Chapter 8 - The Price on Her Unborn Son
Gabriel stared at the screen.
“My father is dead.”
Beatrice answered.
No one spoke.
Then an elderly voice said, “Gabriel.”
Gabriel’s face emptied.
Beatrice put the call on speaker.
“Who is this?”
“You know.”
Gabriel stepped closer.
“My father died nine years ago.”
“No. You buried a closed coffin.”
Thomas sat down.
Adrian’s expression became dangerous.
The voice continued.
“Beatrice, your father and I made terrible choices believing we were saving our children.”
Beatrice said, “Where are you?”
“Where this began.”
“Meaning?”
“The old Bell residence.”
Thomas looked up sharply.
The house had burned eighteen years earlier.
Vittorio continued.
“Bring the box.”
“No,” Gabriel said.
“Then your son will inherit a war that never belonged to him.”
The call ended.
They went.
Not recklessly.
Teams surrounded the ruins.
Beatrice stayed in an armored vehicle until the property was cleared.
Then Thomas found a basement entrance hidden beneath collapsed stone.
Vittorio waited below.
Older.
Thin.
Alive.
Gabriel stopped at the bottom of the stairs.
His father looked at him.
“My son.”
Gabriel did not embrace him.
“You let me bury you.”
“Yes.”
“You let me become you.”
Pain crossed Vittorio’s face.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Meridian required my death.”
Vittorio explained that he and Thomas had eventually discovered the truth.
The Vale-Rossi feud had been engineered.
Adrian’s father had been murdered by Meridian.
Vittorio faked his death years later after attempting to dismantle the network.
But Samuel Voss had survived.
Voss was Meridian’s architect.
Beatrice asked about her mother.
Vittorio looked at Thomas.
“Eleanor discovered Samuel was alive.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“She tried to contact me?”
“Yes.”
“And he killed her.”
Vittorio nodded.
Beatrice pressed a hand to her stomach.
Gabriel stepped toward her.
Stopped.
Waited.
She reached for his hand.
Only then did he take hers.
Vittorio watched.
“Samuel wants your child because the second encryption key is more than DNA.”
Thomas frowned.
“What?”
“You never finished the system.”
Thomas stared.
Vittorio explained that Voss had modified the archive.
The child’s biometric sample would unlock not only the evidence but control of Meridian’s hidden accounts.
Billions.
The baby was not merely a key to exposure.
He was a key to money.
Adrian’s voice hardened.
“So every faction wants the child.”
“Yes.”
Beatrice looked at the men around her.
“Then we destroy the money.”
Vittorio stared.
“Billions?”
“Yes.”
Gabriel almost smiled.
“That’s my wife.”
She gave him a look.
“Careful.”
His smile disappeared.
“Yes.”
Thomas laughed for the first time.
They planned to open the archive after the baby was safely born, release the evidence publicly, and transfer Meridian’s criminal assets into frozen accounts accessible to investigators.
But Voss moved first.
Beatrice’s false medical emergency leaked.
An ambulance arrived at the safe house.
Correct identification.
Correct dispatch records.
Correct paramedics.
Except Chloe noticed one detail.
The ambulance number.
She remembered the locker.
“Don’t open the gate!”
Too late.
The ambulance exploded through the security barrier.
Armed men emerged.
Gunfire shattered windows.
Gabriel reached Beatrice first.
Adrian covered the corridor.
Thomas grabbed the black box.
Chloe ran toward her sister.
Then Beatrice doubled over.
Not from fear.
Pain.
Deep.
Rhythmic.
Her water broke.
She looked down.
Gabriel went white.
“No.”
Beatrice breathed through another contraction.
“The baby is coming.”
Outside, Meridian men surrounded the house.
Inside, their planned hospital was compromised.
Their emergency route was blocked.
Then the lights failed.
Backup power did not start.
In the darkness, Beatrice heard Chloe scream.
May you like
A door slammed.
And when the emergency lamps flickered on, Thomas Bell and the black box were gone.
