russell first this time, or would you prefer I start with you?"
Julian inhaled sharply. "I would put the gun down, Father. There are FBI and Interpol agents surrounding the place."
"Since when have I ever let the FBI or Interpol stop me?"
Katherine gasped and rushed forward. "Alistair, how can you do this? Julian is your son!"
"No, Mother." Julian stopped her. "Don't go near him. You have no idea what he's capable of."
Katherine pushed past Julian. "Oh, Julian, I think I do. Alistair, if you hurt a hair on either one of their heads, I won't be responsible for what I do."
Alistair chuckled. "Such big threats from someone who's always so afraid."
"You constantly threaten my children's happiness, Alistair!" Katherine cried. "You made me this way!"
Eve crossed over to Katherine and gently pulled her back. "Julian's right, Mrs. Crane. For your own sake, don't provoke Alistair."
"Dr. Russell is right, you know?" Alistair sneered. "Just ask Julian about the time I shot him."
Katherine leapt forward, snarling at Alistair. "Why you despicable excuse for a human being! You call yourself a father?"
Eve grabbed Katherine; Julian rushed forward and seized Alistair's wrists. "No, you will not hurt anyone else this time. Do you hear me? Do you hear me?"
Julian and Alistair struggled; Alistair freed one of his arms and took a swing at Julian.
Julian ducked and grabbed Alistair's other wrist. Yanking as hard as he could, he wrenched the gun from Alistair's hand. Stumbling back, Julian fell to the floor—the gun landing behind him.
Nudging the gun back, Julian pushed himself to his feet and backed up, holding his hand out in front of him in a defensive position. "Now, you listen to me, old man: You will not harm another hair on Mother's head—or on Eve's or on Sheridan's."
"Julian, really," Alistair laughed. "You actually expect me to believe that you're going to stop me?"
"I'll do whatever I have to do to protect them," Julian growled. "Don't you even try me."
Alistair chuckled and rubbed his chin. "Where was this backbone, Julian, when I ordered you to kill your sister?"
Katherine gasped and fell back; Eve caught Katherine in her arms.
"I will never do that, Father—never!" Julian narrowed his eyes on his father. "You're a fool for treating Sheridan in the way that you do. She's twenty times the person you are—you could learn a lot from her!"
Alistair raised one eyebrow. "Is that so, Julian? Well, then maybe you should take lessons from her, too. You haven't exactly been a model of moral virtue over the past few decades."
"That's because I was always trying to please you!" Julian erupted. "But it never mattered—did it, Father? I was never going to be good enough for you. No matter how many of your schemes I went along with, no matter how many lives I ruined . . . you never had any intention of making me your heir—of treating me as your son."
"Oh, poor Julian," Alistair taunted him. "Always the victim, never at fault . . ."
"That is ENOUGH, Father!" Julian's eyes grew wide. "I may have kowtowed to you in the past, but I'm done with living like that. You manipulated me into marrying Ivy; you did God knows what to my firstborn son. If you take one more step toward me, Mother, or Eve, I swear to God . . ."
"You'll do what?"
"I'm warning you, Father," Julian said.
"Oh, that's right—you are." Smirking at Katherine, Alistair sprang toward Julian, Katherine, and Eve.
Without stopping to think, Julian lunged for him and slammed him into the wall.
A sickening crack silenced the room.
Alistair's eyes rolled back in his head; his body collapsed to the floor.
