Chapter 13 - THE COUNTRY WATCHED
The crowd outside erupted in confusion.
Stefan continued.
“Three years ago, my niece abandoned her country.”
Alina watched from the damaged broadcast room.
“Today, she returned with foreign mercenaries to overthrow your government.”
Marcus shook his head.
“He’s good.”
“Shut up.”
“Just objectively.”
Stefan held up photographs.
Fake images showed Alina meeting armed extremists.
Leo stared.
“They prepared this months ago.”
“Which means they always expected me to come back.”
Rovan groaned.
He was alive.
The bullet had passed through his shoulder.
Alina knelt beside him.
“Stay with me.”
“I am too stubborn to die.”
“Good.”
Daniel’s voice suddenly came through Marcus’s phone.
“I’m in.”
Marcus grabbed it.
“What?”
“The palace upload failed, but I found the national emergency broadcast network.”
Alina stood.
“Can you take it?”
“Maybe for sixty seconds.”
“That’s enough.”
Marcus looked at her.
“To do what?”
She handed him the phone.
“Tell the truth.”
Daniel hijacked the signal.
Stefan disappeared from every screen in Velkria.
Alina appeared.
Blood on her uniform.
Hair loose.
No makeup.
No throne.
No crown.
“My name is Alina Petrovna.”
Across the country, people stopped.
“I am not asking you to believe me because I was born in a palace.”
She looked into the camera.
“I’m asking you to look at the evidence.”
Daniel began broadcasting the files.
Bank transfers.
Military orders.
Vale contracts.
Project Crownfall.
Then the old recording of Stefan arguing with King Nikolai.
The feed jumped.
Alina continued.
“My brother made terrible mistakes.”
Leo looked at her.
“So did I.”
She swallowed.
“I ran because I was afraid. I stayed gone because I thought surviving was enough.”
Her voice strengthened.
“It wasn’t.”
Outside, the crowd grew silent.
“If you want to hate me, hate me. If you want to remove my family forever, do it.”
Leo slowly smiled.
“But do not let these men steal your country and call it stability.”
The feed flickered.
Daniel shouted through the phone.
“Twenty seconds!”
Alina looked directly into the camera.
“My uncle murdered my parents.”
A voice behind her said:
“That will be difficult to prove.”
Stefan stood in the doorway.
He held a gun to Marcus’s head.
Soldiers surrounded them.
The broadcast was still live.
Stefan didn’t realize it.
Alina kept her eyes on him.
“Did you?”
He smiled.
“Did I what?”
“Kill them.”
Stefan laughed.
“You already know I did.”
Across Velkria, millions heard him.
Leo’s eyes widened.
Marcus slowly smiled.
Stefan noticed.
His face changed.
“What?”
Marcus nodded toward the red LIVE light.
May you like
Stefan turned.
And the entire country watched him realize what he had just confessed.
