6; The Warning I Couldn’t Ignore

Serelyn’s POV

I barely slept that night because everytime I closed my eyes, I saw the photograph again.

My grandmother stood in the center, younger than I had ever known her. Beside her was a boy who had grown into a man I had met only days ago—Kaeldric Vane.

I sat at my desk before sunrise, the photograph lying in front of me. I picked it up again.

The picture itself was ordinary. Old paper with faded edges. My grandmother’s handwriting on the back.

But the words weren’t ordinary.

When the end comes, trust no one except him.

I read them for perhaps the tenth time. Then I put the photograph down.

“No.”

My voice sounded strange in the quiet room. I wasn’t going to blindly trust a man because my dead grandmother had written his name into a warning. She had known something. That much was obvious. But that didn’t automatically make Kaeldric safe.

What if she had been wrong?

What if Kaeldric had changed?

What if the warning itself was connected to something I didn’t understand?

I had already learned what happened when I trusted people without questioning them. I wasn’t making that mistake again. I picked up my phone and opened my laptop.

If I wanted answers, I would find them myself. I started with Kaeldric’s public records. His name appeared everywhere.

Kaeldric Vane was the heir to Vane Security and Logistics, a company involved in private security, emergency transportation, disaster planning, and infrastructure support. He had spent several years working in elite disaster-response operations before returning to the family business.

There were interviews, industry articles, old photographs, awards, reports about emergency deployments. Nothing scandalous or suspicious about him. If anything, the information made him look annoyingly competent.

I clicked through another article and stopped. The photograph showed Kaeldric several years younger, standing beside a group of emergency-response personnel.

I zoomed in to the date printed under the image. My stomach tightened as I checked another source.

Same year, another photograph with another date. My grandmother was still alive. I leaned back slowly.

“So you really knew him.”

That was the part I couldn’t dismiss anymore. It wasn't a coincidence. My grandmother had known Kaeldric during the exact period when he had been involved in emergency-response work.

But why?

I searched her name alongside his. Nothing useful appeared. I searched old property records, nothing. 

Charitable foundations, nothing. Company events, nothing.  I even searched archived newspaper reports, still nothing. Frustrated, I shut the laptop.

I wasn’t going to spend the entire morning chasing a mystery while Viremont waited for me.

There was too much to do. By eight, I was standing in the estate’s main office with construction plans spread across the desk.

The work had already begun. I reviewed the progress reports one by one. Security reinforcement. Water storage. Generator installation. Food storage. Medical supplies. Communication systems. Emergency exits. Construction materials. I checked every figure twice.

Then I looked at the list of workers. That made me pause. Money wasn’t the problem anymore. I had enough money to buy almost anything I needed. I had knowledge of the future. I had the Spatial Sanctuary but I was still missing something important.

A system, like a real one. I couldn’t simply keep buying things and assume that would save me.

Supplies needed to be organized. Workers needed responsibilities. Access needed to be controlled. Emergency procedures needed to exist before the emergency happened and I needed people I could trust. That last thought made me think of Kaeldric.

I immediately pushed it away. Trust wasn’t something I was handing out anymore. I heard footsteps outside the office. A moment later, one of the workers knocked.

“Mrs. Vale?”

“Yes?”

“The security team is here.”

I looked at the clock as Kaeldric wasn’t supposed to return until tomorrow.

“Already?”

“He said he wanted to inspect the eastern access point.”

I closed the file of course he did. When I reached the courtyard, Kaeldric was already examining the estate plans with two members of his security team. He looked up when he heard me approach.

“You changed the northern storage layout.”

It wasn’t a question as I glanced at the blueprint in his hand.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“The original layout puts too much equipment in one area. If that section becomes inaccessible, I lose too many resources at once.”

His gaze remained on me for a moment. Then he nodded.

“Good.”

I hadn’t expected that. He turned the blueprint toward me.

“I noticed another problem.”

We walked toward the eastern side of the property. Kaeldric pointed toward the reinforced entrance.

“The wall is strong.”

“I know.”

“The gate is also strong.”

“I know that too.”

He looked at me.

“The problem isn’t either of those.”

I frowned.

“What is it?”

“The entrance is predictable.”

He pointed toward the road.

“Anyone watching this property will know that vehicles have to approach from this direction. They can observe movement before reaching the gate.”

I looked at the road, then at the surrounding trees. He was right.

“How would you fix it?”

“We create a secondary access route and make the primary entrance less obvious.”

He explained the changes without wasting words. A concealed approach. A second checkpoint. Cameras positioned outside the obvious perimeter. An observation point farther from the main gate. I listened carefully. This was different from simply throwing money at every problem. Kaeldric wasn’t impressed by how much I could buy. He was looking at what could fail.

“What?” he asked.

I realized I had been staring, “Nothing.”

“You’re thinking.”

“I usually do.”

The corner of his mouth moved slightly, “I noticed.”

I looked back at the plans.

“We’ll make the changes.”

He nodded as there was something strangely easy about working with him.

No unnecessary praise. No condescension. No attempt to take control because I was a woman. He simply pointed out problems, listened when I explained my decisions, and adjusted the plan.

It was refreshing. By late afternoon, most of the inspection was finished. Kaeldric was walking toward his vehicle when he stopped.

“You’ve been distracted today.”

I stiffened.

“Have I?”

“Yes.”

His eyes stayed on mine, “Did something happen?”

For one dangerous second, I almost told him. I almost said, My grandmother knew you.

I almost asked, Why? Instead, I shook my head.

“It’s nothing I need help with.”

He studied me for a while waiting for him to push at least but he didn’t.

“If you don’t trust me enough to answer, don’t.”

There was no offense in his voice. No irritation. Just acceptance. That surprised me more than if he had demanded an explanation.

“I appreciate that.”

He gave a small nod and turned away. I watched him take two steps before one of his security personnel approached him. The man’s expression had changed. He leaned closer and lowered his voice. I wasn’t trying to listen. Then I heard my own property mentioned.

“Viremont Estate?”

Kaeldric’s posture changed, “Someone has been asking about the purchase,” the man said quietly. 

“Not making threats. Just asking who bought it, when the sale happened, and why the property is being reinforced.”

I stopped moving as Kaeldric looked toward the estate.

Then toward me. The security officer continued.

“We haven’t identified who is behind the inquiries yet.”

My fingers tightened around the folder in my hand. Someone was asking about Viremont already. I had spent years preparing for the apocalypse in my head.

But I had forgotten something. The future wasn’t the only thing that could surprise me.

People could too and someone had already noticed what I was building.