Zara's POV
I ran like my life depended on it.
Because it did.
Behind me, footsteps pounded against wet pavement. Shouts echoed through the alley. The gun—I couldn't forget the gun pointed at my chest.
Come with us quietly, and we won't hurt you.
Yeah, right. People who tell you they won't hurt you are usually the ones who hurt you most.
I'd learned that lesson tonight.
My bare feet slapped against concrete as I zigzagged through narrow streets. Left, right, left again. The old skills came back like muscle memory—Viktor had trained me well. Lose your tail, stay unpredictable, never run in a straight line.
A bullet cracked against brick inches from my head.
Okay. So much for not hurting me.
I ducked into a construction site, scrambling over barriers and diving behind a cement mixer. Held my breath. Counted to thirty.
Silence.
Either they'd lost me, or they were waiting for me to move.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I nearly jumped out of my skin.
Viktor's name flashed on the screen. I answered in a whisper. "Kind of a bad time—"
"The old warehouse. Southeast corner. There's a loose panel in the fence. Get inside and wait for me."
"Viktor, there are people with guns—"
"I know. That's why you need to move. Now."
The line went dead.
I peeked around the cement mixer. Empty street. But that didn't mean anything. I'd been on the other side of enough chases to know hunters could be patient.
The warehouse was four blocks east. I could make it if I was fast and lucky.
I'd never been lucky, but fast? That I could do.
I burst from my hiding spot and sprinted toward the docks. My lungs burned. My feet screamed in pain from running barefoot on broken pavement. But I didn't stop until I saw the warehouse—a massive skeleton of rusted metal and shattered windows.
The fence was exactly where Viktor said. I found the loose panel, squeezed through, and collapsed inside.
Safe. For now.
The warehouse was dark except for a single light in the back corner. I crept toward it, every nerve on high alert.
"Viktor?"
"Here, kid."
I rounded a corner and froze.
Viktor sat in a wheelchair, looking twenty years older than when I'd last seen him. His face was gray, his hands shaking. Tubes ran from his nose to an oxygen tank.
"What happened to you?" I whispered.
"The curse." He coughed, wincing in pain. "Sit down. We don't have much time."
I sat on an overturned crate. "You said my mother was killed. That I'm royalty. Viktor, what's going on?"
"Your mother was Princess Elena Valdor, youngest sister of the King."
The words hung in the air like smoke.
"That's impossible," I said. "My mother was Anna Moretti. She married my father, a jeweler. She died in a car accident when I was five."
"That's what they wanted everyone to believe." Viktor pulled out a folder, slid it across to me. "But the truth is, Elena fell in love with a commoner—your father. The royal family couldn't accept it. When she got pregnant with you, they gave her a choice: give up the baby and return to the palace, or leave forever and renounce her title."
I opened the folder with trembling hands. Inside were photographs. My mother, young and beautiful, wearing a tiara. Standing next to people I recognized from TV—the King and Queen of Valdoria.
"She chose you," Viktor continued. "Changed her name, married your father, tried to build a normal life. But the family never forgave her. And when you turned five, they decided you were too dangerous to leave alive."
"Dangerous? I was five years old!"
"You were a secret heir. Living proof of the family's scandal." He coughed again, harder this time. "They staged the car accident. Killed your mother. Your father knew the truth but couldn't prove it. That's why he remarried so quickly—Catherine was placed in his life to watch him. To make sure he never told you who you really were."
My entire world flipped upside down.
Catherine wasn't just a cruel stepmother. She was a spy. A killer.
"The people chasing you tonight work for someone in the royal family," Viktor said. "Someone who wants to keep you quiet permanently. But I can help you, Zara. I can give you the money to disappear, to start over somewhere they'll never find you."
"How?"
He pulled out a blueprint. The Royal Museum.
"One last job. The Blood Moon Ruby goes on display tomorrow night. It's worth twenty million dollars. Steal it, sell it to my contact, and you'll have enough money to vanish forever."
I stared at the blueprint. The ruby. The same one Viktor had warned me about.
"You said it was cursed. That you tried to steal it and barely escaped."
"I lied." Viktor met my eyes. "I never tried to steal it. But I studied it for years. The curse is real—but only if you steal it alone. With a partner, the curse binds you together. Makes you stronger. And I have someone who'll work with you."
"Who?"
"A royal guard. Someone on the inside who has his own reasons for wanting that ruby."
A trap. This felt like a trap.
"Why would a royal guard help me steal from the royal family?"
"Because his father was executed for trying to protect your mother." Viktor's voice dropped. "His name is Dante Ashcroft. And he's been waiting twenty years to take revenge on the family that destroyed his."
Before I could respond, the warehouse door exploded inward.
Armed men flooded inside. Six of them. All pointing guns at me.
"Zara Moretti," the leader called out. "Step away from the old man. You're coming with us."
Viktor grabbed my hand, pressed something cold and metal into my palm. A key.
"Locker 47, Central Station," he whispered. "Everything you need is there. The museum plans. The guard schedules. And Dante's phone number. Trust him, Zara. He's the only one who can keep you alive."
"I'm not leaving you—"
"You don't have a choice."
He pressed a button on his wheelchair. The floor beneath me suddenly gave way.
I fell through darkness, Viktor's final words chasing me down:
"Steal the ruby, break the curse, and claim your throne, Princess. It's your birthright."
I hit water hard, the impact knocking the air from my lungs. Cold, dark water that tasted like salt and oil. An underground tunnel.
When I surfaced, gasping, I heard gunshots above.
And Viktor's scream.