The night smelled like rain and gun oil.
Moretti Tower rose above Chicago like a blade pressed against the sky, every window glowing, every secret humming behind glass. I’d spent weeks learning how to walk these halls without being seen. Tonight, I wanted Gabriel to see me.
The leather-bound ledger felt heavier than it should in my hands—thick with names, numbers, blood. Fake, of course. Lucas had insisted.
“He won’t come out for anything less than his legacy,” Lucas murmured beside me, adjusting his cufflinks like this was another gala. “And he’ll come armed.”
“I expect nothing less,” I said.
We stepped into the executive conference room. Cameras blinked. Phones buzzed. Everyone was waiting.
Gabriel arrived last.
Slow. Unhurried. Like a man who had never once feared consequences.
“You called,” he said, eyes flicking to the ledger. “How generous.”
“It’s yours,” I replied. “Everything you ever wanted. I’m done pretending I belong here.”
Lucas tensed beside me, but stayed silent.
Gabriel smiled. “Good girl.”
The door slammed shut.
Isabella screamed.
She was dragged in by two men, wrists bound, mascara streaked down her face—but her eyes were sharp. Furious. Alive.
“Enough,” Gabriel said calmly. “This charade has gone on long enough.”
He turned to me. “You were never the heir, Scarlett. You were the distraction.”
My heart pounded. “You’re lying.”
“No,” he said, nodding toward Isabella. “She is Victoria’s true successor. Named in the will. Blood, law, and legacy.”
Isabella’s jaw clenched.
Lucas swore under his breath.
“I kept you close because you were useful,” Gabriel continued. “A symbol. A mistake I could control.”
The words burned, but I didn’t break. I’d been lied to my whole life. One more truth wouldn’t kill me.
Gunfire exploded.
Daniel burst through the side entrance, badge out, gun raised. “Federal agents! Drop—”
A shot rang out.
Daniel fell.
Time fractured.
I screamed his name as he hit the floor, blood blooming across his chest. Gabriel lowered his gun slowly, almost regretful.
“He was a liability,” Gabriel said. “A line too far.”
Lucas moved—fast. He grabbed my wrist. “We go. Now.”
Alarms blared.
“Self-destruct sequence initiated,” a mechanical voice announced overhead.
I stared at Lucas. “What did you do?”
He swallowed. “I chose you.”
The building shuddered. Lights flickered.
“You’re destroying everything,” I shouted.
“Yes,” he said. “Because it deserves to die.”
Isabella broke free in the chaos, slamming her elbow into a guard’s throat. She ran toward Daniel, dropping to her knees beside him.
“I told you not to come alone,” she cried.
I froze.
“You knew,” I whispered. “You knew who you were.”
Isabella looked up at me, tears mixing with defiance. “And you knew who he was,” she shot back. “Don’t pretend we weren’t all lying.”
Another explosion rocked the floor.
“Go!” Lucas yelled. “Stairs are compromised—we split!”
“I’m not leaving him,” I said, staring at Daniel’s pale face.
Lucas’s eyes softened. “Scarlett—”
“Take her,” I said. “Please.”
He hesitated, then nodded, pulling Isabella up as another blast shattered glass behind us.
Gabriel laughed.
The sound was unhinged.
“You think this redeems you?” he shouted over the chaos. “You’re still mine!”
I turned back, adrenaline screaming through my veins. Flames crawled up the walls. The ceiling cracked.
“No,” I said. “I never was.”
I dragged Daniel up, his weight heavy, his breath shallow.
Gabriel lunged.
The floor gave way.
Concrete roared. Steel snapped.
I saw his face one last time—surprised. Afraid.
Then he was gone.
The tower screamed as it collapsed inward.
We burst into the underground tunnel as sirens wailed above, police flooding the streets. I collapsed, dragging Daniel with me, hands slick with blood.
He coughed. Laughed weakly. “You always did run toward the fire.”
I pressed my forehead to his. “Don’t you dare die.”
Footsteps thundered.
Lucas appeared, soot-streaked, Isabella clinging to his arm.
“You did it,” he said softly. “You chose.”
I looked at the wreckage behind us. The family. The lies. The empire.
“No,” I said. “I survived.”
Above us, Moretti Tower fell in on itself, taking decades of secrets with it.
And as the night cracked open with sirens and rain, I realized—
Blood might have written my story.
But tonight, I rewrote the ending.