"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.
CHAPTER 31
SALT AND ASH
POV: Elodie Fray
Location:The Ligurian Sea (International Waters) - Charon’s Speedboat
Track:No Time To Die– Billie Eilish (Slowed & Reverb)
Sensory:The biting cold of salt spray on open wounds, the deafening roar of twin outboards, the metallic taste of adrenaline crashing into exhaustion.
