Chapter 7 - The Locked RoomAdrian stood outside the study door.
He wasn't alone.
Three men accompanied him.
My father's security team intercepted them before they reached the inner corridor.
I expected Adrian to shout.
He didn't.
That frightened me more.
He looked through the glass panel and stared at me.
“You need to come with me.”
I almost laughed.
“After last night?”
“I didn't come here to hurt you.”
“Then why did you come?”
“To warn you.”
My father stepped forward.
“You have five seconds to leave my property.”
Adrian ignored him.
“Vanessa lied to both of us.”
My father narrowed his eyes.
“She admitted enough.”
Adrian looked at me.
“She has the archive.”
“I know.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“You don't know what's in it.”
“Then explain.”
“The original documents prove your mother was investigating a transfer of ownership involving the Mercer family.”
“So?”
“So the deal involved someone from Ellison Holdings.”
My father went still.
Adrian noticed.
“Now you understand.”
I looked between them.
“What deal?”
Neither answered.
Adrian reached into his coat and removed a folded document.
“My grandfather signed this.”
He slid it beneath the door.
I picked it up.
An old agreement.
Three names.
Richard Mercer.
Marcus Ellison.
Jonathan Vale.
And a fourth name.
A woman.
My mother's name.
I looked at my father.
“Why is Mom listed as a principal party?”
He didn't answer.
Adrian spoke.
“Because she owned the patent.”
“What patent?”
“The one Mercer Dynamics was built on.”
The room went silent.
I reread the document.
My mother had owned forty percent of the original technology.
My father owned thirty percent.
Jonathan Vale owned twenty.
Richard Mercer owned ten.
Yet somehow, years later, Mercer Dynamics controlled one hundred percent.
“How?”
Adrian said:
“My grandfather forged the transfer.”
My father finally spoke.
“And your father covered it up.”
Adrian looked shocked.
“No.”
My father continued.
“When Richard stole the patent, I confronted him.”
“Then why didn't you expose him?”
“Because your mother was pregnant.”
I stared.
“With me?”
“Yes.”
My father swallowed.
“Richard threatened to destroy our family.”
Adrian looked down.
“And now?”
My father stared at him.
“Now his grandson has inherited the consequences.”
Adrian shook his head.
“I didn't know.”
“No,” I said.
“You didn't know anything.”
His eyes met mine.
“I know.”
For one strange moment, there was no hatred between us.
Only exhaustion.
Then the lights flickered again.
A security officer rushed in.
“Sir, there's a second breach.”
My father turned.
“Where?”
“The underground archive.”
I remembered the brass key.
Vault 17.
My mother.
The hidden evidence.
I grabbed my coat.
“I’m going.”
My father shook his head.
“No.”
“It's my mother's evidence.”
“Which is exactly why you shouldn't go.”
I looked at him.
“You told me I was the only person they couldn't control.”
His expression softened.
“I know what I said.”
“Then let me do this.”
Twenty minutes later, we stood in front of an old steel door beneath the research center.
I inserted the key.
The lock clicked.
The door opened.
Inside were rows of archival boxes.
Photographs.
Lab records.
Contracts.
Old tapes.
And one enormous wall covered with names.
At the center was mine.
Claire Ellison.
Underneath it, someone had written:
FINAL HEIR.
I took one step forward.
A projector suddenly activated.
My mother's face appeared on the wall.
She was younger than I remembered.
Alive.
Looking directly into the camera.
“My dearest Claire.”
I stopped breathing.
She continued.
“If you're watching this, your father has finally told you enough to make you dangerous.”
My eyes filled with tears.
My mother smiled faintly.
“There is something he still doesn't know.”
My father stiffened.
“What?”
On the recording, my mother leaned closer.
“The man who betrayed us is not Richard Mercer.”
The image flickered.
My mother's voice dropped.
“It's someone who sits on the Ellison board today.”
The recording ended.
May you like
Then the lights went out.
And someone locked the archive door from the outside.
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