Chapter 6 - Dante reacted instantly.He pushed Elena down.
A bullet shattered the mirror above them.
Julian dove behind the sofa.
Another shot.
The apartment became a storm of glass and gunfire.
Dante fired toward the doorway.
Someone screamed.
Then silence.
“Stay down!”
Elena crawled behind the dining table.
Julian grabbed her arm.
“This way.”
“Let go.”
“You'll die.”
Dante appeared.
“Julian, move.”
They escaped through the kitchen.
A service staircase led them down.
Dante stayed behind, covering them.
When they reached the lobby, alarms were screaming.
Security guards ran toward the elevators.
A man in a gray coat lay unconscious near the entrance.
Dante checked his pulse.
“Alive.”
Elena stared at the man.
She recognized him.
He was one of Julian's corporate lawyers.
“What was he doing here?”
Julian looked sick.
“He's not my lawyer anymore.”
“Why?”
“Because he works for them.”
“Who?”
Julian didn't answer.
They escaped through an underground parking entrance and drove toward Haven Point.
The construction site was supposed to be locked.
Instead, the gates stood open.
Floodlights illuminated dozens of unfinished towers.
Rain began falling.
Elena stepped out of the car.
The place felt wrong.
Too quiet.
She looked at the central plaza.
“My mother's vault is down there.”
Dante nodded.
“How do we open it?”
“The key.”
They found the access point beneath a concrete staircase.
Elena inserted the key.
Nothing.
She turned it.
A mechanism clicked.
The floor moved.
A hidden staircase descended into darkness.
Cold air rose from below.
Julian whispered,
“It's real.”
They descended.
At the bottom stood a steel door.
A biometric scanner waited beside it.
Elena looked at Dante.
“What now?”
The screen activated.
VOICE IDENTIFICATION REQUIRED.
Then a recording played.
Claire's voice.
“Elena, if you're hearing this, I failed to keep you away.”
Elena froze.
Her mother's voice.
After eleven years.
“If Dante is with you, listen to him.”
Dante closed his eyes.
Claire continued.
“Don't trust Julian.”
Julian stepped back.
“Of course.”
Elena looked at him.
The recording went on.
“But don't trust Dante either.”
Elena turned.
Dante said nothing.
Claire's voice softened.
“Your husband knows more than anyone.”
The door unlocked.
Inside was a small room.
One table.
One chair.
One sealed box.
No archive.
No documents.
Just a photograph.
Elena picked it up.
She nearly dropped it.
The photograph showed Claire standing beside another woman.
The woman was younger.
Elena recognized her immediately.
Her mother.
But beside Claire was a woman who looked almost identical to Elena.
Same eyes.
Same mouth.
Same birthmark near her left cheek.
Elena whispered,
“Who is that?”
Dante stared at the photograph.
“Your sister.”
Silence.
Elena laughed.
A broken, disbelieving sound.
“I don't have a sister.”
Dante said nothing.
Julian looked at him.
“You knew.”
Dante nodded.
Elena turned slowly.
“What did you know?”
“Claire had another child.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“Dead?”
“No.”
“Then where?”
Dante's expression tightened.
“She disappeared eleven years ago.”
Elena stared.
The truth felt too large to fit inside her mind.
Her phone vibrated.
Another unknown message.
A photograph appeared.
It showed the woman from the old picture.
Alive.
Standing outside a hospital.
Taken that morning.
Underneath:
YOUR SISTER IS CLOSER THAN YOU THINK.
Then another message.
SHE'S BEEN WATCHING YOU FOR YEARS.
Elena looked around the vault.
“No.”
A soft click came from behind them.
The steel door locked.
May you like
And Claire's voice played one final sentence from the ceiling speakers.
“Never let her meet Dante.”
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