Chapter 11 - THE BURNERWe moved Noah into the panic room.
Rebecca locked the steel door.
I stayed outside.
Aaron was still on the phone.
“Listen carefully.”
“Who is inside?”
“Eleanor's people.”
“How many?”
“I don't know.”
“Then help me.”
“I am.”
“You have five minutes.”
“For what?”
“Get to the server room.”
“What server room?”
“The basement.”
I remembered Blackwood House.
The hidden rooms.
The locked doors.
The system.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“What is in the basement?”
“Everything.”
Rebecca looked at me.
“Go.”
We moved through the corridor.
The house shook from an impact.
Glass shattered upstairs.
I reached the basement.
A steel door stood at the end.
I pressed my father's key against the scanner.
The door opened.
Inside was a private server facility.
Rows of equipment.
Boxes.
Documents.
Asteris files.
Prescott files.
Hawthorne files.
I found my own name.
Then another.
The Burner.
I opened the folder.
Inside was a list of companies.
Each one linked to money movements.
Every transaction went through a single account.
Asteris.
At the bottom was a bank identifier.
I recognized it.
Hawthorne Private Bank.
I called Martin.
“Open the trust records.”
“Which ones?”
“All of them.”
“Why?”
“I found the burner.”
Silence.
Then Martin said:
“That's impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because your father destroyed it.”
“He didn't.”
“What did you find?”
“A ledger.”
“No.”
“What?”
“Alyssa, listen to me.”
His voice changed.
“The burner isn't an account.”
“What is it?”
“A person.”
I stopped.
“Who?”
Martin whispered:
“Your mother.”
I closed my eyes.
Everything connected.
My mother.
Asteris.
Eleanor.
Aaron.
The patents.
The child.
The money.
But there was one question.
Why had Eleanor wanted me married to Aaron?
I opened another file.
PROJECT BRIDE.
The document contained my photograph.
My education.
My friendships.
My habits.
My relationship history.
And Aaron's.
At the bottom was a note.
Objective: gain access to Hawthorne Trust through Alyssa Hawthorne.
I stared.
Our marriage had been planned.
Not by Aaron.
By Eleanor.
I felt sick.
Then the basement door slammed shut.
Rebecca spun around.
A voice came through the speakers.
Eleanor.
“Alyssa.”
I froze.
“You've always been curious.”
I looked around.
“Where are you?”
“Watching.”
“You used my husband.”
“No.”
A pause.
“I used your family.”
“What do you want?”
“Your trust.”
“You've failed.”
“Not yet.”
She laughed softly.
“You think Noah makes you powerful.”
The lights flickered.
“He makes you vulnerable.”
“No.”
I looked at the cameras.
“He makes me dangerous.”
Silence.
Then Eleanor said:
“You sound like your father.”
The basement door unlocked.
Aaron ran inside.
He was bleeding from his forehead.
“Alyssa!”
“What happened?”
“We have to leave.”
“No.”
I pointed to the server.
“The burner.”
He stared.
“You found it.”
“Yes.”
“Then we're dead.”
“Why?”
“Because it contains the original ownership records.”
“That's why Eleanor wants it.”
“Yes.”
“And you're helping her?”
His face changed.
“No.”
He pulled a gun from his jacket.
I stared.
“You brought a gun?”
“For protection.”
Against whom?
Before I could ask, a bullet hit the server rack.
Sparks exploded.
Aaron pushed me down.
Rebecca shouted.
“Someone's shooting from the west wall!”
Aaron grabbed Noah from the panic room.
“We have to go.”
We ran through a hidden corridor.
At the end was a garage.
A black car waited.
We piled in.
Aaron drove.
I looked at him.
“Who shot at us?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“I swear.”
I looked toward the back seat.
Noah was holding the wooden airplane.
He looked terrified.
Then suddenly he said:
“Mom.”
“Yes?”
“There was another key.”
I turned.
“Where?”
“In the plane.”
He pulled apart another wooden panel.
Inside was a second key.
And a tiny piece of paper.
He handed it to me.
Three words were written in my father's handwriting.
THE BURNER LIVES HERE.
I stared at the address.
It was my home.
My actual home.
The mansion I had lived in for four years with Aaron.
The mansion I thought belonged to me.
Aaron looked at the paper.
His face went white.
“No.”
“What?”
“You can't go there.”
“Why?”
“Because Eleanor has the house.”
I looked at him.
“How?”
May you like
He whispered:
“Because I signed it away.”
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