Chapter 8: A King's Last Move
The tunnel fell silent.
Lucia stood at one end.
Three fake police officers blocked the other.
Vincent, Elena, and Frank were trapped in the middle.
Marcus arrived moments later, carrying the black Founders Ledger under one arm.
He smiled.
"No more tunnels."
"No more running."
"It's over."
Vincent looked around.
Stone walls.
A ceiling barely high enough to stand.
No cover.
No escape.
He had spent thirty years planning for every possible ambush.
Yet he had never imagined his final battlefield would be a forgotten passage beneath his own home.
Lucia extended her hand.
"The ledger."
Marcus handed it to her without hesitation.
She opened it carefully, turning page after page until she reached the map of the hidden fortune.
A slow smile spread across her face.
"Finally."
Twenty-five years of planning.
Twenty-five years of lies.
Everything had led to this moment.
Elena watched Lucia's expression.
Then she quietly laughed.
Marcus frowned.
"What's funny?"
"You didn't check the page."
Lucia looked down.
"What are you talking about?"
"The ink."
Lucia's smile disappeared.
She rubbed one finger across the map.
Black ink smeared onto her skin.
Her eyes widened.
The entire page had been altered.
The coordinates blurred.
The account numbers dissolved.
The map became nothing more than meaningless stains.
Marcus stared at Vincent.
"What did you do?"
Vincent smiled for the first time that night.
"When you were watching the archive burn..."
"...I wasn't saving the ledger."
"I was replacing one page."
Lucia slammed the book shut.
"You destroyed it?"
"No."
"I protected it."
"Where is the real map?"
Vincent answered calmly.
"Somewhere you'll never find it."
Marcus grabbed Vincent by the collar.
"You old fool!"
"You'd rather burn billions than let me have them?"
Vincent looked him directly in the eyes.
"I'd rather destroy my empire..."
"...than hand it to someone who murders family."
Marcus hesitated.
Just for a heartbeat.
The words hit deeper than he wanted to admit.
Lucia stepped between them.
"Enough."
She aimed her pistol at Frank.
"If Vincent won't talk..."
"...someone else will."
Frank straightened despite the blood on his forehead.
"I'm not afraid of dying."
Lucia nodded.
"I know."
"That's why I'm not threatening you."
She turned the gun toward Elena.
Vincent immediately stepped in front of her.
Lucia smiled.
"There he is."
"The man Antonio believed still existed."
Vincent didn't move.
"If you're going to shoot..."
"Shoot me."
Lucia sighed.
"You've finally become the brother I wished I'd had."
Then her face hardened.
"Unfortunately..."
"...it came twenty-five years too late."
Before she could pull the trigger—
A deafening gunshot echoed through the tunnel.
Everyone froze.
Lucia looked down.
Blood spread across her shoulder.
She hadn't been shot from the front.
She'd been shot from behind.
Marcus slowly lowered his pistol.
His expression was unreadable.
Lucia turned toward him in disbelief.
"Marcus..."
He spoke quietly.
"You lied to me."
She staggered backward.
"I raised you."
"You used me."
"I made you powerful."
"You made me your weapon."
The tunnel was utterly silent.
Even Vincent couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Marcus looked at Lucia with tears in his eyes.
"For twenty-five years..."
"...everything was about revenge."
"Not family."
"Not me."
"Just revenge."
Lucia reached toward him.
"You don't understand."
"No."
Marcus shook his head.
"I finally do."
Lucia suddenly smiled.
A strange...
Almost proud smile.
"Good."
Before anyone could react—
She pressed a hidden button inside her coat.
A loud mechanical rumble echoed through the tunnel.
Frank's eyes widened.
"No..."
The ceiling began to crack.
Dust poured down.
Ancient stones shifted overhead.
"The supports!" Frank shouted.
"She rigged the tunnel!"
Lucia laughed despite the blood running down her arm.
"If I can't have the empire..."
"...no one leaves alive."
Massive chunks of stone crashed from above.
The tunnel was collapsing.
Marcus stared at his mother.
"What have you done?"
Lucia looked at all of them one final time.
"I've finished the family."
The first wall gave way.
Darkness swallowed the passage.
May you like
The ground beneath Vincent's feet split apart—
And he, Elena, Marcus, Frank, and Lucia were thrown into the collapsing depths below.
