Chapter 6 - The Countdown00:41.
The number glowed red.
Everyone froze.
Alessandro looked at Marco.
“Can it be stopped?”
Marco shook his head.
“We need the bomb team.”
“Call them.”
“Already done.”
“Then clear the house.”
Marco shouted orders.
Guests were pushed toward the exits.
Security guards formed a shield around Ethan.
But Lily did not move.
She stared at the cake.
“It's wrong.”
Alessandro crouched beside her.
“What is wrong?”
“The numbers.”
“What about them?”
“They are backward.”
Marco looked confused.
Lily pointed.
“It says forty-one.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“It says fourteen.”
Everyone stared.
The display flickered.
14:00.
The screen had been mirrored.
A false countdown.
Alessandro's eyes narrowed.
Whoever built the device had expected adults to panic.
But Lily had noticed the reflection.
“Why would someone fake the timer?”
Marco asked.
“To make us leave,” Alessandro answered.
He looked around.
The ballroom was almost empty now.
Only family and essential security remained.
The cake remained untouched.
Alessandro's phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
He answered.
No voice.
Only breathing.
Then a whisper.
“Look under the table.”
Alessandro looked.
Nothing.
“Who are you?”
The caller laughed softly.
“You keep protecting the wrong people.”
The line disconnected.
Marco approached.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“We found Victor.”
“Where?”
“In the wine cellar.”
“Alive?”
Marco hesitated.
“Yes.”
“But he says he never left the ballroom.”
Alessandro stared.
“What?”
“He says he was taken.”
“By whom?”
Victor had no answer.
Then Marco handed Alessandro Victor's phone.
There was a video on it.
Victor appeared on screen.
His face was bruised.
His hands were tied.
A masked man stood behind him.
The man spoke.
“Alessandro.”
The voice was distorted.
“You've spent twenty years believing your family destroyed the traitor.”
He leaned closer.
“You were wrong.”
The screen went black.
Then another video appeared.
A younger Alessandro stood beside his father.
A young Gabriel stood beside them.
And behind them was Daniel Romano.
Lily's father.
Alessandro watched.
The video had been filmed twenty-one years earlier.
His father said something.
The audio was damaged.
But one phrase was clear.
“...when the child is born...”
Alessandro's heart stopped.
He looked at Lily.
“She was born twenty years after that?”
Sophia shook her head.
“No.”
Her face had gone white.
“Lily is three.”
Alessandro looked confused.
Rosa's warning returned.
The family.
The ledger.
The child.
He suddenly understood something.
Lily had not been chosen because she was a random witness.
Someone had wanted her in this house.
Someone knew exactly who she was.
Sophia began crying.
“I wanted to tell you.”
Alessandro turned.
“Tell me what?”
Sophia whispered:
“Lily is not Daniel's biological daughter.”
The room froze.
Then Lily looked up at Alessandro.
May you like
And said:
“Daddy told me you would know my real name.”
