Chapter 6 - Twenty Minutes to Save a King
Gabriele hit the marble floor hard.
The ballroom erupted.
Guests stepped backward.
Some screamed.
Others reached for phones.
Romano security appeared from every direction.
Marco dropped beside Gabriele.
“Boss.”
Gabriele’s eyes opened.
Barely.
“Federica.”
“Working on it.”
“Where?”
“With Evelyn.”
Gabriele tried to stand.
Marco forced him down.
“You’ve been poisoned.”
“I heard.”
“You’re not going anywhere.”
“Watch me.”
Gabriele made it halfway upright before his legs failed.
Marco caught him.
“You have maybe twenty minutes.”
“Then stop wasting them.”
Across the hotel, Federica followed Evelyn through a service corridor.
Her pulse thundered in her ears.
She wanted to run back to Gabriele.
Every instinct told her to.
But the antidote was supposedly with Rosa.
If Evelyn was telling the truth, Federica had one job.
Find her aunt.
Find the antidote.
The corridor ended at a private elevator.
Evelyn entered.
Federica followed.
Two men stood inside.
Armed.
One took Federica’s purse.
The other checked her sleeves.
Neither found the microphone in her earring.
Neither noticed the ring.
“Where are we going?” Federica asked.
“Up.”
“Helpful.”
Evelyn smiled.
“You joke when afraid.”
“I’ve been told.”
The elevator stopped on the thirty-first floor.
Penthouse suite.
Quiet.
Luxurious.
Two more guards.
Rosa sat on a sofa.
Federica’s composure cracked.
“Aunt Rosa.”
Rosa stood.
“Federica!”
They reached each other.
Rosa held her face.
“What happened to you?”
“I’m okay.”
“You look terrible.”
“Thank you.”
“I mean medically.”
“I know.”
Evelyn entered.
Rosa immediately pointed at her.
“That woman is insane.”
Evelyn sighed.
“Your aunt is exhausting.”
“She raised me.”
“That explains certain qualities.”
Federica turned.
“The antidote.”
Evelyn nodded toward a glass vial on a table.
“You unlock the account first.”
“No.”
“Federica.”
“He’ll die.”
“Yes.”
“And if he dies, you lose leverage.”
Evelyn’s smile thinned.
“You are negotiating with limited time.”
“So are you.”
Federica pointed toward the windows.
“Gabriele’s people know I’m here.”
“Do they?”
“Yes.”
Evelyn looked unconcerned.
Federica needed time.
Her eyes moved around the room.
Two guards at the door.
One near the windows.
One beside Rosa.
Antidote eight feet away.
Impossible.
Unless the system changed.
Again.
Federica looked at the television.
Hotel information screen.
Connected network.
Smart lighting.
Sprinklers.
Electronic doors.
She almost smiled.
Evelyn noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Unlock the account.”
Federica sat at the desk.
A laptop waited.
She inserted the flash drive.
A login page appeared.
ROMANO RESERVE ASSET NETWORK.
She recognized it.
Not because she had access.
Because she had discovered its architecture during compliance testing.
“You really think I can open this?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Matteo thought you could.”
Federica stopped.
“What?”
Evelyn smiled.
“That surprises you?”
“Yes.”
“Matteo knew who you were before Gabriele hired you.”
Federica stared.
“That’s impossible.”
“Is it?”
“I never met him.”
“No. But he read your forensic accounting paper.”
Federica remembered.
Graduate school.
A paper on layered fraud detection.
Nobody important had read it.
Or so she thought.
Evelyn continued.
“Matteo recommended you for Romano Holdings.”
Federica felt the floor tilt.
“Why?”
“Because he knew he was running out of time.”
Federica looked at the screen.
“Gabriele thinks he moved me into protected finance.”
“He did.”
“But Matteo brought me there first.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To finish the audit if he died.”
Federica swallowed.
Matteo had expected death.
And had planted an accountant inside his brother’s company as insurance.
She suddenly understood something.
“The second ledger.”
Evelyn’s eyes sharpened.
Federica said, “It isn’t a physical ledger.”
No answer.
“It’s hidden inside the reserve network.”
Evelyn smiled.
“There you are.”
Federica had solved it.
And immediately regretted saying it aloud.
Evelyn stepped closer.
“Open it.”
Federica typed.
But not what Evelyn expected.
She entered the hotel network through the browser’s certificate interface.
Old vulnerability.
Basic.
Messy.
Enough.
“What are you doing?” one guard asked.
“Authentication.”
“Looks strange.”
“Do you want to do it?”
He shut up.
Federica opened the building-control portal.
One command.
Fire alarm.
The penthouse exploded into noise.
Rosa shouted.
Lights flashed.
Sprinklers activated.
Evelyn screamed, “Stop her!”
Federica grabbed the laptop and threw it at the nearest guard.
He ducked.
Rosa hit another man with her handbag.
Hard.
Federica lunged for the vial.
A guard caught her coat.
Fabric tore.
She twisted.
Pain ripped through her ribs.
She reached.
Almost.
