Chapter 13 - Alexander was still breathing.Barely.
Sofia dragged him behind a stone pillar while Claire returned fire.
The monastery became a maze of smoke, shattered glass and screaming.
Richard walked through it all as if he owned the building.
He didn't fire a weapon.
He didn't need to.
He had six armed men.
He looked at me.
“Come with me.”
“No.”
His smile faded.
“You've already caused enough trouble.”
“You tried to kill me.”
“You survived.”
“You poisoned me.”
“You were difficult.”
He said it casually.
As if he were discussing a business deal.
Sofia stepped forward.
Richard's expression changed.
“Hello, sister.”
She raised a gun.
“You murdered our mother.”
Richard smiled.
“Our mother was dead the moment she betrayed me.”
“She helped you.”
“She helped herself.”
He looked at me.
“Both of you have been lied to.”
I shouted:
“Then tell us the truth.”
He paused.
For the first time, his face became serious.
“Your father built Orion because he knew what was coming.”
“What was coming?”
“War.”
“Business war?”
Richard laughed.
“No.”
He pointed toward the files.
“The government.”
I stared at him.
He explained that Orion contained patents capable of changing energy markets, surveillance systems and genetic identification.
The families who funded Hayes wanted to control it.
Governments wanted it buried.
Private organizations wanted it stolen.
And my father had hidden it.
I didn't know what to believe.
Then Richard said the sentence that changed everything.
“Your father didn't trust me.”
“No.”
“He trusted Alexander.”
I looked at Alexander, who was bleeding.
Richard continued.
“And that's why Alexander betrayed me.”
Alexander coughed.
“Not betrayed.”
He looked toward Richard.
“Corrected.”
Richard raised his gun.
I stepped between them.
“Don't.”
Richard stared at me.
“You still love him.”
I almost laughed.
“You think this is about love?”
“Yes.”
“It's about survival.”
Richard lowered his gun.
“Then you should know your baby will never be safe.”
“What do you want?”
“The Blue File.”
“I don't have it.”
“You do.”
He pointed at my ring.
“You always did.”
I looked down.
Suddenly I understood.
The ring wasn't a container.
It was an activation key.
A biometric cipher.
My father's final safeguard.
Richard had been unable to access it because the system required my pulse and genetic signature.
He hadn't tried to steal the ring.
He had tried to kill me.
Because dead, I couldn't activate it.
Alive, I could.
He needed me alive now.
That was why he was here.
“You need me.”
“Yes.”
“You can't force me.”
He smiled.
“You're pregnant.”
He nodded toward my stomach.
“I don't need to force you.”
“You'll hurt my baby?”
“No.”
He looked almost offended.
“I need the baby alive.”
There it was.
The truth.
He needed me.
He needed Sofia.
He needed our baby.
But there was one thing he didn't know.
My father had anticipated this.
I reached into my pocket.
The emergency satellite device.
Inside it was a second function.
A silent transmission.
I activated it.
The data stream began.
Every file.
Every recording.
Every financial transfer.
Every piece of evidence we had collected.
Uploading.
Richard noticed too late.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
He grabbed me.
The ring touched his hand.
The system inside it activated.
A tiny light appeared.
Richard stared.
“What is that?”
I smiled.
“My father's insurance.”
The monastery walls suddenly filled with a voice.
My father's voice.
Every speaker.
Every phone.
Every connected device.
The recording played automatically.
“If this file is being activated,” my father said, “then Richard has finally come for my daughters.”
Richard froze.
The recording continued.
“Richard, I knew you would.”
His face changed.
My father continued:
“You have misunderstood Orion.”
Richard shouted:
“Stop!”
But the recording kept playing.
“The system was never designed to make you rich.”
The room went silent.
“It was designed to identify betrayal.”
The ring flashed.
Every screen lit up.
A message appeared:
ORION PROTOCOL ACTIVE.
Richard looked at me.
“What did you do?”
I whispered:
“I survived.”
Then every account connected to Orion began to freeze.
Billions of dollars disappeared from Richard's control.
His face went pale.
“No.”
Another message appeared.
SECONDARY REVIEW INITIATED.
And then:
ALL SUSPICIOUS DEATH EVENTS UNDER INVESTIGATION.
Richard stared at the screen.
He finally understood.
The inheritance clause.
The suspicious-death provision.
Everything we had changed.
Everything Evelyn had prepared.
It had just activated.
But one final message appeared.
And this one wasn't from my father.
It was from Orion itself.
PRIMARY BLOODLINE MISMATCH DETECTED.
Richard stepped backward.
“What?”
The system displayed a DNA sequence.
Not his.
Not mine.
Not Sofia's.
A fourth genetic marker.
Richard stared at the screen.
“Who is that?”
Walter answered.
“The original heir.”
Richard turned.
Walter smiled.
“You've been chasing the wrong family.”
Then the monastery lights went black.
In the darkness, someone whispered behind me:
“Hello, Elena.”
I turned.
A woman stood in the doorway.
May you like
My mother.
Alive.
