Chapter 10 - The Calm in the Storm
Inside the ICU, Beatrice walked up to Elena’s bedside, brushing past two terrified nurses. She leaned over the young woman, placing a cold, wrinkled hand firmly over Elena’s forehead.
“Look at me, girl,” Beatrice demanded, her voice cutting through the panic like an icy razor. “You wanted to marry into the Sterling bloodline. You claimed you were strong enough to bear this name. Prove it right now.”
Elena looked into the matriarch's piercing gray eyes, shivering violently. “I... I can’t control my heart...”
“You will control it because your child requires your silence,” Beatrice whispered fiercely. “Close your eyes. Remember why you survived the streets before Mark found you. You are not a victim here, Elena. You are the mother of the future heir. Breathe.”
At the mansion, the bomb technician carefully unscrewed the faceplate of the device under the crib. The monitor reading Elena's pulse in the technician's ear bud wavered: 138 bpm... 139 bpm...
One more beat, and the trigger would fire.
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Then, miraculously, the rhythm dropped. 135... 122... 110.
“Now!” Mark yelled. The technician severed the red primary lead with insulated pliers. The green light died. Silence reclaimed the nursery. But outside, the thunder cracked, and Beatrice’s phone rang with an emergency alert: Erica’s plane hadn't fled the country—it had just turned around.