Then Evelyn seized the vial first.
“Enough!”
Everyone stopped.
Evelyn held the small glass container between two fingers.
“Another step and I break it.”
Federica froze.
Evelyn’s hair was wet from the sprinklers.
For the first time, she looked furious.
“You think you’re clever.”
“I think Gabriele is dying.”
“He is.”
“Give me the vial.”
“Open the ledger.”
Federica’s mind raced.
Then Rosa spoke behind her.
“Federica.”
Something about her tone.
Federica looked.
Rosa subtly lifted one hand.
Inside it—
Another vial.
Federica almost laughed.
Her aunt had switched them.
When?
How?
Rosa winked.
Evelyn followed Federica’s gaze.
Too late.
Federica grabbed a heavy lamp and slammed it into the sprinkler pipe.
Water burst across the room.
Chaos.
Rosa threw the real vial.
Federica caught it.
Then ran.
She did not look back.
She sprinted into the corridor.
Barefoot now.
One shoe lost somewhere behind her.
Pain burned through her side.
Elevator too slow.
Stairs.
Thirty-one floors.
Impossible.
Federica entered the stairwell anyway.
Marco’s voice finally came through her earpiece.
“Federica!”
“I have it.”
“Where?”
“Thirty-one.”
“Stay there.”
“He doesn’t have time.”
“We’re coming.”
“No.”
She descended.
Thirty.
Twenty-nine.
Twenty-eight.
Her lungs burned.
“Federica, stop.”
“How long?”
Marco did not answer.
“Marco!”
“Eight minutes.”
She ran faster.
Twenty-four.
Twenty-one.
Her injured ribs screamed.
Gabriele’s face flashed through her mind.
The moment he touched Leo’s cheek.
The way he had smiled when she mocked him.
The way his hand had held hers after Rosa disappeared.
Nineteen.
Seventeen.
Her legs shook.
Then a stairwell door opened below.
Marco.
Two guards.
A medic.
Federica nearly fell into him.
“Take it.”
Marco grabbed the vial.
The medic ran.
Federica followed.
They reached a private suite on the twenty-second floor.
Gabriele lay on a sofa.
Pale.
Sweating.
Barely conscious.
The medic injected the antidote.
Nothing happened.
Federica stood frozen.
“Why isn’t he waking?”
“It takes time.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know.”
“That is not an acceptable medical answer.”
The doctor continued working.
Minutes passed.
Federica sat beside Gabriele.
His hand was cold.
She took it.
“Gabriele.”
No response.
She leaned closer.
“You are not allowed to die.”
Marco looked away.
Federica’s voice shook.
“You are unbelievably controlling, arrogant, secretive, and apparently convinced that being shot at counts as a scheduling inconvenience.”
Still nothing.
“So you cannot die because I have not finished complaining.”
A tiny movement.
Federica stopped.
Gabriele’s fingers tightened around hers.
His eyes opened slightly.
“You talk too much.”
Federica laughed and cried simultaneously.
“That is what you say?”
His mouth moved faintly.
“I heard everything.”
“Good.”
“You called me arrogant.”
“You are.”
“Secretive.”
“Also true.”
“Controlling.”
“Extremely.”
He opened his eyes farther.
“And you ran thirty-one floors?”
“Twenty-two.”
“Still foolish.”
She stared at him.
Then kissed his forehead.
The gesture surprised both of them.
Gabriele’s expression softened.
Behind them, Marco cleared his throat.
Federica quickly sat back.
“Rosa.”
“Safe,” Marco said. “Our team got her out.”
Federica closed her eyes.
Relief nearly overwhelmed her.
Then Gabriele whispered, “Evelyn?”
“Gone.”
Federica opened her eyes again.
Marco continued.
“She used the evacuation to leave through a service route.”
Gabriele tried to sit.
The medic stopped him.
“There’s more,” Marco said.
He handed Federica the laptop she had thrown.
Its corner was broken.
But functioning.
“You did something before the alarm.”
Federica frowned.
“What?”
“Opened a hidden directory.”
She looked.
During the network intrusion, the Romano reserve system had authenticated automatically.
A file had appeared.
MATTEO_PRIVATE.
Federica clicked.
Inside was a video.
Recorded eight months ago.
Matteo Romano appeared on the screen.
Gabriele went completely still.
His dead brother looked directly into the camera.
“If you’re watching this,” Matteo said, “then I was right.”
Federica stopped breathing.
Matteo continued.
“Gabriele, do not trust the Sterling war. Victor isn’t the real enemy.”
A pause.
“The person behind Gray is closer to us than you think.”
Gabriele’s expression changed.
The video continued.
“And Federica Ferrari—if she is still alive—will know where to look.”
Federica stared at the dead man.
Then Matteo spoke the sentence that changed everything.
“Because the ledger isn’t evidence of Sterling stealing from the Romano family.”
He leaned toward the camera.
“It proves someone inside our family has been paying Sterling to kill us.”
The video cut to black.
May you like
And suddenly Alessandro Romano’s explanation no longer seemed nearly enough.
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