Chapter 21 - The Vote Bought with BloodMarcus hit the floor clutching his shoulder.
Mara fired.
Crane disappeared behind the auditorium doors before her bullet reached him.
His men flooded the corridor.
Clara shouted for everyone to get below the stage.
Rebecca dragged Adam toward the exit where Clara’s guards were evacuating the children.
Elena knelt beside Marcus.
The bullet had passed through his upper arm.
Painful.
Not fatal.
He gripped her wrist.
“Don’t let them vote for me.”
Elena frowned.
“What?”
Marcus pointed toward the Crown vault.
“Keys aren’t assigned to people.”
Clara froze.
“What did you say?”
Marcus struggled to breathe.
“I remembered.”
He had been seven when Gabriel brought him to Saint Agnes.
Children were taught the voting ritual as a game.
Eight black keys.
Identical.
Bearer instruments.
Not identity instruments.
Anyone carrying one could cast a human beneficiary vote.
That was why Crane stole Vanessa’s key.
He did not need Vanessa.
Only the key.
Clara ran to the vault.
“How many does he have?”
The answer came when five green lights appeared.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Someone below Saint Agnes was inserting keys into a second voting terminal.
Clara went white.
“He has enough to appoint a custodian.”
Mara shouted:
“Can you stop it?”
“No.”
The fifth light locked.
A mechanical voice spoke.
NEW CUSTODIAN RECOGNIZED.
NATHANIEL CRANE.
Every door in Saint Agnes slammed shut.
Clara stared at the screen.
“No.”
The twelve ledgers began deleting themselves.
Elena grabbed her.
“What is he doing?”
“Destroying the separation map.”
“Why?”
“Because without it, dissolution exposes everyone.”
Crane’s voice filled the auditorium.
“You always were sentimental, Clara.”
Clara looked toward the ceiling.
“You murdered Eva.”
Elena turned.
Crane laughed.
“No. Gabriel did.”
“You brought her back.”
“She was inconvenient.”
Elias’s mother.
Clara knew.
Elias apparently did not.
Crane continued.
“Tonight we correct Adrian’s mistake. Crown Group renews. The beneficiaries receive generous distributions. The archive remains sealed.”
Elena shouted:
“And the children?”
“Protected.”
“Owned.”
“Protected.”
Clara screamed:
“They are not the same!”
Crane laughed.
“You finally learned something from your sister.”
The lights died.
Emergency lamps illuminated the vault.
Countdown:
00:41:18.
Clara opened a maintenance panel.
“We can still access the physical archive.”
“How?”
“Gabriel never trusted digital systems completely.”
She pointed beneath the stage.
“Room Zero.”
Isabel stared.
“There is no Room Zero.”
Clara looked at her.
“Yes.”
“You never told me.”
“Nobody told you.”
“Who did?”
Clara looked toward Elena.
“Adrian.”
Daniel’s father had left one final secret.
Not with Daniel.
Not with Margaret.
With the child everyone thought did not exist.
Clara.
Adrian had found her at seventeen.
He failed to rescue her.
But before losing contact, he gave her the location of Room Zero and told her that one day someone would need to choose whether the archive deserved to survive.
Clara had spent twenty years preparing for that day.
Elena asked:
“And you decided you should be the one.”
“Yes.”
“That was your mistake.”
Clara stared at her.
Elena continued.
“No one person gets to decide.”
The countdown reached forty minutes.
Below them, machinery started moving.
Room Zero opened.
And inside stood Elias.
A gun pressed against his head.
Nathaniel Crane smiled behind him.
“You were looking for the Founder’s Vote.”
May you like
He shoved Elias forward.
“Here he is.”
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