LOGINDaniella stared at the metal container beneath the floorboards. Dust covered its surface, but the small brass lock on the front was untouched, almost as if someone had deliberately hidden it and expected her to find it one day.Christian crouched beside her. “The key.”Daniella immediately reached into her pocket and pulled out the brass key numbered seventeen. She had carried it for years without understanding why it mattered. Her fingers trembled as she inserted it into the lock.Click.The lid opened.Inside were three things: a small black notebook, a photograph, and a sealed envelope bearing her father’s handwriting.Daniella picked up the photograph first.Her breath caught.It showed her father standing beside Thomas Harper and Richard Hale. They were standing in front of the same training house, but there was something written on the back.THE THREE MEN WHO KNEW.Christian took the photograph and turned it over.“Your father, my grandfather, and Richard.”Daniella nodded slowl
Daniella stared at the empty doorway.Richard was gone.For several seconds, she couldn’t understand how he had disappeared so quickly. The training house had only one main entrance, and Marcus had been watching it.Christian stepped beside her.“Daniella.”She turned toward him.“Richard knew.”Christian’s expression was grim. “Apparently.”Bennett was still on the floor, one hand pressed against his wound. Marcus knelt beside him and checked the injury.“He’s alive,” Marcus said. “But he needs medical attention.”Bennett gave a weak laugh.“After everything I’ve done, I’m surprised anyone cares.”Daniella ignored him.“What happened the night my father died?”Bennett looked at her.“I told you. Ask Richard.”“No.” Daniella stepped closer. “You’re going to tell me what you know.”Bennett’s eyes moved toward the photograph on the floor.“Your father wasn’t alone that night.”“I know my uncle was there.”“I’m not talking about your uncle.”Daniella’s stomach tightened.“Who else?”Benn
Daniella stared at the message on her phone for several seconds before locking the screen. Christian noticed immediately.“What did they say?”“Someone claims they have something my uncle left behind.”“Where?”Another message appeared.THE OLD TRAINING HOUSE. MIDNIGHT. COME IF YOU WANT THE TRUTH.Christian read it over her shoulder, his expression hardening.“No.”Daniella looked at him. “No?”“You’re not going there alone.”“I wasn’t planning to.”His expression softened slightly, but the tension remained. “Good.”Marcus took the phone from Daniella and examined the number. “It’s untraceable.”Richard stepped closer. “Then don’t go.”Daniella looked at him. “Why?”“Because if they’re using your uncle’s name, they know exactly what will make you come.”“I need to know what he left.”Richard’s expression darkened. “You may not like what you find.”Daniella gave a bitter smile. “I stopped expecting the truth to be easy a long time ago.”By midnight, they were outside the old training h
Daniella couldn’t move.Her father’s handwriting covered the final page of the ledger, but the words seemed impossible to understand.Because I know who started it.Her eyes remained fixed on the sentence.Christian reached for the ledger, but Daniella pulled it closer.“Derrick knew,” she whispered.Bennett stood silently across the room.Daniella looked at him. “Who started Raven?”Bennett didn’t answer.“Tell me.”“I think your father wanted you to discover that yourself.”“My father is dead.”“And that’s why he left the evidence.”Christian stepped forward. “Enough games, Bennett. Who started Raven?”Bennett’s gaze moved between them.“Raven wasn’t created by one person.”Daniella’s frustration exploded.“You keep saying that! I know Raven is an organization. I know there were people involved. I’m asking who started it.”Bennett slowly exhaled.“Your father believed it began with a private group of businessmen and officials who wanted influence beyond what money could buy. They we
Bennett stood in the doorway with a calm smile, as though he had been expecting them to arrive all along. Behind him, two armed men blocked the entrance, making it clear that escaping would not be easy.Daniella held the ledger tightly against her chest.Christian stepped in front of her. “You knew we’d come here.”Bennett’s smile widened. “I knew eventually you would.”“You followed us,” Marcus said.“No. I followed the ledger.”Daniella stepped around Christian, her eyes fixed on Bennett. “You funded my training.”Bennett’s expression barely changed.“Yes.”“You watched me grow up.”“Yes.”“You knew my uncle killed my father.”A pause.“Yes.”The answer hit harder than Daniella expected.“You knew everything,” she whispered.“I knew enough.”“You knew he was lying to me.”“I did.”“You knew I believed Christian killed my father.”Bennett looked at Christian before returning his attention to Daniella.“That belief was necessary.”Christian’s jaw tightened. “Necessary for what?”“For
The compound looked exactly the way Daniella remembered it.That was the first thing that frightened her.The same tall iron gates. The same cracked stone walls. The same line of trees leading toward the main building. Even from the car, she could remember where every room was located. She had spent years here. Years being taught how to fight, how to lie, how to manipulate, how to survive.And somewhere inside this place, her uncle had hidden the second ledger.Christian parked several meters away from the entrance and switched off the engine. He looked at Daniella before opening his door.“You don’t have to go inside.”Daniella looked at him. “Yes, I do.”“You’ve already been through enough.”“This is where it started.” Her voice was steady. “This is where he made me believe you killed my father. If the second ledger is here, then I need to see it with my own eyes.”Christian studied her for a moment before nodding. “Then we go together.”They entered through a damaged section of the
“This will be your room” the older woman spoke as she pushed a door at the end of the hall way open Daniella walked in her eyes observing the entire room, she said nothing to the woman and only nodded. “Don’t you speak?” The woman asked honestly Daniella has been too quiet for her liking and it w
“Stand straight. If you slouch again you’d walk out of that door and never return.” The girl behind Daniella adjusted herself immediately.“I’m sorry,” she whispered, turning her face around to make sure she didn’t embarrass herself in front of the other girls. “Sorry? Really?” another voice scof
“Boss, are you okay?”David's voice sounded distant, more like it was coming from under water. Christian didn’t answer immediately. His fingers tightened around the glass, his jaw clenched as he stared into thin air unfocused. He wasn’t ok, he couldn’t take it anymore, his
The hot liquid hit her skin before her brain could process what was happening. “Aharhhhh!” Daniella staggered back instantly, the tray slipping slightly from her grip as the coffee soaked into her cloth. She glared at him hard, tears building up in her eye lids, a smirk escaping her lips, of







