Chapter 7 - The Mastermind Unveiled
The crowd cheered and applauded wildly as the corrupt board members were cleared out. It seemed like the ultimate victory. Alejandro pulled Elena close, kissing her passionately in front of hundreds of flashing cameras.
However, as the gala wound down near midnight, Alejandro received an urgent text message on his encrypted phone from Marcus.
[URGENT: Boss, the blood test results from the Geneva underground clinic just came back. The poison used on Lady Elena five years ago... wasn't manufactured by the Sterlings or Richard. It belongs to an old military syndicate. Someone else gave the order.]
Alejandro’s blood ran cold.
He looked around the thinning ballroom. Elena was standing near the dessert table, talking softly with little Leo, who had been brought out briefly under heavy guard.
Beside Elena stood an elderly, distinguished gentleman in a white tuxedo—Grand Duke Arthur Vance, Alejandro’s grandfather and the founder of the original family legacy, who had supposedly been bedridden in an elite Swiss sanatorium for the past decade.
Grand Duke Arthur was smiling warmly, handing little Leo a gold pocket watch.
"He has your eyes, Alejandro," Arthur said softly as Alejandro walked up beside them, his hand secretly slipping inside his jacket toward his concealed firearm.
"Grandfather," Alejandro said, his tone icy. "I thought your doctors said you were too frail to travel from Switzerland."
Arthur chuckled softly, snapping the gold pocket watch shut. "A grandfather must be present when his family reclaims its throne, mustn't he?"
"Or," Alejandro whispered, leaning close to the old man's ear, "when the ultimate mastermind needs to double-check if his grand plan failed."
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Arthur’s warm smile slowly faded into a chilling, hollow stare.
"You always were too sharp for your own good, Alejandro," Arthur murmured quietly so only Alejandro could hear. "Did you really think two greedy fools like Richard and Victoria had the intelligence to orchestrate a Monte Carlo assassination and hide a woman for five years?"
