Chapter 9 – The Secret in Safe B-17

Lena studied the message on Adrian's phone.

If you want your mother alive, open Safe B-17.

Her fingers tightened around the photograph.

“It's a trap,” Adrian said.

“I know.”

“And yet you're considering opening it.”

“My mother is alive because someone wants whatever is in that safe.”

Adrian shook his head. “We don't know that.”

“Then why mention B-17?”

He had no answer.

For several seconds, the only sound in the storage room was the distant echo of footsteps.

Lena fixed him with a steady gaze.

“You told me the safe contains everything your father didn't want you to find.”

“I said it might.”

“You knew about it.”

“I knew there was a safe. I didn't know what was inside.”

“So someone wants us to open it.”

Adrian's expression hardened. “Exactly. Which means they want us to find something.”

“Then let's find it.”

“No.”

Lena frowned. “You just said—”

“I said we will find it. I didn't say we're going to do whatever they tell us to do.”

Adrian pulled out his phone.

“Daniel?”

The line connected almost instantly.

“Sir?”

“Get the security team to Blackwood Manor.”

There was a pause.

“Are you going there?”

“Yes.”

“And Lena?”

Adrian glanced at her.

“She's coming with me.”

Lena raised an eyebrow.

Daniel sighed audibly. “I'll prepare everything.”

The call ended.

Lena stared at Adrian.

“You changed your mind.”

“I changed the plan.”

“Because of me?”

“Because I know you'll follow me regardless.”

A small smile escaped her.

“You're learning.”

“I regret it already.”

For the first time since all of this began, Lena nearly laughed.

Then Adrian's gaze fell on her hand.

“You're still holding the photograph.”

She looked down.

The image of the newborn baby was still clutched between her fingers.

The message written on the back seemed to burn into her skin.

This is not Adrian's daughter.

She looked up at him.

“What if I'm not your daughter?”

Adrian went silent.

“What if my mother was telling the truth?”

“Then we'll find out.”

“And what if she lied?”

“Then we'll find out why.”

Lena searched his face.

“You really don't care who my father is?”

Adrian's expression softened.

“I care who you are.”

Her heart skipped a beat.

He seemed to realize what he'd said and quickly looked away.

“Come on.”

The drive to Blackwood Manor was uneventful.

Lena sat beside Adrian in the backseat as the city passed by in a blur.

She kept thinking about what he'd said.

I care who you are.

She had no idea why those words affected her so much.

Perhaps because, for the last forty-eight hours, she had been uncovering one lie after another about the people she thought were her family.

And Adrian—the man who was supposed to hate her most—was somehow the only person who had stood beside her when everything began falling apart.

When they arrived at the manor, security already surrounded the estate.

Adrian led Lena inside.

The interior was cavernous, elegant, and strangely empty.

They walked down a long hallway until Adrian stopped in front of an old wooden door.

“Behind this is my father's private study.”

Lena looked at the door.

“You've never been in there?”

“Not since he died.”

“Why?”

Adrian's expression darkened.

“Because I couldn't.”

He pushed the door open.

Dust floated through the air as they stepped inside.

Photographs lined the walls. Old books filled the shelves, and a large wooden desk stood untouched in the center of the room.

Lena wandered slowly, stopping in front of a large painting.

It showed Adrian's father standing with a group of men.

Among them was Daniel Carter.

Her father.

Lena moved closer.

“Adrian.”

He came to stand beside her.

She pointed at the painting.

“Look.”

Adrian's jaw tightened.

There was a small inscription beneath the image.

Blackwood Foundation — 2005

Lena frowned.

“My father was working with your family.”

“Yes.”

“But Mom said Dad hated your father.”

“Maybe he had a reason.”

Adrian walked toward the bookshelf.

“B-17 should be in here.”

He began searching through the books.

Nothing.

Lena scanned the room.

“Maybe it's somewhere else.”

Adrian pulled out an old ledger.

A small key slipped from between the pages and clattered onto the floor.

Lena bent down and picked it up.

A number was etched into the metal.

B-17.

She looked at Adrian.

“This?”

He nodded.

They searched the bookshelf again and found a small hidden panel.

Adrian inserted the key.

With a soft click, part of the wall opened.

Behind it was a small black safe.

Lena's pulse quickened.

Adrian entered the combination.

The safe door opened.

Inside were three things.

An old envelope.

A USB drive.

And a photograph.

Lena grabbed the photograph first.

Her breath caught.

It was her mother.

But she wasn't alone.

She was standing beside Adrian's father.

In her arms was a tiny bundle wrapped in a white blanket.

Adrian took the photograph from Lena.

The color drained from his face.

“That's my father.”

Lena stared at the baby.

“Is that me?”

Adrian turned the photograph over.

His fingers trembled as he read the words written on the back.

The child belongs to Daniel Carter.

Lena's heart hammered.

“That's impossible.”

Adrian looked up at her.

Neither of them spoke.

Then his eyes moved toward the envelope.

He reached for it.

Just as he began opening it, his phone rang.

Unknown Number.

Adrian answered.

“Who is this?”

A familiar voice came through the line.

“Did you find Safe B-17?”

Adrian's expression hardened.

“Victor.”

“Good. Then you've found the photograph.”

“What did you do to my mother?”

“She'll be released.”

“When?”

“When you give me the USB drive.”

Adrian stared at the small black device inside the safe.

“Why?”

Victor chuckled softly.

“Because that drive contains the evidence your father tried to bury for twenty years.”

Adrian's grip tightened around the phone.

“What evidence?”

There was a long pause.

Then Victor spoke.

“The evidence that your father murdered Daniel Carter.”

The line went dead.

Lena slowly turned toward Adrian.

He was staring at the USB drive.

Then at the old envelope.

The man who had spent the last twenty years believing his father was a victim was now being forced to consider an impossible truth.

What if his own father had been the villain all along?

And if that was true, then Lena's entire life had been built on a lie.