Chapter 5 - The key in Elena's hand suddenly felt heavier.“Second key?”
Dante stared at the message.
“There are two.”
“What does the second one open?”
“I don't know.”
“But someone does.”
“Yes.”
The alarm continued.
Dante grabbed his coat.
“We're leaving.”
“Where?”
“Apartment 917.”
The elevator ride was silent.
Elena couldn't stop thinking.
The archive.
Her mother.
Julian.
Dante.
Twelve million dollars.
And a second key.
Everything connected.
But she still couldn't see the shape of it.
When they reached the ninth floor, the hallway lights were off.
Dante raised his gun.
“Stay close.”
They approached apartment 917.
The door was already open.
Inside, everything was perfectly clean.
Too clean.
Elena entered.
“No dust.”
Dante nodded.
“Someone's been here recently.”
She walked toward the living room.
An old photograph sat on the fireplace.
Claire.
Elena.
And Dante.
Elena had never seen it.
She picked it up.
On the back was a date.
Three months before the accident.
Underneath:
My daughter must never know.
Elena's hands trembled.
“Why would she write that?”
Dante didn't answer.
“Dante?”
He looked toward the hallway.
“Because she didn't want you to know who your father was.”
Elena went completely still.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“Who is he?”
Dante stared at the floor.
“I don't know.”
“That isn't true.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“I know who he is.”
Elena's voice broke.
“Tell me.”
Before he could, footsteps came from the bedroom.
Dante raised his weapon.
The door opened.
Julian stepped out.
Elena stared.
He was bruised.
His shirt was torn.
Blood ran down one side of his face.
“What happened?”
“Your friends happened.”
“My friends?”
Julian laughed weakly.
“That's the problem.”
Dante aimed at him.
“Hands where I can see them.”
Julian complied.
“I came here to warn her.”
“You followed us?”
“I found this place before you did.”
“Why?”
“Because my father used it.”
Elena stepped closer.
“Your father knew my mother.”
“He knew more than that.”
Julian looked at her.
“My father was obsessed with Claire.”
“Why?”
“Because she had something he wanted.”
“The archive.”
Julian nodded.
“And your mother refused to give it to him.”
Elena whispered,
“So he killed her.”
Julian looked away.
“I don't know.”
Dante's voice turned cold.
“You know.”
Julian swallowed.
“I was eighteen.”
“What happened?”
“My father told me Claire died because she betrayed him.”
Elena stared.
“He said she stole twelve million dollars and disappeared.”
“Then why did you steal her designs?”
Julian looked at Elena.
“I didn't.”
“What?”
“My father did.”
Dante's expression changed.
“He used your work to hide the money.”
Elena remembered.
Three years ago.
Her designs.
Julian had presented them as his own.
Maybe he wasn't simply stealing credit.
Maybe he was using her architecture as a financial cover.
Julian continued.
“Your mother built Haven Point as a vault.”
“A vault?”
“The foundation has a hidden chamber.”
Elena's blood went cold.
“No.”
“I saw it once.”
Dante looked at her.
“This is what they wanted.”
Elena suddenly remembered something from the original plans.
A void beneath the central plaza.
An unexplained cavity marked as obsolete.
She had assumed it was a drafting error.
“It was never an error.”
Julian nodded.
“It's where your mother hid the archive.”
Dante's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He listened.
Then said:
“Don't touch anything.”
He hung up.
“What happened?”
“The construction site.”
“What about it?”
“Someone broke into Haven Point.”
Elena stood.
“Why?”
Dante looked at her.
“Because the second key isn't with the archive.”
“Then where is it?”
He answered quietly.
“With you.”
Elena searched her purse.
Nothing.
She turned her pockets inside out.
Then felt something cold against her skin.
Inside the lining of her wedding dress handbag was a tiny metal object.
She pulled it out.
A key.
Engraved with two letters.
C.H.
Claire Hart.
Elena stared.
Then the apartment lights went out.
May you like
Someone whispered from the hallway.
“Thank you for bringing the key.”
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