Chapter 9 - THE GRANDDAUGHTER OF ISABELLA
The corridor doors sealed.
Gas hissed from the vents.
Marcus covered his mouth.
“Move!”
They ran toward an emergency stairwell.
Alessandro entered a code, but the door remained locked.
Emma awakened and began coughing.
Clara wrapped her sweater around the child’s face.
Marcus fired twice at the control panel. Sparks erupted, but the door did not open.
Alessandro pressed his signet ring against a hidden sensor.
A mechanical lock released.
They stumbled into the stairwell and slammed the door behind them.
Clara sank to the floor, holding Emma.
The little girl cried into her shoulder.
Alessandro knelt beside them.
“Let me see her.”
“Stay away.”
“She may have inhaled the gas.”
“You knew Vivian wanted her blood.”
“I did not know until tonight.”
Clara’s anger broke through her fear.
“Why would Emma’s blood open Isabella’s lock?”
Alessandro did not answer.
Marcus raised his weapon slightly.
“Tell her.”
Alessandro looked at Emma.
“Isabella was Adrian’s biological mother.”
Clara stared at him.
“You said he was adopted.”
“He was.”
“That makes no sense.”
“Isabella gave birth to a son when she was sixteen. Her father forced her to surrender the child. Years later, she discovered that Lazarus had erased the baby’s identity.”
Clara slowly understood.
“Gabriel.”
“Isabella found him when he was five. We adopted him without revealing that she was his biological mother.”
“Why hide it?”
“Her father threatened to destroy us if the truth became public. He was one of the founders of Lazarus.”
Emma coughed again.
Clara rubbed her back, tears burning her eyes.
“So Gabriel was Isabella’s blood. Emma carries the same line.”
“Yes.”
“And Vivian needs Emma to open the archive.”
“Yes.”
Clara stood.
“Then we are leaving.”
“The estate is sealed.”
“I don’t care.”
“Vivian controls the exits.”
“Then give her what she wants.”
Alessandro’s eyes hardened.
“If she opens the archive, she will obtain evidence capable of blackmailing thousands of people.”
“I only care about my daughter.”
“And Adrian?”
Clara froze.
Alessandro took a small phone from his pocket and played an audio file captured from Vivian’s transmission.
Behind Vivian’s voice, barely audible, a man was breathing.
Then a whisper.
“Clara.”
Gabriel.
Alive.
Clara gripped the railing.
Vivian was holding him inside the palace.
Or beneath it.
Alessandro studied the stairwell plans.
“There is an old medical wing below the vault. Lazarus used it before the program was closed.”
Marcus checked his ammunition.
“Vivian may be keeping Adrian there.”
May you like
Clara kissed Emma’s hair.
“Then we find him.”
