LOGINShare
Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Gentleman in the Archive
publish date:
2026-08-06 00:01:56No one lowered their weapon.
The man in the charcoal suit remained perfectly still, his hands clasped behind his back as though he had invited us into his office instead of being discovered inside a hidden facility.
Inspector Mara Voss aimed directly at his chest.
“Don't move.”
He inclined his head politely.
“I wasn't planning to.”
“You're trespassing.”
“A matter of perspective.”
“You're inside a concealed research facility beneath a corporate headquarters.”
“Yes.”
“That isn't perspective.”
“It depends who built it.”
His composure was unsettling.
He didn't look frightened.
He didn't look trapped.
He looked... prepared.
Ronan stepped beside me.
“You said your employer expected us.”
“I did.”
“Who is your employer?”
The man smiled.
“If I answered that, my visit would have been remarkably short.”
I studied him carefully.
No insignia.
No visible weapon.
Expensive suit.
Polished shoes.
A silver tie clip shaped like a compass.
Nothing about him looked accidental.
“What's your name?” I asked.
“You may call me Mr. Rowan.”
“May?”
“My real name isn't important.”
“I'll decide what's important.”
His smile widened slightly.
“Your father says exactly the same thing.”
Every muscle in my body tensed.
“You've seen my father.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“This evening.”
“Where is he?”
“I can't answer that.”
“Won't or can't?”
He held my gaze.
“Those are very different questions.”
Before I could press him further, Inspector Voss spoke.
“You're under arrest.”
Mr. Rowan looked genuinely puzzled.
“For what?”
“For murder. Kidnapping. Breaking and entering.”
He considered the list.
“I've done one of those.”
Silence.
“Which one?” Voss asked.
“Breaking and entering.”
The answer came so calmly that it was almost insulting.
“You expect us to believe that?”
“I expect you to investigate it.”
Daniel took one cautious step forward.
“I've never seen you before.”
“I know.”
“You're not Vanguard.”
“No.”
“You're not Helix.”
“No.”
“You're not Silverfang.”
“No.”
Ronan folded his arms.
“Then who are you?”
Mr. Rowan's expression grew thoughtful.
“A messenger.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“Messengers don't hide beneath buildings.”
“They do when the message is worth killing for.”
The room fell silent.
His eyes drifted toward the leather notebook on the desk.
“You should read it.”
I didn't move.
“You're not curious?”
“I am.”
“Then why hesitate?”
“Because you want me to.”
For the first time, genuine approval crossed his face.
“Excellent.”
He looked at Ronan.
“You've made him considerably harder to manipulate.”
Ronan's jaw tightened.
“You know nothing about us.”
“I know enough.”
He glanced around the office.
“Enough to know neither of you has asked the most important question.”
“What question?” Marcus asked.
Mr. Rowan looked at me.
“Why did Sebastian Vale leave the notebook behind?”
I frowned.
“He didn't lose it.”
“No.”
“He wanted me to find it.”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't he simply give it to me?”
The room became very still.
Even Ronan looked at me.
Because he had been wondering the same thing.
Mr. Rowan nodded once.
“Now you're thinking correctly.”
Inspector Voss took another step forward.
“This conversation is over.”
She produced a pair of handcuffs.
“Turn around.”
Mr. Rowan sighed.
“I was hoping to avoid this.”
“You've run out of options.”
“No.”
He looked directly at her.
“You have.”
The lights in the office suddenly flickered.
Every computer monitor went black.
A low electronic tone echoed through the room.
Then the ceiling speakers came alive.
Security Protocol Override.
Archive Custodian Verified.
The steel doors slammed shut behind us.
One.
After another.
The room sealed itself.
Inspector Voss spun toward the exit.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
Mr. Rowan sounded almost bored.
“This building simply recognizes authorized personnel.”
“You're lying.”
“I rarely do.”
The final lock engaged with a heavy metallic thud.
Marcus rushed to the door.
“It won't open!”
One of the tactical officers tried the emergency release.
Nothing happened.
The room was completely isolated.
Then the largest monitor on the wall powered itself back on.
Not with a security feed.
With an old video recording.
The date appeared in the corner.
Twenty-Four Years Earlier.
The image was grainy.
A conference room.
Four people sat around a polished wooden table.
I recognized two immediately.
My father.
Victor Ashcroft.
The third was Dr. Nathaniel Dawson.
The fourth...
A woman with auburn hair.
Dr. Evelyn Mercer.
No one spoke as the recording began.
Sebastian Vale leaned forward first.
“If we're doing this, every child comes first.”
Victor Ashcroft nodded.
“No exceptions.”
Dr. Mercer added quietly,
“Then we all sign.”
The recording froze.
The screen flashed.
ARCHIVE INCOMPLETE
CONTINUE?
Beneath the message appeared two options.
YES
NO
No keyboard.
No mouse.
Only a fingerprint scanner mounted beneath the screen.
Mr. Rowan looked at me.
His calm expression hadn't changed.
“Your father left you many things tonight, Adrian.”
He glanced toward the scanner.
“But this…”
He paused.
“…is the first choice he intended only you to make.”
