Chapter 9 - The clapping grew louder.One floor above.
Then another.
Someone was walking down the stairs.
Julian backed against the wall.
“That's impossible.”
Dante raised his gun.
A man's voice drifted through the darkness.
“You children always were terrible at recognizing death.”
Harold Mercer appeared beneath the emergency light.
Older.
Thinner.
But very much alive.
Elena stared.
Julian looked ready to collapse.
“Dad?”
Harold smiled.
“Hello, son.”
“You died.”
“I allowed you to believe it.”
Julian shook his head.
“You lied to me.”
Harold laughed.
“I protected you.”
“From what?”
“From the truth.”
Dante stepped forward.
“You murdered Claire.”
Harold's smile disappeared.
“She betrayed me.”
“You tried to kill her.”
“She chose the wrong side.”
Elena stared.
“What side?”
Harold looked at her.
“Your mother believed architecture could change cities.”
His eyes hardened.
“I knew architecture could control them.”
He pointed upward.
“Haven Point wasn't designed to house people.”
Elena frowned.
“What?”
“It was designed to control water flow beneath the entire waterfront.”
Dante's face changed.
“Elena.”
She understood.
“The foundation.”
Harold smiled.
“Exactly.”
Haven Point wasn't simply a redevelopment project.
It was the key structure in a massive underground infrastructure network.
Whoever controlled it could control the city's water system.
Flood zones.
Emergency routes.
Development rights.
Millions.
Billions.
Political leverage.
“Your mother discovered everything,” Harold said.
“So she built the archive.”
“Yes.”
“And you killed her.”
“No.”
Elena froze.
Harold looked at Dante.
“Ask him.”
Dante's face was unreadable.
“Dante was the one who found Claire after the crash.”
Elena turned.
“Is that true?”
“Yes.”
“He was there?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“I tried to save her.”
Harold laughed.
“You arrived too late.”
Elena stared at Dante.
“Did she say anything?”
Dante didn't answer.
“Dante.”
“She said your name.”
Elena's eyes filled.
“What else?”
“She told me to protect you.”
Harold's expression changed.
“And she handed Dante the original archive key.”
Elena looked at him.
“Where is it?”
Harold smiled.
“Inside your ring.”
Elena looked down.
The platinum band.
D.M.
The tiny scratch.
She touched it.
Dante immediately said:
“Take it off.”
Elena froze.
“Why?”
“Because that's what they want.”
Harold smiled.
“She finally understands.”
The building shook.
An explosion rocked the lower floors.
Sprinklers burst overhead.
Harold turned.
“That's our signal.”
Moretti security flooded the corridor.
Gunfire erupted.
Dante grabbed Elena.
“Run!”
They moved through the stairwell.
Harold disappeared behind his men.
Julian stayed.
“I can help.”
Dante looked at him.
“You're bleeding.”
“I owe her.”
“Elena, go.”
They reached the roof.
Rain poured down.
A helicopter waited.
But Isabella was standing beside it.
She held a gun.
“Elena.”
Dante stepped in front of her.
Isabella's eyes hardened.
“You always stand between us.”
“Because you're trying to kill her.”
“No.”
She lowered the gun.
“I'm trying to save her.”
She looked at Elena.
“Your ring contains only half the key.”
Elena touched it.
“And the other half?”
Isabella smiled.
“You.”
Dante's face changed.
“What do you mean?”
Isabella looked directly at Elena.
“Your mother didn't hide the archive in the ring.”
She pointed at Elena's temple.
“She hid it in your memory.”
Elena went cold.
“You're lying.”
“No.”
Isabella stepped closer.
“You were there the night Claire died.”
Elena's breath stopped.
“I was nine.”
“You were ten.”
“No.”
Isabella whispered:
May you like
“Your mother didn't die in an accident.”
“She was killed in front of you.”
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