CHAPTER 30 #2
I look at the folder. I look at Alaric. Alaric is watching me. He isn't telling me what to do. He is letting me choose. The Director is silent. The Muse must speak.
I look at my father. The man who raised me. The man who sat in the front row. The man who poisoned my breakfast. He is a monster. A true monster. Alaric is a predator, yes. But Alaric has a code. Alaric loves something other than himself. My father loves nothing. He is a void.
"I have a counter-offer," I say.
Charles raises an eyebrow. "Oh? And what is that?"
"I don't sign," I say. "And you don't detonate the yacht."
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Because you're a coward," I say, stepping closer. "You faked your death because you were afraid of debt. You hired men to kill me because you were afraid to do it yourself. You are hiding on a boat in international waters because you are afraid of the consequences."
I stop inches from him. I can smell the vanilla cigar smoke. It makes me want to retch. "Suicide requires courage, Father. And you don't have any."
Charles's face twists. The mask of the sophisticated businessman falls away, revealing the petty, greedy tyrant beneath. "You think you know me?" he hisses. "I made you."
"No," I say. I reach down to my thigh. I draw the ceramic knife. "You made a victim. He made me." I gesture to Alaric.
Charles sees the knife. He laughs. "You're going to stab me? Go ahead. My heart stops, the bomb goes off."
"I'm not going to stab you in the heart," I say.
I grab his hand. The hand holding the cigar. I slam it onto the table. I drive the knife down. THUNK. Right through his palm. Into the wood of the table.
Charles screams. He drops the cigar. He tries to pull away, but he is pinned. "You bitch! You crazy bitch!"
"Pain is information," I whisper, leaning into his face. "It tells you you're still alive."
Alaric steps forward. He puts the gun to Charles's head. "Disarm the bomb," Alaric commands. "Now."
"I can't!" Charles sobs, clutching his impaled hand. "It’s a dead man’s switch! If my pulse drops below 40 or stops... it blows!"
"Then keep your heart rate up," Alaric says. "Elodie, check his pockets. The controller."
I rifle through his pockets. I find a phone. And a small remote device. "Got it."
"Override code," Alaric demands.
"I won't give it to you!" Charles spits. "If I give it to you, you'll kill me!"
"We'll kill you anyway," Alaric says. "The only choice you have is whether it’s quick... or slow. Elodie?"
I look at the knife in his hand. I look at the man who gave me life and then tried to take it back for profit. "Slow," I say. "He likes Largo."
I reach for the knife handle. I twist it. Charles screams again. A high, thin shriek. "Okay! Okay! The code! It’s 0-4-0-4-8-8!"
I pause. April 4th, 1988. My birthday. He used my birthday as the code to the bomb meant to kill me. The final insult.
I punch the code into the remote. Beep. SYSTEM DISARMED.
The tension in the room snaps. Alaric lowers the gun slightly. "It’s done," he says.
Charles is panting, sweat dripping from his nose. He looks at me with pure hatred. "You ungrateful little..."
"We're done here," Alaric says. "Elodie, let's go."
"No," I say.
I don't pull the knife out. I look at Alaric. "He knows about the Safe Houses. He knows about the accounts. He knows everything. If we leave him alive... he will never stop hunting us. He will send the next wave. And the next."
"Elodie," Alaric warns. "He's your father."
"He ceased to be my father when he signed the lobotomy order," I say.
I look at Charles. "You wanted the land," I say. "You wanted the legacy."
"It’s mine!" he wheezes. "It’s my right!"
"It was never yours. It belonged to the music."
I pull the knife out of his hand. He gasps, cradling the wound. "Elodie... please..."
I step back. I look at Alaric. "Do you trust me?"
"With my life," he answers instantly.
"Then give me the gun."
Alaric hesitates. Just for a second. Then he hands me the Glock.
I take it. It’s warm from his hand. I aim at Charles. My hands are steady. Breathe in. Breathe out.
"This isn't for the money," I say. "This is for Clara. This is for the dogs. This is for the girl you tried to erase."
Charles stares down the barrel. He sees his death. "You don't have the guts," he whispers.
"I'm not playing a nocturne anymore, Father," I say. "I'm playing a requiem."
I pull the trigger. BANG.
The shot hits him in the chest. He falls back into the chair. The white suit turns red. His eyes are open, staring at the ceiling. The cigar burns on the rug.
Silence.
I lower the gun. I don't feel sick. I don't feel regret. I feel... clean. The final note has been played. The discord is resolved.
Alaric walks to me. He takes the gun from my hand. He wipes my fingerprints off it with his handkerchief. He places it in Charles's dead hand. "Suicide," he says softly. "The guilt of the failing empire was too much."
He pulls me into his arms. He holds me while I shake. Not from fear. From the release of tension. "It’s over," he whispers into my hair. "The Gilded Cage is open."
"Did I do it right?" I ask, my voice muffled against his chest.
"Perfectly," he says. "A virtuoso performance."
He leads me out of the Solarium. We walk back through the lounge. The three men are gone. They fled when the shooting started. We take the elevator down. We walk off the yacht.
The night air is cool. The sirens are coming closer. Police boats are entering the harbor. "We have to go," Alaric says. "Charon is waiting."
We run down the pier. We jump into the speedboat. Charon guns the engine. We speed away, leaving the lights of Monaco behind.
I look back at the yacht. It sits there, dark and silent. A tomb for a king who thought he was a god.
I lean against Alaric. He wraps his jacket around me. "Where to?" Charon yells.
Alaric looks at me. "You're the Director now, Elodie. You have the drive. You have the land. You have the money. Where do you want to go?"
I look at the horizon. The sun is starting to rise. A thin line of gold on the water. I think about the asylum. I think about the glass house. I don't want walls anymore.
"Take us to the open sea," I say. "We'll figure the rest out when we get there."
Alaric smiles. He kisses my forehead. "To the sea," he agrees.
The boat cuts through the waves. We are free. We are monsters. And we have the whole world to ruin.