Part 8: Twenty-Four Hours
Part 8: Twenty-Four Hours
Roman lowered the phone slowly.
Nobody spoke.
Thomas watched him carefully.
“What did he say?”
Roman looked at Emily.
“He wants you.”
Emily nodded.
“I heard.”
“He gave us twenty-four hours.”
Margaret stepped closer.
“You can’t give her to him.”
Roman’s expression hardened.
“I know.”
Thomas shook his head.
“You don’t understand. If he believes you won’t surrender Emily, he’ll come after everyone around you.”
Emily looked at her father.
“He already has.”
Thomas lowered his eyes.
Emily took a breath.
“I’ve spent my whole life being the person everyone protects.”
She looked at Roman.
“I’m tired of being the reason everyone is afraid.”
Roman stepped toward her.
“You are not the reason.”
“Then what am I?”
“The reason I’m going to win.”
Emily stared at him.
Thomas watched them silently.
For the first time, he understood why Roman had become so important to his daughter.
Not because he was powerful.
Not because he was wealthy.
Because when Emily was afraid, Roman didn’t ask her to disappear.
He stood beside her.
Margaret broke the silence.
“We need to know what is inside Emily’s memory.”
Emily frowned.
“I don’t remember anything.”
Thomas shook his head.
“You do.”
He reached into his pocket and removed a small metal key.
Emily recognized it immediately.
“The key from the box.”
Thomas nodded.
“When you were nine, I taught you a sequence of numbers.”
“The game.”
“Yes.”
“What does it unlock?”
Thomas looked at Roman.
“Your father’s final account.”
Roman frowned.
“My father had another account?”
“Not an account.”
Thomas took a breath.
“A legal trust.”
Emily stared at him.
“What kind of trust?”
“One that controls ownership rights to several companies.”
Roman’s eyes widened.
“Why would my father put that in Emily’s memory?”
“Because he knew every computer could be hacked.”
Thomas looked at his daughter.
“But no one can hack a human memory.”
Emily shook her head.
“I was nine.”
“You were unusually good with patterns.”
Roman almost smiled.
“That hasn’t changed.”
Emily looked at him.
“This isn’t funny.”
“I know.”
Thomas placed the key in Emily’s hand.
“You don’t have to remember everything.”
Emily looked confused.
“Then what do I have to remember?”
“A song.”
Emily froze.
“A song?”
Thomas nodded.
“I used to sing it to you before bed.”
She closed her eyes.
Slowly, a melody returned.
A simple children’s song.
Four notes.
Then four more.
Emily whispered the sequence.
Thomas smiled.
“That’s it.”
Roman looked at him.
“What does it mean?”
Thomas opened the metal key.
Inside was a tiny electronic chip.
“The song is a passphrase.”
Emily stared at it.
“So the trust can only be accessed by me?”
“Yes.”
Margaret suddenly stepped forward.
“Then we don’t have much time.”
Thomas nodded.
“We need to reach the trust before your uncle does.”
Roman asked:
“Where is it?”
Thomas looked at him.
“Inside Duca Tower.”
Roman’s eyes narrowed.
“We searched the building.”
“You searched the company.”
Thomas shook his head.
“Your father hid the trust beneath it.”
Emily looked at Roman.
“Then we go back.”
Roman nodded.
But Margaret stopped them.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
Margaret’s face had become pale.
“You cannot go through the main building.”
“Why?”
“Because Sophia controls the security system now.”
Roman frowned.
“How?”
Margaret looked at him.
“Victor gave her access.”
Roman clenched his jaw.
“How long?”
“Long enough.”
Emily suddenly realized something.
“Sophia wasn’t simply helping her father.”
Margaret nodded.
“She was working with Aurelius.”
Thomas corrected her.
“Not just working with them.”
He looked at Emily.
“She was promised control.”
Roman’s expression hardened.
“Of what?”
“Duca Consolidated.”
Silence.
Roman laughed bitterly.
“She was going to marry me and take the company.”
Thomas shook his head.
“Not exactly.”
Roman looked at him.
“She was going to marry you and give the company to Aurelius.”
Emily’s stomach tightened.
Roman looked toward the city.
“Then tonight, we take it back.”
They reached Duca Tower just after midnight.
The building looked normal from outside.
But Emily noticed something.
Every window on the upper floors was dark.
Roman stopped.
“That’s wrong.”
Emily looked at him.
“Why?”
“The executive floors never shut down completely.”
Thomas looked toward the building.
“They’re expecting you.”
Roman nodded.
“Good.”
They entered through the underground parking garage.
The doors opened automatically.
Too easily.
Emily looked at Roman.
“Trap.”
“I know.”
They stepped inside.
The lights turned on one by one.
A voice came through the speakers.
Sophia.
“Welcome back.”
Roman stopped.
“Sophia.”
Her laughter echoed through the garage.
“You really should have listened when I told you she was dangerous.”
Emily stepped forward.
“I’m not the dangerous one.”
Sophia’s voice sharpened.
“You have no idea what you are.”
“Then tell me.”
Silence.
Then Sophia said:
“Come upstairs.”
Roman looked at Thomas.
Thomas nodded.
They entered the elevator.
The doors closed.
The elevator began moving upward.
Floor 10.
Floor 20.
Floor 30.
Then the display went blank.
