CHAPTER 5: TWO HEIRS
CHAPTER 5: TWO HEIRS
Time stopped.
The gunfire.
The shouting.
Even the echo of collapsing stone seemed to disappear.
Julian stared at the young man standing only a few feet away.
They looked almost identical.
The same steel-gray eyes.
The same dark hair.
The same sharp jawline.
Only one difference separated them.
Julian looked confused.
The stranger looked certain.
Neither raised a weapon.
Neither blinked.
Lucien whispered something under his breath.
"No..."
It wasn't fear.
It was recognition.
The masked soldiers immediately formed a protective circle around the newcomer.
Not around their commander.
Around the boy.
One of them spoke into his headset.
"The second heir has been located."
Second heir.
My grip tightened around the pistol.
"What does that mean?"
Lucien didn't answer.
Marco did.
"It means..."
His voice was heavy with regret.
"...there were two babies."
The chamber fell silent once again.
I slowly turned toward him.
"What?"
Marco lowered his rifle.
"Victor's wife didn't give birth to one child."
Every word landed like a hammer.
"She gave birth to twins."
Twins.
Impossible.
Victor would have told me.
Wouldn't he?
Marco read the question on my face.
"He never had the chance."
The young stranger finally stepped forward.
He removed his tactical gloves.
"My name is Elias."
His voice was calm.
"I've heard stories about you."
He looked directly at me.
"My uncle."
Julian frowned.
"No."
"I'm his nephew."
Elias smiled sadly.
"That's what they told you."
Julian's eyes narrowed.
"They?"
Lucien stepped between them.
"Enough."
"No more lies."
Elias laughed.
A quiet laugh.
Almost disappointed.
"You still don't understand."
He looked around the chamber.
"Everyone in this room serves someone."
His eyes settled on Lucien.
"Including you."
Another explosion shook the underground halls.
Dust poured from the ceiling.
The soldiers checked every entrance.
One shouted,
"We have three minutes before reinforcements arrive."
Elias nodded.
"Then let's stop pretending."
He reached into his jacket.
Every rifle aimed at him.
Instead of a weapon...
He removed an old leather notebook.
Burned around the edges.
The cover carried a familiar symbol.
The Valenti family crest.
My father's journal.
My breath caught.
That journal had disappeared the night of his funeral.
Elias gently tossed it across the room.
It landed at my feet.
"I think it's time you read what your father really wrote."
My hands trembled slightly as I opened the notebook.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
My father's.
The first pages contained ordinary business notes.
Estate expenses.
Meetings.
Property acquisitions.
Then...
A page marked with a red ribbon.
Dated exactly sixteen years ago.
I began reading aloud.
If anyone finds this, I have already failed.
Victor refused to obey the Council.
They demanded one child.
God forgive me... there were two.
My voice stopped.
The room was completely silent.
I turned the page.
We separated the twins before sunrise.
One stayed with Victor.
The other disappeared forever.
If the Council discovers the truth, both boys will die.
Another page.
Only Adrian must never know.
He would destroy everything trying to save them.
I couldn't breathe.
My own father...
Had lied to me.
For sixteen years.
Julian slowly backed away.
"No..."
He looked at Lucien.
"You said my parents died protecting me."
"They did."
"You said I was the only heir."
Lucien closed his eyes.
"I believed that was safest."
"You lied."
"I omitted the truth."
Julian laughed bitterly.
"So did everyone else."
His eyes moved toward me.
"You too?"
"I didn't know."
"I believe you."
That somehow hurt even more.
Elias quietly watched the exchange.
Then he spoke.
"The Council didn't want one heir."
"They wanted control."
He looked toward the old chessboard.
"The Valenti fortune was never the prize."
My voice returned.
"What was?"
He smiled.
"The Vault."
The word echoed strangely through the chamber.
Rinaldi whispered,
"I've heard that name."
Lucien looked sharply toward him.
"You shouldn't have."
Rinaldi swallowed.
"My grandfather once said..."
"...the first Valenti wasn't rich."
"He was a guardian."
Lucien slowly nodded.
"Exactly."
A loud metallic sound interrupted everyone.
CLANG.
CLANG.
CLANG.
Not gunfire.
Something enormous moving underground.
The floor vibrated.
Stone dust drifted from the ceiling.
One of the soldiers turned pale.
"It's opening."
Lucien's face lost all color.
"No..."
He looked toward the deepest tunnel.
"We're too late."
Elias immediately grabbed his rifle.
"How long?"
"Less than five minutes."
Julian looked between them.
"What is opening?"
Lucien answered without taking his eyes off the darkness.
"The Vault."
The ground shook harder.
A deep rumbling echoed beneath everyone's feet.
Somewhere beyond the ancient tunnels...
Massive gears began turning.
Metal scraped against stone.
The sound felt impossibly old.
Older than the mansion.
Older than the Valenti family itself.
Then...
The emergency lights suddenly died.
Not flickered.
Died.
Total darkness.
A single golden light appeared far down the deepest corridor.
Soft.
Ancient.
Almost alive.
Every person in the chamber stared toward it.
No one moved.
Even the armed soldiers lowered their weapons.
Then...
Footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
One pair.
Approaching from the glowing passage.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
A silhouette emerged.
Not running.
Walking.
As though it owned the underground kingdom beneath the estate.
The figure stopped at the edge of the light.
An elderly woman.
Elegant.
Dressed entirely in white.
Her silver hair flowed over her shoulders.
She wasn't holding a weapon.
Only an old wooden cane carved with the same crown symbol.
Lucien's breathing became uneven.
Marco whispered,
"It can't be..."
The woman smiled.
Her eyes settled on me.
Then on Julian.
Then on Elias.
Finally she spoke.
Her voice was gentle.
Yet every person in the chamber instinctively lowered their head.
"Good."
She smiled a little wider.
"After sixteen years..."
"...all three Valenti heirs are finally together."
Every heartbeat in my chest stopped.
Three?
There were only two.
May you like
Weren't there?
END OF CHAPTER 5
