Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Man My Father Trusted

The dial tone hummed in my ear.

Empty.

Lifeless.

I lowered the receiver slowly.

No one spoke.

Ronan was the first to break the silence.

"What did he say?"

I looked at him.

"My father was alive."

Relief flashed across Marcus's face before he remembered Marcus wasn't with us. It disappeared almost as quickly.

"He warned us not to enter the shareholder vault."

Daniel frowned.

"We already suspected it was a trap."

"There was something else."

I tightened my grip on the receiver.

"He said Hale was right."

The maintenance room became perfectly still.

Mr. Rowan looked down at the floor.

Almost as though he'd expected those words.

Ronan folded his arms.

"About what?"

"I don't know."

My frustration sharpened every syllable.

"He didn't have time."

Daniel walked to the blueprint mounted on the wall.

"If Sebastian bothered calling..."

He studied the three red circles again.

"...then the vault isn't the objective."

"No."

Ronan stepped beside him.

"It's the prison."

He traced the maintenance tunnels branching around the shareholder vault.

"They've blocked every escape except one."

His finger stopped at a narrow corridor hidden behind the vault.

"This."

I leaned closer.

"I don't remember seeing that on the original plans."

"You didn't."

Mr. Rowan answered quietly.

"It was added eleven years ago."

"You know where it goes?"

"Only the first section."

"Why only the first?"

"Because the rest was sealed."

"By whom?"

He met my eyes.

"Your father."

Another secret.

Another sealed passage.

Another decision Sebastian Vale had made without ever explaining why.

A loud metallic bang echoed through the corridor outside.

The attackers had broken through the first maintenance door.

"They're coming," Daniel said.

Ronan nodded once.

"Then we stop reacting."

He looked directly at me.

"We've been doing exactly what our enemy expected all night."

I understood immediately.

Following clues.

Chasing recordings.

Running from attacks.

Every move had been dictated by someone else.

"What are you suggesting?"

"We disappear."

Daniel looked surprised.

"In this building?"

Ronan pointed toward the blueprint.

"They expect us in the vault."

"They expect the police at the boardroom."

"They expect Evelyn to chase Sebastian."

He looked back at me.

"So we go somewhere nobody expects."

My eyes drifted to the narrow sealed corridor.

"The hidden passage."

He smiled faintly.

"Exactly."

Mr. Rowan hesitated.

"I should warn you."

"About what?"

"No one has entered that corridor in over a decade."

"Then it's overdue."

The attackers struck the maintenance door again.

This time the hinges bent inward.

Inspector Voss wasn't here.

Neither was the tactical team.

If the door failed...

We would be trapped.

Daniel checked his pistol.

"Three rounds."

Ronan glanced at me.

"Your turn."

"My turn?"

"To decide."

Leader.

Chairman.

Son.

Every title carried a different responsibility.

But only one decision mattered.

"We're not going where they want."

I pointed toward the sealed corridor.

"We make our own move."

Daniel immediately crossed to the wall marked on the blueprint.

"It should be here."

He knocked once.

Solid concrete.

Twice.

Still solid.

Then Ronan noticed something.

"The pipes."

We all looked up.

A steam pipe disappeared into the wall... then inexplicably emerged two meters farther along.

"It bends."

"It shouldn't," I said.

He nodded.

"There's empty space behind it."

Mr. Rowan smiled for the first time in hours.

"Good."

"You noticed."

Daniel searched the wall carefully.

His fingers brushed over an old brass plate almost hidden beneath peeling paint.

No handle.

Only a tiny keyhole.

Exactly the size of the brass key in my pocket.

I slowly removed it.

The engraved words caught the emergency light.

For the door she cannot open.

Without another word, I inserted the key.

It fit perfectly.

The lock turned with surprising ease.

Deep inside the wall, ancient gears groaned to life.

The concrete trembled.

Dust rained from the ceiling.

A narrow doorway slowly opened, revealing complete darkness beyond.

Cold air rushed out.

Older than the Genesis tunnels.

Older than Silverfang Tower itself.

Daniel swept his flashlight inside.

The beam stretched forward...

Then disappeared into a vast underground chamber.

Not a corridor.

A cavern.

Carved directly into the bedrock.

In the center stood a single stone table.

And resting on that table...

Was a polished wooden box.

Untouched.

Waiting.

Etched into its lid was the Silverfang crest.

Beneath it, in Sebastian Vale's unmistakable handwriting, were six words.

Only my son may open this.

At that exact moment, the maintenance door behind us burst inward.

The attackers had finally broken through.