Chapter 14 - TWENTY SECONDS

“Where?”

Leïla dropped beside Idris.

He smiled through clenched teeth.

“Untie me.”

“No.”

“Then she dies.”

“Where is the override?”

“Untie me.”

The radio counted down through Farid’s voice.

“Twenty-four seconds.”

Leïla grabbed Idris by the collar.

“Tell me.”

He stared into her eyes.

“For once, Princess, you need me.”

Karim picked up Rami’s gun.

He aimed it at Idris.

“Tell her.”

Idris smiled.

“You won’t shoot.”

Karim fired into the floor beside his head.

Idris flinched.

“Try me.”

“Eighteen seconds,” Farid shouted.

Idris swallowed.

“Old judge’s desk.”

Leïla ran.

The massive wooden desk stood against the courtroom wall.

“Underneath!”

She dropped to her knees.

Nothing.

“Where?”

“Left drawer. False base.”

Fifteen seconds.

Leïla ripped open the drawer.

Papers.

Dust.

She tore everything out.

Found a thin wooden panel.

“Code?”

Idris closed his eyes.

“Idris!”

“Twelve seconds.”

He opened them.

“061498.”

Leïla entered it.

ACCESS DENIED.

Karim screamed, “You lied!”

Idris smiled.

“Did I?”

Leïla looked at the numbers.

61498.

A date.

She remembered something from Salma’s file.

June 14, 1998 was not her death.

It was Rami’s birth.

But the system requested eight digits.

She added 19.

6141998.

ACCESS ACCEPTED.

A red button appeared.

EMERGENCY RELEASE.

Leïla pressed it.

Farid shouted through the radio.

“Door open! We have Samira!”

Leïla collapsed against the desk.

For two seconds nobody moved.

Then Karim went to Idris.

“You’re finished.”

Idris looked strangely calm.

“No.”

Farid’s team entered the courtroom.

Rami did not resist when they handcuffed him.

He stared at the floor.

The revenge that had defined his life seemed to have vanished, leaving only a tired man.

Leïla crouched in front of him.

“You could have exposed all of them.”

He looked at her.

“No one would have cared.”

“I would.”

“You care now.”

“Yes.”

“That’s easy.”

Leïla had no defense.

He was right about one thing.

Truth mattered much more to families after it threatened them personally.

Farid escorted Rami away.

Idris was placed on a stretcher.

Before medics carried him out, he looked at Leïla.

“You think this ends with me?”

She stopped.

“What does that mean?”

He smiled.

“Ask your father why your mother signed the settlement.”

Leïla stared.

“What settlement?”

Idris laughed softly.

Then let the medics carry him away.

Samira was found alive in the east chamber.

Smoke had already begun filling the room, but Farid reached her seconds after the lock released.

Hassan was safe.

Naïma was found inside a maintenance office.

Weak from blood loss but alive.

By 03:00, the palace was full of police investigators.

No more private security.

No more family cleanup.

Leïla insisted.

Everything would be documented.

Everything.

At sunrise, she entered Hassan’s bedroom.

He was sitting by the window.

She closed the door.

“What settlement did Mother sign?”

Hassan didn’t look at her.

Leïla waited.

Finally he said, “Where did you hear that?”

“Idris.”

Hassan closed his eyes.

“What settlement?”

He stayed silent.

Leïla’s voice hardened.

“Samira was almost burned alive. Salma spent twenty-eight years under concrete. Rami threw his life away chasing revenge. Idris helped build all of it.”

She stepped closer.

“No more secrets.”

Hassan turned.

Tears filled his eyes.

“Your mother found out.”

“About Dalia?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“The night Salma disappeared.”

Leïla felt cold.

“What did she do?”

“She wanted to go to the police.”

“But she didn’t.”

“No.”

“Why?”

Hassan whispered, “Because Idris showed her what Omar had prepared.”

“What?”

“A document accusing your mother of stealing charitable funds.”

Leïla stared.

“She didn’t.”

“I know.”

“But it would have destroyed her.”

“Yes.”

“So she stayed quiet.”

Hassan nodded.

“She signed a confidentiality settlement.”

Leïla felt anger rise again.

“You let her.”

Hassan’s face broke.

“Yes.”

Leïla turned away.

Then Hassan said something she wasn’t expecting.

“She never forgave me.”

Leïla looked back.

“And she shouldn’t have.”

“No.”

Hassan reached into the drawer beside him.

He removed an old envelope.

“Before she died, she gave me this.”

Leïla stared at her mother’s handwriting.

FOR LEÏLA.

Her hands began trembling.

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“Why didn’t you give it to me?”

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