CHAPTER 8 THE VAULT BENEATH THE HOUSE
The floor split apart.
A deafening crack tore through the mansion.
Marble shattered beneath their feet.
Grace screamed and pulled Lily backward.
Nathan grabbed Emma with one arm and Daniel with the other.
Richard lunged toward them.
“MOVE!”
The floor collapsed.
Everyone fell.
Nathan slammed onto a metal platform several feet below.
Emma landed against his chest.
Daniel rolled beside him.
Grace hit the platform hard, still clutching Lily.
For a moment, there was nothing but dust.
Then the emergency lights came on.
Red.
Cold.
Unforgiving.
Nathan slowly lifted his head.
They were standing inside a gigantic underground chamber.
The walls disappeared into darkness.
Steel walkways crossed above them.
Hundreds of locked doors lined the surrounding walls.
And in the center stood a massive circular structure.
It looked like a vault.
But it wasn't a normal vault.
It was enormous.
Its door was nearly twenty feet tall.
Across the surface were three circular handprints.
Three.
Nathan stared.
One was labeled:
E-17.
Another:
D-18.
The third:
L-19.
Nathan's face changed.
“Emma.”
He looked at her.
Then Daniel.
Then Lily.
Three children.
Three numbers.
Three locks.
Grace whispered:
“They were expecting them.”
Richard nodded.
“For years.”
Nathan turned toward his father.
“You knew about this?”
Richard looked down.
“Yes.”
Nathan stepped toward him.
“How long?”
“Since before you were born.”
Nathan's jaw tightened.
“You knew there were children.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about Emma.”
“Yes.”
“Daniel.”
Richard hesitated.
“Yes.”
“And Lily?”
Richard looked at the little girl.
“I didn't know she would survive.”
Nathan's expression hardened.
“You mean you tried to stop her from surviving.”
Richard said nothing.
Grace stepped forward.
“You threatened me.”
“I did.”
“You threatened to take Lily.”
“Yes.”
“You told me Nathan would never love her.”
Richard closed his eyes.
“I lied.”
Grace stared at him.
“Why?”
Richard looked at Nathan.
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of Alexander?”
Richard nodded.
“And the Board.”
Nathan looked at the enormous vault.
“What is inside?”
Richard's voice was barely audible.
“Everything.”
Nathan approached the door.
A screen activated.
Three biometric circles appeared.
FIRST HEIR.
SECOND HEIR.
NATURAL HEIR.
Nathan stared.
“Natural heir?”
Richard nodded.
“Lily.”
Grace pulled her daughter closer.
“Why does it need all three?”
Richard looked terrified.
“Because the vault was designed to open only when all three genetic lines were present.”
Nathan looked at Alexander.
The old man stood on the opposite platform.
He wasn't afraid anymore.
He was smiling.
“You finally understand.”
Nathan raised his gun.
“Don't come closer.”
Alexander ignored him.
“The Cole family spent decades searching for the perfect heir.”
He gestured toward Emma.
“Emma was the first success.”
Then Daniel.
“Daniel was the second.”
His eyes settled on Lily.
“And Lily was never supposed to exist.”
Grace stepped in front of her daughter.
Alexander smiled.
“That is why she is the most important.”
Nathan's voice was cold.
“What happens when the vault opens?”
Alexander answered:
“The truth becomes ours.”
Nathan frowned.
“Ours?”
Alexander nodded.
“Every record inside belongs to the family.”
Richard suddenly shouted:
“No!”
Alexander looked at him.
“You've betrayed me enough.”
Richard stepped forward.
“You don't understand what you're opening.”
“I understand perfectly.”
“No.”
Richard shook his head.
“You think the vault contains leverage.”
Alexander smiled.
“It does.”
Richard's face became pale.
“It contains evidence.”
Alexander's smile disappeared.
Nathan looked between them.
“Evidence of what?”
Richard said nothing.
Nathan shouted:
“Dad!”
Richard finally looked at him.
“Your grandfather didn't build this vault to protect the family.”
He pointed toward the steel door.
“He built it to destroy anyone who threatened him.”
Nathan stared.
“Destroy how?”
Richard swallowed.
“Every secret. Every murder. Every bribe. Every child.”
Grace's eyes widened.
“You recorded everything?”
Richard nodded.
“Alexander wanted insurance.”
Nathan stared at the vault.
“So if the records get out…”
“The Cole empire collapses.”
Alexander's voice suddenly cut through the chamber.
“Not if I destroy them first.”
He raised a remote control.
A red light appeared.
Richard's face changed.
“Alexander…”
“You should have killed Nathan when you had the chance.”
Nathan aimed his gun.
