CHAPTER 9 — THE HOUR BEFORE THE WORLD KNOWS
The countdown continued.
00:59:48
Sixty minutes.
That was all.
Sixty minutes until every secret hidden by the most powerful families in the world would no longer belong to them.
The Genesis Archive.
The Meridian Circle.
The truth about my mother.
The truth about my father.
The truth about me.
Everything.
Charles Ashford stared at the countdown like he was seeing his empire collapse in real time.
For the first time since I met him...
He looked human.
Not powerful.
Not untouchable.
Afraid.
"What did you do?"
His voice was quieter now.
I looked at him.
"I opened a door."
Charles stepped closer.
One of his guards immediately raised his weapon.
Adrian moved in front of me.
But I stopped him.
"No."
Everyone looked at me.
Adrian frowned.
"Elizabeth."
"I need to do this."
Charles smiled slightly.
"Still pretending you are in control."
I looked at him.
"No."
A pause.
"I finally am."
Nathan stood behind Charles.
Silent.
Broken.
But I noticed something.
His eyes weren't on the countdown.
They were on me.
A strange expression crossed his face.
Regret.
Maybe.
Too late.
Definitely.
"You knew."
His voice was almost a whisper.
I turned.
"Knew what?"
"That you were going to do this."
I stared.
"Did you think I would simply forgive you?"
Nathan looked away.
"No."
"Then what are you asking?"
He swallowed.
"I want to know if there was ever a moment..."
He stopped.
"When you loved me."
The question surprised everyone.
Even Charles.
For a second...
I remembered the beginning.
The man I met.
The man who brought me coffee every morning.
The man who promised he would protect me.
The man who held my hand at our wedding.
That man had existed.
But he had died long before tonight.
"I did."
Nathan looked up.
Hope appeared.
Only for a second.
"Then why?"
My answer was simple.
"Because I loved the person you pretended to be."
Silence.
"But I don't know who you are anymore."
Nathan looked down.
Because he knew.
There was no argument.
Charles suddenly laughed.
"You are wasting time."
I looked at him.
"What?"
"The countdown."
He smiled.
"You think releasing information destroys me?"
A pause.
"You are forgetting something."
He walked toward the center of the room.
"People don't care about truth."
I said nothing.
"They care about stories."
He pointed at the screens.
"You think showing documents will make the world believe you?"
He laughed.
"I will call you unstable."
"A traumatized woman."
"The daughter of a dangerous criminal family."
He smiled.
"And everyone will believe me."
The room became quiet.
Because for a moment...
He sounded exactly like Nathan.
The same confidence.
The same arrogance.
The same belief that reputation mattered more than reality.
But Charles made one mistake.
He thought I was still fighting the old battle.
The battle where people judged me.
The battle where I needed everyone to believe me.
I didn't.
"I don't need them to believe me."
Charles looked confused.
"What?"
I stepped toward the screen.
"I need them to see."
The countdown continued.
00:48:20
Marcus suddenly received a message.
His face changed.
"Elizabeth."
"What?"
He turned the tablet toward me.
A list of names appeared.
Hundreds.
Executives.
Politicians.
Judges.
Military officials.
People connected to the Meridian Circle.
But one name stopped me.
Near the top.
Alexander Vale.
My heart dropped.
I looked at my father.
He didn't react.
Which meant he already knew.
"What is this?"
Nobody answered.
I looked at Alexander.
"Why is your name here?"
The silence hurt.
More than any lie.
Alexander closed his eyes.
"Because I was part of it."
The words destroyed the room.
Adrian immediately turned.
"What?"
Victoria looked satisfied.
"I told you."
I stared at my father.
"No."
He stepped closer.
"Elizabeth, listen—"
"No."
My voice shook.
"You don't get to explain."
Everyone had a breaking point.
Mine had arrived.
"You knew."
"I knew about the Meridian Circle."
"I knew about the archive."
"I knew about my mother."
"And you still let me believe my life was normal."
His expression broke.
"I was trying to protect you."
I laughed softly.
"Everyone says that."
A pause.
"Everyone who lies to me says that."
The countdown reached:
00:40:00
Forty minutes.
Charles smiled.
"You see?"
He looked at me.
"Your own father betrayed you."
I ignored him.
Because something was wrong.
I looked at the list again.
Then at Alexander.
Then at Adrian.
"Why is his name there?"
Nobody answered.
I looked at Marcus.
"You knew?"
Marcus looked away.
Another betrayal.
"Marcus."
He sighed.
"Yes."
I closed my eyes.
Everyone.
Everyone had known.
The room suddenly felt smaller.
"Explain."
Alexander finally spoke.
"The Meridian Circle was not created by us."
"What?"
"It was created by people like Charles."
He looked at Charles.
"We infiltrated it."
I frowned.
"What?"
Adrian nodded slowly.
"Alexander and I joined them to destroy them from inside."
My anger paused.
"But the list..."
Alexander nodded.
"Our names were recorded as members."
"Because we were."
A silence.
"We became monsters to defeat monsters."
I looked at him.
"And you never told me because?"
His answer was painful.
"Because your mother hated what we became."
A new message appeared on the screen.
Everyone turned.
Not from me.
Not from Charles.
A third person.
The screen showed a dark room.
A man sitting in a chair.
Older.
Unknown.
But his voice made everyone freeze.
"Hello, Elizabeth."
Adrian stepped backward.
"No..."
The man smiled.
"Adrian."
Alexander whispered:
"Impossible."
The man looked directly into the camera.
"My old friends."
A pause.
"And my granddaughter."
I froze.
Granddaughter?
The man continued.
"The game has gone on long enough."
The countdown stopped.
00:39:59
Then reset.
00:00:00
The screen went black.
A single sentence appeared:
THE GENESIS ARCHIVE HAS BEEN OVERRIDDEN.
Everyone stared.
Charles's smile disappeared.
Because someone had just taken control.
Someone stronger.
Someone who knew every secret.
Adrian whispered:
"No."
I looked at him.
"Who is it?"
He didn't answer.
Because he already knew.
Finally...
He said the name.
"Your grandfather."
The room went silent.
The man who was supposed to be dead.
The man who started everything.
The man who created the war my entire life had been built around.
May you like
Was alive.
And he had just taken control of the truth.
