Chapter 3 - Julian Entered the Vault While I Was Inside It, and I Realized He Had Been Betraying Me Since the Night I Lost My SightThe west gate opened at 2:43 a.m.
Three vehicles.
I recognized the engine sound of the first.
Julian's car.
Marco reached for his weapon.
“No,” I said.
“He's coming in.”
“I know.”
“What do we do?”
“Let him.”
My mother whispered:
“Alessandro.”
“Stay behind me.”
The footsteps approached.
Julian entered the east corridor.
He wasn't alone.
Two men with him.
One breathed heavily.
The other dragged his left foot.
I memorized everything.
Julian stopped.
“Where's the key?”
I smiled.
“What key?”
He laughed.
“Don't insult me.”
“I don't see how I could.”
He looked toward Marco.
“You should have told me.”
Marco remained silent.
Julian sighed.
“You were always loyal.”
I heard a weapon being raised.
I moved.
My cane struck the man's wrist.
Gun fell.
Marco disarmed the other.
Julian stepped back.
“You're blind.”
“Yes.”
“You can't win.”
I smiled.
“Then why are you scared?”
He froze.
I could hear his breathing.
Fast.
Through his nose.
Exactly as before.
“You betrayed me,” I said.
“No.”
“You helped Vittorio.”
“No.”
“You were there the night of the bombing.”
Silence.
I heard his ring tap against his hand.
Tap.
Pause.
Tap.
“You knew my father wanted the Helix files.”
Nothing.
“You knew Annie found the key.”
He finally spoke.
“She was never supposed to find it.”
There it was.
The confession.
I stepped closer.
“Why?”
“Because you weren't supposed to have her.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“She changed everything.”
“Who?”
“Annie.”
I heard the bitterness in his voice.
“You became different after she was born.”
I understood.
Julian believed the family should belong to him.
He had expected me to remain isolated.
Weak.
Without an heir.
Instead, Annie became my center.
He wanted the empire.
But the empire could not pass to him while my daughter existed.
He had orchestrated everything.
The bombing.
The kidnapping.
The succession documents.
The fake financial crisis.
Everything.
Then he said:
“Give me the key.”
“No.”
“Then she dies.”
“No.”
“You don't understand.”
“I understand perfectly.”
I stepped toward him.
“You think my blindness made me weak.”
He laughed.
“It did.”
I smiled.
“Then you made the same mistake everyone else made.”
“What?”
“You assumed I needed eyes to know what was happening.”
Silence.
I listened.
Three guards outside.
Two behind Julian.
One woman breathing near the stairwell.
Not my mother.
Someone else.
Then I heard it.
A faint bracelet.
Metal against fabric.
Annie.
I turned.
“She's here.”
Julian froze.
“What?”
“She isn't in Chicago.”
His voice changed.
“You're lying.”
I smiled.
“I don't need to see her.”
I pointed.
“She's upstairs.”
He stopped breathing.
I heard the woman near the stairwell move.
Marco shouted.
“Down!”
Gunfire erupted.
The lights shattered.
I moved by sound.
One shot.
Pause.
Second shot.
Footstep.
I struck.
A man fell.
Another screamed.
Then silence.
When the lights came back, the hallway was empty.
Julian was gone.
But one thing remained.
His ring.
It had fallen to the floor.
I picked it up.
Warm.
Heavy.
A physical piece of evidence.
I smiled.
“Find him.”
Marco nodded.
Then my mother whispered:
“There is another problem.”
“What?”
“The girl isn't upstairs.”
I froze.
“What?”
“I heard someone.”
“But?”
“It wasn't Annie.”
I listened.
A woman was breathing near the kitchen.
She spoke softly.
“Alessandro.”
I knew the voice.
May you like
My sister Clara.
Alive.
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