Page 247 of Merciless Daddy

I did not know what waited at one hundred.

For the first time since the ambulance doors closed, I wondered whether Gianni knew either.

At ninety-eight percent, Gianni began to smile. Not the little polished expression he used in public.

This one showed teeth.

The terminal fan screamed beneath the desk. Green code moved through a status window too quickly for me to read. The proxy document remained unsigned.

That seemed important.

Gianni did not notice.

“Stand when it finishes,” he told me. “You will read the declaration directly into the camera.”

“No.”

“You are running out of ways to be interesting.”

Donatella watched the progress bar.

Ninety-nine.

Her hand closed around the edge of the equipment case.

The terminal chimed.

One hundred percent.

Every camera indicator in the corporate suite went dark.

The overhead lights flashed red.

Locks slammed throughout the facility.

One after another.

Steel striking steel.

Gianni’s smile disappeared.

“What did you do?”

The loading-bay explosion answered him.

The floor jumped beneath my chair. Glass walls flexed. A heavy impact rolled through the archive level and struck my chest from the inside. The technicians shouted. An alarm began to shriek.

White suppressant burst from vents beyond the suite. It poured into the archive corridors in dense sheets, swallowing shelves and armed men. Shadows moved behind it. Doors closed between them.

Gianni grabbed Donatella’s wrist. She slammed the equipment case shut on his hand.

Bone struck steel. He screamed.

She hit the lid again.

Harder.

Gianni stumbled back, clutching his fingers.