Emily frowned.
“This isn’t a normal floor.”
The elevator stopped.
The doors opened.
They stepped into a dark hallway.
Roman recognized it.
“My father’s private level.”
Thomas nodded.
“Exactly.”
They entered a large office.
Sophia stood by the window.
Victor was beside her.
And on the desk lay the flash drive.
Roman’s expression hardened.
“You have one chance to walk away.”
Sophia smiled.
“You still think this is about money.”
She looked at Emily.
“It never was.”
Emily stepped forward.
“Then what is it about?”
Sophia’s expression changed.
“Control.”
She pointed toward the desk.
“Your father discovered the Duca trust.”
Thomas said nothing.
Sophia continued.
“He hid the ownership documents inside a memory system.”
Roman frowned.
“What memory system?”
Sophia smiled.
“Emily.”
Emily felt a chill.
“You’ve spent years thinking your childhood games were meaningless.”
Sophia stepped closer.
“They weren’t.”
Thomas moved forward.
“Don’t.”
Sophia laughed.
“You’re too late.”
She looked at Emily.
“Your father taught you the passphrase.”
Emily’s face went pale.
“And you want me to give it to you.”
“No.”
Sophia smiled.
“I want you to remember it.”
Roman stepped between them.
“You’re not touching her.”
Sophia looked at him.
“You’re still pretending you can protect her.”
Victor suddenly raised his weapon.
Roman stopped.
Sophia continued.
“You have ten minutes.”
“For what?”
“For Emily to sing the song.”
Thomas’s expression changed.
“If she does, what happens?”
Sophia smiled.
“The trust opens.”
“And then?”
“Then Aurelius owns the Duca empire.”
Roman looked at Emily.
“No.”
Emily met his eyes.
She was terrified.
But she had made a decision.
She stepped forward.
“I’ll do it.”
Roman turned.
“Emily.”
“I know what I’m doing.”
Sophia smiled.
“Smart girl.”
Emily closed her eyes.
She began humming the melody.
Four notes.
Then four more.
The computer screen flickered.
A message appeared.
VOICE RECOGNITION ACCEPTED.
Sophia’s smile widened.
Thomas whispered:
“No…”
Emily continued.
The screen changed.
IDENTITY CONFIRMED: CARTER, EMILY.
Roman watched in disbelief.
Then another message appeared.
TRANSFER AUTHORITY AVAILABLE.
Sophia stepped forward.
“Do it.”
Emily looked at the screen.
A single button appeared.
TRANSFER CONTROL TO AURELIUS.
She raised her hand.
Roman’s voice stopped her.
“Emily.”
She looked at him.
He didn’t tell her what to do.
He simply said:
“I trust you.”
Emily smiled.
Then pressed the button.
Sophia laughed.
“Yes.”
But the screen immediately turned red.
TRANSFER DENIED.
Sophia’s smile disappeared.
“What?”
Emily stepped back.
Thomas smiled.
“I taught her the first sequence.”
He looked at Sophia.
“I never taught her the second.”
Sophia stared at Emily.
“What’s the second sequence?”
Emily looked at Roman.
Then at Sophia.
“The second sequence doesn’t transfer ownership.”
A pause.
“It exposes the owner.”
The screen flashed.
AURELIUS BENEFICIAL OWNER IDENTIFIED.
A name appeared.
Everyone froze.
Roman stared at the screen.
Thomas closed his eyes.
Margaret whispered:
“No.”
Emily looked at the name.
She had expected Roman’s uncle.
Instead, the screen displayed:
SOPHIA LAURON.
Sophia’s face went white.
Victor slowly stepped away from her.
Roman stared.
“You.”
Sophia shook her head.
“No.”
The screen continued.
ULTIMATE BENEFICIARY: SOPHIA LAURON.
Sophia’s expression transformed.
She looked at Victor.
“You told me this couldn’t happen.”
Victor took another step backward.
“I didn’t know.”
Roman’s voice became cold.
“So this was never your father’s operation.”
Sophia said nothing.
“It was yours.”
Sophia suddenly laughed.
A cold, broken laugh.
“You still don’t understand.”
She looked at Emily.
“Your father thought he could stop me.”
Then she looked at Roman.
“Your mother thought she could hide you.”
Her smile returned.
“And you thought you could choose her.”
Sophia pointed at Emily.
“You have no idea what she really is.”
Emily’s face hardened.
“What am I?”
Sophia’s eyes narrowed.
“The last person who can expose everything.”
The lights suddenly went out.
When they came back on, Sophia was gone.
Victor was unconscious.
The flash drive had disappeared.
And on the computer screen, one final message appeared:
PHASE TWO BEGINS NOW.
Roman looked at Emily.
Thomas rushed toward the computer.
“What happened?”
Emily stared at the screen.
“I don’t know.”
Then a hidden video opened automatically.
Thomas saw the image.
His face turned white.
It showed him twelve years earlier.
Standing beside Sophia’s father.
And he was handing him something.
Thomas whispered:
“They found the recording.”
Roman looked at him.
“What recording?”
Thomas didn’t answer.
Emily turned toward her father.
“What did you do twelve years ago?”
Thomas looked at his daughter.
Tears filled his eyes.
“I betrayed your mother.”
Emily froze.
Then he added:
“And that betrayal is the reason you became the key.”
