Chapter 10 - The Vault Beneath the MansionThe key opened a concealed door beneath the library.
Behind it was a staircase.
We descended.
At the bottom was a steel vault.
The walls were covered with old Bellamy documents.
Inside were photographs of my father.
My mother.
Nathaniel.
Adrian.
And Gavin.
The center of the room held a black metal case.
I opened it.
Inside was one document.
No.
Not a document.
A will.
Thomas Bellamy's final will.
I read it.
My father had left me everything.
The company.
The patents.
The trust.
The Atlas architecture.
And one warning.
Do not let Gavin Rourke control the children.
My hands shook.
There was another page.
Written by hand.
Cassandra, if you're reading this, it means Gavin betrayed you.
I sat down.
My father's words continued.
I knew he would.
Then came the sentence that broke something inside me.
Your mother is alive.
I stopped breathing.
My mother.
Dead for twenty years.
Alive.
The room spun.
Nathaniel grabbed my shoulder.
“Cassandra.”
I kept reading.
Eleanor was forced into hiding after Voss discovered what Atlas could become.
She chose to let you believe she was dead.
I am sorry.
I couldn't feel my hands.
“How?”
Adrian looked away.
“Your mother survived.”
“Where is she?”
Nobody answered.
Then the vault door opened.
A woman stood outside.
Older.
White-haired.
Trembling.
But the eyes were unmistakable.
My mother's eyes.
I couldn't move.
She whispered my childhood nickname.
“Cassie.”
My knees gave out.
Twenty years of grief collapsed inside one breath.
“You're alive.”
She nodded.
“I've been waiting for you.”
I wanted to hate her.
I wanted to scream.
Instead, I asked,
“Why did you leave me?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Because Gavin was already watching you.”
Gavin.
Always Gavin.
She explained everything.
My father didn't die naturally.
He had been poisoned.
Slowly.
By someone inside his own organization.
The investigation had been buried.
Judge Beckett had tried to prosecute.
Voss had interfered.
Gavin had cooperated.
In exchange, Gavin gained access to Atlas.
My mother escaped.
Nathaniel went underground.
And I was left behind.
Because I looked harmless.
The perfect disguise.
I was the daughter nobody watched.
My mother touched my face.
“I am sorry.”
I finally cried.
Not because she was alive.
Because I had spent half my life believing I wasn't worth coming back for.
Then Sloane's phone rang.
She answered.
Her expression changed.
“Where?”
She hung up.
“Gavin knows about the vault.”
“How?”
She looked at me.
“Someone told him.”
The lights went out.
Then we heard footsteps above us.
Security alarms screamed.
Nathaniel drew a weapon.
My mother grabbed my arm.
“There's another exit.”
We ran through a hidden passage.
Above us, men were entering the mansion.
Gavin's voice echoed through the halls.
“Cassandra!”
I stopped.
He shouted again.
“You think your father's secrets can save you?”
I kept moving.
Then he said the words that froze me.
“Ask your mother what happened to your first child.”
I turned.
“My first child?”
My mother stopped walking.
Her face had gone completely white.
I stared at her.
“What is he talking about?”
May you like
She whispered,
“Gavin knows.”