Latest chapter
My Rival Alpha Knows I'm an Omega Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Five: The Last Page
The lighthouse stood exactly where it always had.Wind polished its white stone.Salt stained its windows.The sea continued its endless conversation with the cliffs below.It had watched generations arrive.It had watched generations leave.It had never asked to be remembered.Only to keep shining.Years passed.Then more.The names changed.The work did not.The children who once raced through Beacon Twelve became teachers.The teachers became grandparents.The grandparents slowly became stories.New hands repaired fishing nets.New voices filled the schoolhouse.New volunteers polished the lighthouse lens every spring.No one remembered who had first started the tradition.They only knew it mattered.One bright summer morning, a ferry arrived carrying a class of children.They could not have been older than ten.Their teacher led them through the village.Past the bakery.Past Victor's old workshop, where young carpenters now taught children how to carve toy boats.Past the oak tre
My Rival Alpha Knows I'm an Omega Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Four: The Light We Leave Behind
The morning began with a funeral.Not for one of the main characters.For Old Ben Carter.The village blacksmith.He had lived on Beacon Twelve for nearly fifty years.Most people outside the island had never heard his name.Everyone on the island had.He had repaired anchors.Straightened bent hinges.Mended children's bicycles without charging a coin.Forged the iron brackets that still held the school bell.He had never led Orion.Never spoken at an international conference.Never appeared in a newspaper.Yet nearly the entire village gathered beneath the great oak tree.Children carried wildflowers.Fishermen removed their caps.Teachers stood beside carpenters.No one checked the time.Some people deserved an unhurried goodbye.The service was simple.Just as Ben had requested.Stories replaced speeches.A fisherman remembered the time Ben had repaired a boat through the night so a family wouldn't lose their season's catch.A teacher laughed while describing how he secretly sharp
My Rival Alpha Knows I'm an Omega Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Three: When No One Is Watching
Winter returned quietly.Beacon Twelve wore frost like an old coat.The harbor was still.The sea breathed slowly against the cliffs.Nothing remarkable happened that morning.That was precisely why it mattered.Adrian woke before sunrise.Not because he had to.Because the habit had never left him.He stepped outside carrying two mugs of tea.Ronan joined him a moment later, wrapping a scarf around his neck."You still wake too early.""I blame the lighthouse.""You've blamed the lighthouse for twenty years.""It hasn't argued yet."Ronan smiled."Perhaps it's too polite."They stood together on the porch, watching the first light touch the ocean.For several minutes...There was only silence.Comfortable silence.The kind people earn after a lifetime together.Across the village, the bakery lights flickered on.Mrs. Henderson's granddaughter, Lily, unlocked the front door.She was no longer "Mrs. Henderson's granddaughter."She had become the village baker in her own right.The reci
My Rival Alpha Knows I'm an Omega Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Two: The Bench Beneath the Oak
It was market day on Beacon Twelve.The village square buzzed with quiet life.Fresh bread cooled on wooden racks outside the bakery.Children darted between market stalls carrying apples much too large for their hands.Visitors browsed handmade carvings, knitted blankets, and jars of blackberry jam.Nobody hurried.Nobody needed to.Time moved differently here.It always had.The largest oak tree in the square had become impossible to ignore.Its broad branches stretched across nearly half the green.In summer it offered shade.In autumn, a blanket of golden leaves.In spring, birds nested among its highest branches.A small wooden bench rested beneath it.Simple.Unpainted.Worn smooth by countless conversations.A bronze plaque had been attached years ago.It read:Sit long enough to hear someone else's story.Nothing more.No names.No dedication.Just an invitation.Adrian sat there most mornings.Not because he was expected to.Because he enjoyed it.Some days no one spoke to hi
My Rival Alpha Knows I'm an Omega Chapter One Hundred Thirty-One: Twenty Years Later
Twenty years later...No one on Beacon Twelve remembered a world without visitors.Children grew up believing it was perfectly ordinary to hear five languages while walking to school.They thought nothing of seeing historians eating breakfast beside fishermen.Or architects learning carpentry from retired boat builders.To them...This had always been home.The oak trees were enormous now.Their branches stretched across the village square, casting cool shade over long wooden tables every summer.No one remembered exactly who had planted each tree.Only that someone had.Children climbed them every afternoon.Parents pretended not to worry.Grandparents secretly smiled.The lighthouse still stood.Older.Weathered.Patient.Its great lens had been replaced twice.Its walls repaired countless times.The original brass lens key still rested inside the small maintenance box beside the door.Exactly where Adrian had left it.Nobody locked the box.Nobody needed to.Whoever maintained the
My Rival Alpha Knows I'm an Omega Chapter One Hundred Thirty: The Last Keeper
The letter arrived without ceremony.It was handwritten.Folded twice.Addressed simply:To Adrian.He recognized the handwriting immediately.Eleanor.She had been living on Beacon Twelve for so long that she rarely wrote notes.If she wished to speak to someone, she simply walked across the village.Adrian unfolded the paper slowly.Meet me at the lighthouse tonight.Come alone.There is one last story I owe you.The sun had already disappeared when Adrian climbed the familiar spiral staircase.Every step creaked exactly as it always had.The stone walls held the scent of salt and old wood.Nothing had changed.Everything had.Eleanor waited beside the great lantern.She stood with one hand resting gently on the brass railing.The evening light softened the lines on her face.She smiled as Adrian entered."You came.""You asked.""I wasn't sure you still listened to old women."He laughed."I learned that lesson years ago.""Good."She looked out over the sea."So did I."For severa
You may also like
One Night Stand
Favor V April1.0M viewsPregnant and Favored: See You in the Morning, Young Master
Miss Yu923.4K viewsWarning: My Mommy is A Savage!
Seeking A Peaceful Life2.1M viewsMy Best Friend's Father
Thorns634.2K viewsFive Years On The Run: The Billionaire's Secret Baby
Jp's Ink132 viewsLove's Darkest Cage
aflyingwhale88 viewsAccidentally Finding My Perfect Match
E. Dahlia34 viewsKilled Me? Watch Me Get Reborn And Marry Your Enemy!
BELLA31 views
