Chapter 80: Sixty Seconds to Betray the Dead

The numbers burned into my vision.

58… 57… 56…

Each second fell like a hammer against my chest, cracking something open that I wasn’t sure could ever be repaired again.

The fixer’s body jerked violently against the restraints, veins bulging at his neck, eyes wide with pain. Foam gathered at the corner of his mouth as his breathing became ragged, uneven, unnatural.

This wasn’t a bluff.

She wasn’t testing us anymore.

She was executing.

“Stop it!” I screamed, my voice echoing wildly through the chamber. “You’ve proven your point!”

She didn’t even flinch.

Instead, she folded her arms, her expression almost serene, like she was watching a scientific experiment reach its expected conclusion.

“Forty-five seconds,” she said calmly.

Elliot’s hands tightened on my shoulders. I could feel the tremor he was trying and failing to suppress.

“She designed this to break you,” he whispered urgently. “Not just emotionally. Morally.”

I swallowed hard, my throat burning.

Marcus moved closer to the chair, eyes darting around the room, calculating angles, exits, possibilities. “I can shoot the mechanism,” he muttered. “If I hit the power source”

“You’ll kill him instantly,” she interrupted smoothly. “The failsafe is wired directly to his heart.”

The fixer let out a strangled sound, his head dropping forward.

39… 38…

My hands shook violently as I clutched the flash drive.

My father’s last secret.

My father’s last stand.

I could almost hear his voice again, steady, calm, stubborn to the very end.

Don’t trade truth for fear.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

“She’s lying,” I whispered desperately. “This can’t all rest on me.”

Elliot shook his head slowly. “It does. Because you’re the one he trusted.”

My chest ached so badly I thought I might collapse.

The woman stepped closer, heels clicking sharply against the stone floor. “You see?” she said softly. “Even he understands.”

She reached out, palm open.

“Thirty seconds.”

The timer glowed brighter.

The fixer’s convulsions worsened. Blood trickled from his nose now, staining his lips.

“No,” I whispered.

I took a step forward without realizing it.

Elliot tightened his grip. “Don’t.”

“If I don’t” My voice broke. “He dies.”

“And if you do,” Elliot said quietly, “thousands might.”

Her smile sharpened. “Ah. There it is. The weight of legacy.”

I looked at her, really looked at her, and for the first time, I didn’t see power.

I saw obsession.

“You don’t want justice,” I said hoarsely. “You want control.”

She tilted her head. “Control is justice.”

Marcus cursed under his breath.

20… 19…

My heart thundered so loudly I could barely hear my own thoughts.

Then

The fixer lifted his head.

His eyes locked onto mine.

And despite the pain tearing through him, he smiled.

Barely. Weakly.

“No,” he rasped. “Don’t… don’t give it to her.”

My breath hitched.

“She’ll burn everything,” he continued, struggling for each word. “Your father… he chose you because you’d choose right.”

Tears spilled freely down my face.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

The woman’s expression darkened. “Fifteen seconds.”

Elliot leaned close, his voice breaking for the first time since I’d known him. “Whatever happens next… I stand with you.”

Something inside me snapped into place.

I straightened.

And then, I did something none of them expected.

I threw the flash drive.

Not to her.

To the ground.

It shattered against the stone floor, fragments skidding across the chamber.

Silence.

Her scream tore through the air, raw and furious. “You stupid girl!”

Marcus didn’t hesitate.

He fired.

The bullet struck the restraint mechanism, sparks flying as the chair’s locks released. Elliot lunged forward, catching the fixer as he collapsed, ripping the wires from his chest.

The timer froze at

03.

The lights flickered violently.

Alarms screamed.

The chamber began to shake.

She staggered backward, eyes wild with rage. “You’ve doomed us all!”

“No,” I said, stepping forward despite the terror clawing at me. “You’ve lost.”

She laughed hysterically. “You think that was the only copy?”

Elliot froze.

My stomach dropped.

“The name lives on,” she continued, backing toward the shadows as the walls began to crack. “And now… so does the war.”

With that, the floor beneath her collapsed, swallowing her into darkness.

The chamber shook harder.

Liam shouted from the corridor, “We need to move now!”

Elliot hoisted the fixer over his shoulder despite the pain it clearly caused him. Marcus grabbed my hand, pulling me toward the exit as the ceiling began to cave.

We ran.

Stone crashed behind us.

Fire roared through the passage.

And as we burst into the open air beyond the ruins, lungs burning, hearts racing, I realized something terrifying

Destroying the secret hadn’t ended the danger.

It had only changed the battlefield.

As we disappeared into the night, the fixer whispered weakly against Elliot’s shoulder:

“She wasn’t lying… about the name.”

My blood ran cold.

Because if the name still existed

Then someone else was already coming for it.