Voss’s eyes lit with triumph.

“There you are.”

Nico looked terrified.

But he did not run.

“You took my star,” he said.

Voss blinked.

The small phrase struck him like a ghost.

Nico reached beneath his shirt and pulled out the pendant.

“I remember your gloves.”

Voss went pale.

The king gripped the railing above.

Nico’s voice trembled, but grew stronger.

“You leaned into the ambulance. You said, ‘This will only hurt the people who want you.’ Then you took it.”

Voss whispered, “Impossible.”

“No,” Nico said. “Just buried.”

Rachel suddenly moved.

She slammed her bound hands into the guard’s face. He cursed, stumbling back.

I moved at the same instant.

Everything happened fast after that.

Voss shouted. The guard lunged. I pulled Rachel behind me and struck his wrist, hard enough to make him drop the knife he had hidden. Daniel dragged Nico behind cover. Palace security entered from the side doors. Veterans from Harbor House blocked the rear exit with Chief Daniels at the front holding, unbelievably, a tire iron.

“I told you people,” Daniels shouted, “bike room rules apply everywhere!”

Alexander tackled Voss before he reached Rachel.

They hit the floor hard.

Voss fought like a man who knew prison waited. Alexander took a blow to the jaw and did not let go.

By the time security pulled Voss up, his elegance was gone. His hair hung loose. His coat was torn. His gloves were missing.

The king descended the stairs slowly.

Voss looked at him with hatred.

“You think finding the boy heals anything?”

The king stood before him.

“No.”

Then he looked at Nico.

“But losing him again would have destroyed what remained.”

Voss laughed once.

“You still don’t know the funniest part.”

Everyone went still.

He smiled through blood at the corner of his mouth.

“The adoption wasn’t random.”

Daniel Vale stiffened.

Sofia, who had been brought in only after the warehouse was secure, clutched Nico’s hand.

Voss looked at the Vales.

“You were selected.”

Daniel’s face drained.

“What?”

Voss’s smile widened.

“A paramedic and a music teacher. Stable. Kind. Unremarkable. Far from Europe. Perfect.”

Sofia whispered, “Who selected us?”

Voss looked at the king.

“Your late daughter-in-law.”

The king recoiled.

“Liar.”

Voss laughed.

“Princess Amalia knew the convoy was compromised. She suspected an internal threat before the flood. She arranged emergency guardianship papers in case anything happened to her and Stefan.”

Nico looked at Sofia.

Sofia was shaking.

Voss continued.

“She chose a family through an international humanitarian network. She chose them.”

Daniel whispered, “We never knew.”

“Of course not,” Voss said. “The papers were never meant to activate unless both royal parents died. I simply… redirected the process and removed the royal connection.”

The king looked physically ill.

Lady Maren, standing near the entrance, whispered, “There may be copies.”

Voss’s smile vanished.

I saw it.

So did the king.

Copies meant proof.

Proof meant not just bloodline.

Choice.

Nico’s mother had not lost him to strangers completely.