Chapter 5 - FORTY-EIGHT SECONDS
Daniel lowered the phone slowly.
Vanessa stared at him.
“What did they say?”
He looked at her as if he could not decide whether to protect her or step away.
Alexander took the phone from his hand.
“Who is this?”
The distorted voice answered.
“You took your time, Vale.”
Alexander’s entire posture changed.
Claire had seen him angry in negotiations, but this was different.
Recognition darkened his eyes.
“Where is Marcus?”
“Close.”
“What do you want?”
“You already know.”
The line disconnected.
The countdown reached twenty-eight seconds.
Adrian’s security officers moved through the guests, sealing the doors.
Panic spread.
Eleanor Whitmore demanded an explanation. Daniel’s father shouted about lawsuits. Margaret seized Claire’s arm.
“Stop this.”
Claire pulled free.
“I didn’t start it.”
“Your name is on the screen.”
“My credentials were stolen.”
Vanessa pressed a trembling hand to her chest.
“Someone threatened to kill me?”
Claire looked at the stain on her gown.
Her sister appeared frightened, but Claire could not tell whether the fear was genuine.
Alexander studied the transfer screen.
“Claire, what happens if the timer reaches zero?”
“The transaction requires biometric confirmation.”
“Whose?”
“Mine.”
The countdown reached twenty seconds.
A small camera above the screen rotated toward Claire.
A message appeared.
FACIAL VERIFICATION READY.
“Turn away,” Alexander said.
Claire did.
The screen displayed an error.
The timer paused at seventeen seconds.
Then the ballroom doors locked with a mechanical click.
A new message appeared.
VERIFICATION MUST BE COMPLETED TO RELEASE EXITS.
Guests began shouting.
Adrian tried the nearest door.
“It’s integrated into the estate control system.”
“Can you override it?” Alexander asked.
“Not before the timer resumes.”
Vanessa suddenly collapsed against Daniel.
He caught her.
“She can’t breathe.”
Claire turned.
Vanessa clawed at her throat. Her face reddened.
Daniel shouted for a doctor.
Two guests rushed forward.
Alexander looked toward the champagne glass Vanessa had been holding.
It lay shattered on the floor.
“Poison?” Claire whispered.
Alexander’s gaze swept the room.
“Or performance.”
One of the doctors checked Vanessa’s pulse.
“She’s having an allergic reaction.”
“To what?” Daniel demanded.
Vanessa gasped.
“Almond.”
Claire frowned.
Vanessa had no almond allergy.
They had eaten almond cake together every birthday throughout childhood.
Claire knelt beside her.
“You’re not allergic.”
Vanessa’s eyes flashed.
For one second, her choking stopped.
Then she resumed dramatically.
Claire understood.
The threat had been staged.
Vanessa wanted Daniel and the guests focused on her while the transfer completed.
Claire stood.
“She’s pretending.”
Daniel stared at her.
“How can you say that?”
“Because she ate almond pastries at my apartment the night you proposed to me.”
The room went still around them.
Vanessa’s face hardened.
The countdown resumed.
Sixteen seconds.
Alexander stepped in front of the camera, blocking its view of Claire.
A red warning appeared.
SUBJECT NOT DETECTED.
The doors remained locked.
Adrian’s voice sharpened.
“We found the internal server. It’s beneath the ballroom.”
“How do we reach it?”
“Service stairs behind the west kitchen.”
Alexander looked at Claire.
“Can you delay the transfer?”
“I can attempt a false biometric confirmation.”
“How long?”
“Maybe two minutes.”
“Do it.”
Claire moved toward the screen.
Daniel caught her wrist.
“If you’re wrong, Vanessa could die.”
Claire looked down at his hand until he released her.
“She isn’t dying.”
Vanessa stopped pretending.
She slowly rose with Daniel’s help.
The guests backed away.
Her expression no longer resembled that of a radiant bride.
It was cold and furious.
“You always had to prove you were smarter,” she said.
Claire faced her.
“Did you steal my credentials?”
Vanessa smiled faintly.
“You left them where anyone could find them.”
Daniel looked between them.
“Vanessa?”
She ignored him.
The countdown reached ten seconds.
Claire stood before the camera but tilted her face to prevent a full scan.
The system captured partial images and rejected them.
Nine seconds.
Eight.
Seven.
Claire entered a manual code on the screen.
The timer froze.
ACCESS CONFLICT.
She exhaled.
“I bought us ninety seconds.”
Alexander motioned to Adrian.
They moved toward the west corridor.
Claire followed.
Daniel grabbed Vanessa.
“You knew about this?”
She pulled away.
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain.”
Vanessa looked toward Claire.
“She took everything first.”
Claire stopped.
“What did I take?”
“Our father.”
The accusation struck with strange force.
Their father, Thomas Bennett, had died in a sailing accident twelve years earlier.
Claire had been with him during his final business trip.
Vanessa had always blamed her for not convincing him to return home sooner.
“This isn’t about Dad,” Claire said.
“It’s always been about him.”
The timer flashed eighty seconds.
Alexander touched Claire’s back.
“We move now.”
They entered the service corridor.
Behind them, Daniel shouted at Vanessa.
Ahead, the hallway descended toward the kitchens.
Adrian reached the stairwell first.
The door was chained from the other side.
He fired a compact cutting device through the metal.
The chain fell.
They rushed downward into darkness.
At the bottom, they found the server room door open.
Inside, cooling fans hummed around rows of equipment.
A silver briefcase sat on the floor.
Marcus Reed was gone.
Claire approached the central terminal.
The transfer request filled the screen.
Forty-two seconds remained.
Alexander scanned the room.
“Where is he?”
A speaker above them crackled.
Marcus’s voice filled the basement.
“You still run toward traps, Alex.”
Claire looked at Alexander.
No employee called him Alex.
May you like
The door slammed shut behind them.
Gas began hissing from the ceiling vents.
