Chapter 7 - The handle turned slowly.Marcus raised his weapon.

Daniel moved in front of Emma.

Adrian stepped toward the door.

Nobody breathed.

The handle stopped.

Then came three knocks.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

11:59.

Again.

The same time.

The same rhythm.

Adrian looked at the wall clock.

12:01.

Impossible.

He checked his phone.

12:01.

The hidden system had somehow reset the mansion's internal clock.

A voice came through the door.

“Adrian.”

He recognized it.

His father's voice.

Dead for fifteen years.

Emma stepped backward.

“No.”

Adrian stared at the door.

“Who are you?”

The voice laughed softly.

“You've been asking the wrong question.”

“What question should I ask?”

“Who wanted you to hear the knock?”

The door opened.

Nobody stood there.

Only a small tape recorder sat on the floor.

Adrian picked it up.

He pressed play.

Static.

Then his father's voice.

“If you're hearing this, Matteo failed.”

Adrian stopped breathing.

The recording continued.

“I knew one of my sons would be targeted.”

Adrian looked at Daniel.

His father continued.

“The Moretti family has been built on lies for two generations.”

Static.

“Your grandfather created the foundation.”

Static.

“Matteo discovered it.”

Then:

“He tried to destroy it.”

Another pause.

“I stopped him.”

Adrian's eyes narrowed.

His own father had admitted it.

Not to murder.

But to something worse.

To stopping Matteo.

The recording continued.

“The boy called Michael was never meant to inherit.”

Adrian gripped the recorder.

“Because he was not my son.”

The room fell silent.

Daniel whispered:

“What?”

Adrian felt his entire childhood rearrange itself.

His father continued.

“Michael was the son of the woman I loved before your mother.”

A second voice appeared.

A woman.

Soft.

Terrified.

“Richard, please.”

Adrian froze.

He knew that voice.

His mother.

The recording had been made before her death.

His father continued.

“I brought Michael into this house to protect him.”

His mother's voice:

“And then you sold him.”

The tape cut.

Adrian stared.

Daniel took a step closer.

“What does that mean?”

“I don't know.”

But Emma did.

She was staring at the floor.

Adrian noticed.

“Emma.”

She lifted her head.

“I know who Michael was.”

Adrian walked toward her.

“How?”

“Because Daniel found his file.”

“Where?”

Emma hesitated.

“Victor kept it.”

“Where is it?”

“I don't know.”

Daniel suddenly grabbed the tape recorder.

He rewound it.

“Wait.”

The recording played again.

This time Daniel listened carefully.

At the end of the tape, beneath the static, a faint mechanical tone repeated.

Three short beeps.

Then one long.

Marcus frowned.

“That's a frequency code.”

Adrian looked at him.

“Meaning?”

Marcus pulled out his phone.

“Old Moretti security system.”

He entered the sequence.

A hidden map appeared.

Adrian stared at it.

The mansion.

Basement.

Sub-basement.

Tunnel.

And one marked location.

ARCHIVE ZERO.

“Where is that?”

Marcus pointed.

“Beneath the chapel.”

Adrian's mansion had a private chapel.

He had never used it.

The chapel was built decades ago by his grandfather.

He had assumed it was decorative.

Now he wondered.

Daniel looked at Emma.

“Where is Lily?”

Emma's face crumpled.

“I don't know.”

Adrian turned.

“We're going to Archive Zero.”

Marcus nodded.

They crossed the mansion.

The chapel door opened with a soft creak.

Inside, candles stood untouched.

Dust covered the pews.

At the altar was a marble cross.

Adrian walked behind it.

Nothing.

Marcus searched the floor.

Nothing.

Daniel looked at the walls.

“It's not here.”

Adrian noticed something.

A painting.

A portrait of his grandfather.

The man was holding a gold pocket watch.

Adrian remembered it.

The watch had been buried with him.

He moved the painting.

Behind it was a circular metal dial.

He entered 11:59.

The wall opened.

A staircase descended.

At the bottom was a steel vault.

ARCHIVE ZERO.

The door was already open.

Adrian entered.

Inside were dozens of boxes.

Documents.

Photographs.

Medical records.

Birth certificates.

Death certificates.

And at the center of the room sat a small television.

It turned on automatically.

A live image appeared.

Lily.

She was sitting in a chair.

Alive.

Unhurt.

Her stuffed rabbit was in her lap.

Adrian moved closer.

“Lily!”

She looked up.

“Mr. Moretti.”

Adrian exhaled.

“What happened?”

A man's voice came through the speakers.

“Nothing will happen to her.”

Adrian stared.

“Bring her back.”

“Not yet.”

“Who are you?”

The screen changed.

A man's face appeared.

Older.

Scarred.

Gray hair.

Adrian stared at him.

Daniel whispered:

“No.”

The man smiled.

“I've been waiting six years for this meeting.”

Adrian knew the face.

He had seen it in the photographs.

The hidden man.

The fourth brother.

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