Chapter 9 - The Vault Beneath the Wine CellarThe Secret That Could Destroy the Vale Family

We reached Laura after midnight.

The restaurant had been closed.

The dining room was dark.

But lights glowed beneath the wine cellar.

Roman led us down.

Every step felt colder.

At the bottom was a steel door.

His men forced it open.

Inside were dozens of old ledgers.

Boxes.

Hard drives.

Photographs.

Contracts.

And a massive steel vault.

Martha Vale stood in front of it.

My mother was beside her.

Both were alive.

Both looked exhausted.

Roman raised his weapon.

"Mom."

Martha looked at him.

"Put it down."

"You kidnapped my brother's son."

"I protected him."

"By lying?"

"By doing what Ethan asked."

Roman froze.

"What?"

Martha looked at me.

"Ethan never trusted you."

Roman flinched.

"Why?"

"Because your father taught you to obey before you learned to question."

She pointed at the vault.

"Everything you need is inside."

My mother looked at me.

"I'm sorry."

I moved toward her.

"You let me believe I had no family."

"I believed the only way to save you was to erase the truth."

"What truth?"

Martha answered.

"Ethan wasn't protecting the child from me."

She glanced at Roman.

"He was protecting the child from your father."

Roman went still.

"My father died eight years ago."

"Exactly."

Martha said it quietly.

"Because he was trying to expose a criminal network built inside our own company."

She entered a code.

The vault opened.

Inside were photographs of politicians.

Police officers.

Judges.

Businessmen.

And one photograph made my heart stop.

David Kesler.

Standing beside my father.

My father.

I hadn't seen that photograph before.

I picked it up.

"My father doesn't know David."

Martha looked at me.

"He did."

I stared.

"Who is David?"

"The first person Ethan trusted outside the family."

"And the man who betrayed him."

Roman opened another folder.

Inside was a bank transfer.

Five hundred thousand dollars.

Recipient: DAVID KESLER.

Sender: Martha Vale.

Date: three days before Ethan's death.

Roman looked at his mother.

"You paid him."

"To disappear."

"But he didn't."

"No."

Martha's expression hardened.

"Because someone paid him more."

"Who?"

She looked toward the vault.

"Your father."

Roman's face collapsed into disbelief.

"That's impossible."

Martha shook her head.

"Your father didn't die when the newspapers said he did."

Silence.

I could hear my own heartbeat.

"What are you saying?"

Martha looked at Roman.

"Your father is alive."

Roman stared at her.

Then a voice came from the doorway.

"Not for much longer."

Everyone turned.

David Kesler stood there.

Holding a gun.

And beside him was a man I had never seen before.

But Roman recognized him.

May you like

My Family Inherited Millions and Left Me a Ruined House. Four Months Lat...

The lawyer’s office fell silent as my grandmother’s will was read, and I watched my family inherit millions while I received nothi...

A Desperate Mother Begged a Billionaire for a Job to Feed Her Two Childr...

I was stranded on a lonely Arizona highway with two starving children, a pair of ruined suitcases, and no way to reach our destina...

I Saved the Mafia Boss’s Baby from a Dumpster, but He Threw Me in Jail f...

The first thing I noticed when I opened the dumpster behind the Valente mansion was a tiny blue hand sticking out from beneath a f...

His face went completely white.

"Dad."