Chapter 14 - BETRAYAL AT THE ALTAR
The guards raised their weapons. Noah squeezed his eyes shut.
But before a single shot could fire, one of the Council members stepped forward. A woman with gray hair and steady eyes. The same woman who had helped me—the matriarch’s own daughter.
“You cannot kill him,” she said clearly. “Because every word he spoke… is already broadcast live.”
She tapped a small device at her lapel. “Every threat. Every confession. The lie about the bloodline. Everything is streaming to federal agents waiting offshore. They are landing now. You are trapped, Mother.”
The matriarch spun. “You? My own flesh and blood?”
“I loved my father,” she said. “And I loved Claire. You killed them both. I will not let you kill this child too.”
Chaos erupted. The Council split. Half drawing weapons on the others. Shouts filled the hall. The matriarch lunged for Noah. I threw myself forward, seized him, and rolled behind the heavy table just as bullets sprayed the wood above us.
“Stay down!” I told him. “Cover your ears!”
Smoke filled the room. Guards fired wildly. The matriarch screamed orders no one obeyed. Outside, horns blared. Engines roared. Federal landing craft hitting stone.
I looked up. The matriarch stood cornered at the great doors. Her daughter blocking her path.
“Step aside,” the matriarch snarled. “Or I will kill you too.”
“You have nothing left,” her daughter said sadly. “Surrender. It is over.”
May you like
The matriarch laughed. Wild and desperate. She reached into her coat and raised a small device.
“I will burn it all down. The house. The ledgers. The boy. Every last trace. We die together!”
