Chapter 30
The old cellar reeked of damp wood and dusted blood. The walls groaned when we stepped down, and every echo sounded like death waiting for its cue. I held my breath as the shadows gave way to light, and then I saw her.
Elle.
My daughter, my baby girl, strapped to a chair, her chest rising in panicked little breaths, and wrapped in a vest with blinking red lights. Her hands were shaking, and her lips were trembling, out she didn’t scream. She remembered what I taught her.
‘Mama,” she cried softly, like it was the only thing she still had. “Mama, please help me.”
My voice cracked as I whispered her name. “Elle.”
took a step forward, but the voice above sliced through the air like a curse I’d already heard in nightmares.
Well well. What a family reunion.”
Margot stood on the rusted catwalk, heels sharp and wild eyes glowing with madness. Her hair vas a mess, makeup smudged into madness, and in her hand? Was a deadman switch.
Margot,” I said slowly, raising both hands. “It’s over. Don’t do this. Let her go. We can end this another way.”
Margot laughed like I said something funny. “You want to take my life? My name? My love?” She shrieked down at us, stepping forward on a pressure plate. The bomb timer on Elle’s chest ›linked once, then turned red. A digital countdown began. Sixty seconds.
Then I’ll take what’s left of yours,” she said. “I’ll make you watch her explode, Geneva. Let’s see how strong you are after that.”
Don’t do this,” I begged, voice shaking as I tried to read her face. “She’s a child, Margot. She’s nnocent.”
Niccolo should have been mine! Everything should have been mine!”
Niccolo stepped forward from the shadows, his shirt soaked in blood and pain etched into his ace. He dropped his gun to the ground.
Take me,” he said, voice hoarse. “You want revenge? Kill me. You always wanted to be the one vho decided my end. So do it. Let the girl go.”
Margot’s eyes flickered. Her lips twitched. She started laughing and crying all at once, shaking er head violently. “You love her again, don’t you? That bitch. After everything I did. After verything I gave!”
While she ranted, I moved. I ducked behind one of the crumbling walls and slid through the old unnel that looped beneath the catwalk. My breath came short and tight as the dust hit my ungs, and my palms scraped against jagged stone. I didn’t care. I just moved. And prayed the iming was right.
Thirty seconds, Michael’s voice crackled in my earpiece.
I’m near,” I whispered. “Get ready.”
Viko replied with a sharp, “Copy. We’re holding overwatch. She twitches, she dies.”
alimbad tho lost four runge of a forgotten ladder and nulled muself hohind the chair whara Ello
Chapter 30
2/3 92.7%
1:03 pm
I climbed the last few rungs of a forgotten ladder and pulled myself behind the chair where Elle sat. She saw me and her eyes widened but she didn’t make a sound.
I reached around her slowly and pressed two fingers to the backup detonator beneath the lining. Michael fed me a code through the earpiece.
“Three. Nine. Seven. Two. Disable on green,” he said.
I punched the code into the small keypad, heart racing. The light turned green. But the final trigger–the one connected to Margot’s thumb–was still live.
“Elle, look at me,” I whispered. “You’re doing so good, baby. So good. I’m here now. We’re going home. Mama’s going to fix this, okay?”
She nodded through tears, shaking but holding on.
“Ten seconds,” Niko hissed.
Margot’s ranting grew louder, unhinged.
“You don’t know what it’s like to be cast aside! To be the second choice! To be called a mistake! I did everything for him. Everything! And he still looked at you like you were the only woman in the world!”
I stared up at her from below, blood roaring in my ears.
This had to end.
Now.
“You were never his,” I said, my voice calm and low. “You were just a shadow pretending to be a crown. You were the noise in the background of his real life. You tried to become me but all you ever were was the ghost of a woman who couldn’t stand her own reflection.”
Margot’s face twisted. Her lip curled, and her eyes widened in hate.
“Shut up!” she shrieked and raised the detonator.
“Then you can all die with me!”
But the gunshot rang first.
A sharp crack cut through the air, and the detonator snapped clean out of her hand hit the floor and skidded across the rusted walkway.
My eyes shot up. Nathaniel stood at the far window, rifle still warm, steady and unshaken.
“Clear,” he said in the coms.
Margot screamed again, but it was already over. Niccolo lunged forward, tackled her hard from the side, and they went down together.
I turned back to Elle, my hands flying over the last latch of her vest.
“Baby, it’s okay, I’ve got you–stay still, I’ve got you.”
But before I could even get it off her chest, Margot’s hand came out from under her coat and she slammed her palm on something under the lining.
The floor rumbled. Then the roar came.
A blast tore through the right side of the estate, stone and steel screamed and shattered. Fire and smoke blasted into the air. I didn’t even think. I threw my body over Elle’s, yanked her close,
1:03 pm
and wrapped my arms around her head.
“Stay down, baby. Don’t move. Mama’s got you.”
The blast knocked my breath out, but I held her tight. Dust rained. The ceiling cracked. Someone screamed. Niko shouted orders. The whole world shook.
But my arms never let go of my daughter.
Not this time. Not ever again.
The smoke was still thick when I carried Elle out into the clearing. My arms were tight around her and her small chest pressed against mine with every shuddering breath she took. I could feel her heartbeat it was fast and scared, but alive. She was alive. I just kept walking until I saw Michael and Nathaniel dragging someone through the smoke.
It was Niccolo.
His shirt was soaked red, and his body hung limp between them. Blood trailed behind him on the gravel. My feet moved before I could think and I pushed Elle gently into Niko’s arms.
“Take her,” I whispered. “Keep her eyes closed.”
Niko nodded and held Elle close to his chest while I ran forward.
Nathaniel met my eyes and spoke low. “Debris hit him hard. He stopped Margot from crawling back into the tunnels. Took the blow head–on.”
1:03 pm Pppp.
Chapter 31
