Chapter 11 - TWELVE MINUTES
Clara caught Emma before her head struck the floor.
The child’s body went limp.
“Emma!”
Gabriel tore the bracelet from her wrist and examined the needle.
Alessandro activated the wall speaker.
“What did you give her?”
Vivian answered calmly.
“A compound developed in this very wing. It will stop her heart in twelve minutes unless she receives the antidote.”
Clara screamed at the camera.
“Give it to her!”
“The antidote is inside the vault.”
“Then open it.”
“I require the child’s blood.”
Gabriel lifted Emma into his arms.
“You planned this from the moment she entered the palace.”
“I have planned this since the day you betrayed me.”
A timer appeared on the wall monitor.
11:42.
11:41.
11:40.
Vivian opened one of the shutters remotely.
Beyond it, a red line illuminated the corridor leading to the vault.
“Follow the lights.”
Marcus aimed at the camera and destroyed it.
“That changes nothing,” Gabriel said.
Clara pressed her fingers to Emma’s neck.
The pulse was faint.
“We do what she wants.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“If Vivian opens the Crown Ledger, she will kill us anyway.”
“If we don’t, Emma dies now.”
Alessandro removed his jacket.
“There may be another option.”
Gabriel laughed bitterly.
“Another Valmont sacrifice?”
“My phrase can open the outer chamber but not the archive.”
“And Emma’s blood opens Isabella’s lock.”
“Yes.”
“Vivian still needs my biometric signature.”
Clara looked at him.
“You are the third key.”
Gabriel nodded.
“The rabbit was always a distraction.”
Alessandro studied his son.
“Can you alter the archive?”
“I built part of its security system before I disappeared.”
“Can you destroy it?”
“Possibly.”
The timer reached nine minutes.
They followed the red lights.
At the vault entrance, Vivian waited behind bulletproof glass with four armed men.
Beside her stood Rosa, the nursery attendant.
Clara stared in disbelief.
Rosa removed her staff apron.
Beneath it, she wore a black uniform marked with the three-bladed circle.
“You gave Emma the bracelet,” Clara said.
Rosa smiled.
“She trusted me.”
Vivian held up a small vial of clear liquid.
“The antidote.”
“Give it to us first,” Gabriel said.
“Open the archive.”
Emma’s breathing became shallow.
Clara felt her daughter slipping away.
She pressed her palm against the glass.
“Please.”
Vivian approached the opposite side.
“You married a man you did not know, entered a family war you did not understand, and brought your child into a palace full of enemies.”
Clara’s tears stopped.
Her grief turned cold.
“You needed us to come here.”
Vivian’s smile faded.
“You could have kidnapped Emma anywhere. But you waited until tonight because Alessandro’s guests are witnesses.”
Gabriel looked at Clara, understanding.
Vivian intended to release the Crown Ledger publicly.
Not merely steal it.
The gala’s communication network connected the palace to international media channels.
At midnight, every secret in the archive would be transmitted.
Governments would collapse.
Markets would crash.
Wars could begin before morning.
Vivian wanted chaos.
The timer reached six minutes.
Alessandro entered his phrase into the console.
“The crown protects no king.”
The first vault door opened.
Vivian extended her hand.
“Bring me the child.”
Clara lifted Emma from Gabriel’s arms.
She walked forward.
But beneath Emma’s sweater, Clara had hidden Marcus’s last working transmitter.
And Marcus had already used it to send a message to every armed guard loyal to Alessandro.
May you like
The message contained only two words.
Lights out.