“What does that remote do?”
Alexander smiled.
“Burns the vault.”
Grace looked at Richard.
“Can he destroy it?”
Richard nodded.
“From here.”
Alexander pressed a button.
Nothing happened.
He frowned.
Pressed again.
Still nothing.
The screen above the vault changed.
AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.
Alexander stared.
“What?”
Nathan looked at Richard.
Richard smiled for the first time.
“I changed the system.”
Alexander's face darkened.
“When?”
“Five years ago.”
“You betrayed me.”
“I finally chose my son.”
Nathan stared at his father.
Richard looked at him.
“I knew one day you'd find out.”
Nathan's voice softened.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I was a coward.”
Richard looked at Lily.
“I thought if I kept you away from the truth, you would survive.”
Nathan shook his head.
“You almost destroyed us.”
“I know.”
A metallic sound echoed.
The vault door began to unlock.
CLICK.
Everyone froze.
Richard looked at the children.
“Get them away.”
Nathan moved.
But Alexander shouted:
“Stop!”
A dozen armed men appeared on the upper walkways.
Weapons pointed downward.
Grace pulled Lily behind her.
Nathan stood in front of all three children.
Alexander smiled.
“You thought you won.”
Nathan raised his weapon.
“You're out of time.”
Alexander shook his head.
“No.”
He pointed toward the children.
“They're the key.”
The screen flashed.
BIOLOGICAL MATCH CONFIRMED.
Nathan looked at Lily.
The little girl's wrist mark was glowing.
Then Emma's.
Then Daniel's.
Three red lights appeared.
The vault door opened another inch.
A voice echoed through the chamber.
“TRIPLE HEIR AUTHENTICATION.”
“BEGINNING.”
Grace stared.
“What happens now?”
Richard whispered:
“The vault opens.”
Nathan looked at the armed men.
Then at his children.
Then at Alexander.
“Let it.”
Richard grabbed his arm.
“No.”
Nathan looked at him.
“If those records can expose them…”
“They can also expose you.”
Nathan's expression didn't change.
“Then let the world see everything.”
The vault opened.
A blast of cold air swept through the chamber.
Inside was a vast archive.
Thousands of files.
Hard drives.
Photographs.
Medical records.
Boxes stacked from floor to ceiling.
But Nathan noticed something strange.
In the center of the vault stood a single glass case.
Inside was a small metal box.
And on the box was a name.
SARAH COLE.
His mother.
Nathan froze.
He walked toward it.
Grace followed.
“What is it?”
Nathan reached for the box.
Richard shouted:
“Don't!”
Nathan stopped.
“Why?”
Richard looked terrified.
“Because that's the one thing your mother died trying to protect.”
Nathan opened the box.
Inside was a USB drive.
And a handwritten note.
Nathan unfolded it.
His mother's handwriting.
Nathan, if you ever find this, don't trust the DNA records.
Nathan frowned.
He read the next line.
The child you believe is yours may not be yours.
Grace stared at him.
“What?”
Nathan turned the page.
There was one final sentence.
Your father knows who Lily's real biological father is.
Nathan slowly looked toward Richard.
Richard's face had gone completely white.
Nathan whispered:
“Dad…”
Richard didn't answer.
Nathan raised his gun.
“Who is Lily's father?”
Richard's lips trembled.
“I can't tell you.”
“WHO?”
The chamber went silent.
Alexander suddenly laughed.
Richard looked at Nathan.
Then at Lily.
And finally whispered:
“Lily isn't your daughter.”
Grace's face collapsed.
Nathan stood completely still.
“No.”
Richard shook his head.
“I am sorry.”
Nathan stared at Lily.
The little girl looked back at him.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Daddy?”
Nathan's gun slowly lowered.
Then Alexander spoke from behind them.
“Now you understand why we had to erase her.”
Grace screamed:
“YOU'RE LYING!”
Alexander smiled.
“Am I?”
Nathan turned toward his grandfather.
His eyes were filled with rage.
“If she's not my daughter…”
Alexander pointed toward the glass case.
“…then ask your mother who Lily's real father is.”
Nathan looked back at the note.
Something else was written beneath the final sentence.
A name.
A name that made Richard close his eyes.
A name Nathan had never expected to see.
EDWARD VALE.
The man who had claimed to be Nathan's godfather.
The man who had supposedly betrayed the family.
The man who had vanished.
Nathan's voice became a whisper.
“Edward…”
Then the vault doors slammed shut.
And somewhere inside the darkness, a woman's voice whispered:
“Nathan…”
He froze.
He knew that voice.
May you like
It was his mother.
But she had been dead for twenty years.
