Chapter 9 - A Crown for a Life
The bullet struck Cross beneath the shoulder.
Julian dragged him behind a stack of wooden crates as two more shots tore through the wall.
Elena moved toward the opposite window and saw three figures approaching from the riverbank.
“They’re wearing estate security uniforms.”
Julian removed his tuxedo jacket and pressed it against Cross’s wound.
“Can you walk?”
“I have been pretending to need a cane for twenty-four years,” Cross said through clenched teeth. “I will not be defeated by a shoulder.”
Elena found an old flare gun inside an emergency cabinet.
“Does that still work?”
“There is one way to discover it,” Cross replied.
The storage building had a rear door facing the forest. Julian helped Cross toward it while Elena remained near the broken window.
The first attacker reached the river entrance.
Elena fired the flare.
Red fire exploded across the snow. The attacker dropped, his sleeve burning. The others scattered.
Elena ran.
They crossed the forest toward the mansion’s northern wall.
The gala continued inside.
Music drifted faintly through the storm.
“Eleanor hasn’t evacuated the guests,” Elena said.
“She needs witnesses,” Cross replied.
“To what?”
“To Elena’s public destruction.”
Julian’s phone vibrated.
A news alert appeared.
VALE MERIDIAN CEO LINKED TO BILLION-DOLLAR FRAUD INVESTIGATION
His name filled the screen beneath a photograph taken at the gala.
Another alert followed.
ELENA MARQUEZ IDENTIFIED AS FORMER VALE EMPLOYEE’S DAUGHTER IN BLACKMAIL PLOT
Eleanor was shaping the story before they could reveal the truth.
“She’s sacrificing me,” Julian said.
Cross looked at him.
“Eleanor sacrifices pieces to protect the board.”
“I’m not a piece.”
“Everyone is.”
They entered the mansion through an old greenhouse door.
Cross left blood on the white tile.
Elena checked the ballroom through a service window.
Guests had gathered around the stage.
Eleanor stood behind a podium.
Julian’s face appeared on the giant screen beside financial charts and fabricated transfer records.
“She’s announcing your removal,” Elena said.
Julian watched his grandmother speak without sound.
His expression became strangely calm.
“What do we need to complete the first requirement?”
Elena held up the dead founder’s ring.
“Prove who replaced Adrian.”
“Then we do it in front of everyone.”
Cross shook his head.
“The ring alone will not be enough.”
“What else?”
“Sebastian Kessler’s confession.”
“He’s dead,” Julian said.
“Officially.”
Julian stared at him.
“Is anyone in this family actually dead?”
“Many. Just rarely the correct people.”
Cross led them through the servants’ corridor to a small office behind the ballroom. An antique telephone sat on the desk.
He dialed seven numbers.
A hidden compartment opened inside the wall.
A cassette tape rested within it.
Elena recognized Sofia’s handwriting on the label.
THE FIRST CROWN.
Cross inserted the tape into an old recorder.
A man’s voice began speaking.
“My name is Sebastian Kessler. For thirty-one years, I have lived under the name Adrian Vale.”
Julian gripped the desk.
The voice continued.
“I killed Adrian on the orders of Eleanor Vale and Gabriel Cross.”
Elena turned sharply toward Cross.
The wounded man did not look away.
“We believed Adrian planned to expose all seven founders,” he said.
“You helped murder him.”
“Yes.”
On the recording, Sebastian described chaining Adrian in the river tunnel and taking his identity.
Then he said something unexpected.
“Eleanor promised me a crown, a fortune, and a child who would carry my stolen name. She gave me the first two.”
Julian’s face tightened.
“She never told me who fathered the child. I suspected Mateo Marquez. Gabriel believed the same.”
Elena stopped the tape.
“Julian is my uncle?”
“Not necessarily,” Cross said.
“You believed Mateo was his father.”
“I believed many things that Eleanor wanted me to believe.”
Julian stared at the machine.
“Play it.”
Elena continued.
Sebastian’s voice became weaker.
“Years later, I learned the child was not Mateo’s. The medical records were hidden in Crown Four. When I confronted Eleanor, she poisoned me.”
The tape crackled.
“If this confession is discovered, Thomas will try to finish what I failed to do. Do not trust him. He is not protecting Eleanor.”
The final sentence was nearly inaudible.
“He is protecting the eighth founder.”
The tape ended.
Elena looked at Cross.
“There were seven.”
“There were supposed to be.”
Julian opened the secret compartment farther.
Behind the tape lay a sealed laboratory envelope.
Inside was a paternity report.
Most of the names had been removed.
One line remained visible.
Probability of relationship between Sample J and Marquez bloodline: 0.00 percent.
Julian exhaled.
Elena did not realize she had been holding her breath until then.
Cross looked relieved.
“Now you have proof that Sebastian Kessler replaced Adrian Vale.”
The recorder emitted a tone.
FIRST REQUIREMENT SATISFIED.
FOUNDER FRAUD CONFIRMED.
The timer changed.
08:31:45
One dark crown in the underground chamber illuminated on the small display.
Elena felt no victory.
She looked at Cross.
“You ordered Adrian’s death.”
“Yes.”
“And my mother trusted you?”
“No,” he replied. “She used me.”
The office door opened.
Thomas Kessler stood there with a pistol aimed at Elena’s chest.
He looked at the ring in her hand.
May you like
“I’ll trade you,” he said.
“The crown for Julian’s life.”
