Chapter 12 - The Locked NurseryThe scream came from upstairs.
Not Noah.
Adam.
Stallone ran.
The basement doors unlocked just before the gas system activated.
He and Julian raced through the corridor.
Gideon followed.
Marcus stayed behind to destroy the control panel.
Stallone reached the nursery.
The door was locked.
Adam screamed from inside.
“Dad!”
Stallone kicked the door.
It didn't move.
“Adam!”
“I'm here!”
Gideon pulled a tool from his belt.
“Stand back.”
Three seconds.
The lock broke.
They burst inside.
Adam was tied to a chair.
A small screen stood in front of him.
Daniel's face appeared.
“You came.”
Stallone untied the boy.
Daniel smiled.
“You still think this is about money.”
“What is it about?”
“Your father.”
Stallone turned toward the screen.
“What did he do?”
“He built the trust fund.”
“So?”
“He stole from it.”
Stallone froze.
Daniel continued.
“Years ago, your father took money from the family and hid it through shell companies.”
His father shouted from the hallway.
“That's a lie!”
Daniel laughed.
“Of course he says that.”
A file opened on the screen.
Bank statements.
Transfers.
Signatures.
Everything pointed to Stallone's father.
But one document showed something more disturbing.
The final authorization carried Stallone's name.
Dated six months before his wife died.
Stallone stared.
“I never signed this.”
Daniel smiled.
“Exactly.”
“Someone forged it.”
“Who?”
Stallone looked at the family members surrounding him.
Helen.
Julian.
Gideon.
Marcus.
Richard.
Daniel.
Every piece of his life seemed poisoned.
Then Noah walked into the room.
“Daddy.”
Stallone turned.
“I remember.”
The entire room fell silent.
“What?”
“The song.”
“What song?”
“Mama used to sing it.”
Noah began whispering the nursery rhyme.
It sounded ordinary.
A counting song.
One little star.
Two little stars.
Three through the window.
Four at the door.
Five where the money sleeps.
Stallone stared.
Marcus suddenly inhaled.
“That's it.”
“What?”
“The code.”
Noah had been carrying the access phrase for years.
Daniel smiled.
“Yes.”
He pressed a button.
The screen displayed:
ACCESS PHRASE REQUIRED.
Stallone moved closer.
Noah continued.
Five where the money sleeps.
Then six.
Seven.
Eight.
The system accepted the sequence.
A hidden account opened.
The balance appeared.
Hundreds of millions.
But beneath it was something else.
A transaction log.
One account had been draining the trust for fourteen years.
The recipient name appeared.
STALONE FOUNDATION BENEFICIARY.
Stallone frowned.
“That isn't a person.”
Marcus shook his head.
“It is.”
“No.”
“The beneficiary designation was changed years ago.”
“To whom?”
Marcus zoomed in.
The account holder appeared.
ELEANOR STALLONE.
Helen's full legal name.
Everyone turned toward her.
Helen went pale.
“I didn't do that.”
The account showed monthly transfers.
But the receiving bank records were signed with a digital certificate.
Helen's.
Then another document opened.
A contract.
The beneficiary was supposed to inherit everything upon Stallone's death.
Helen whispered:
“I never signed this.”
Daniel's smile widened.
“Now you're getting closer.”
Stallone stared.
“So Daniel used my mother's identity.”
Daniel nodded.
“But he needed access.”
“Who gave it to him?”
Silence.
Then Gideon slowly looked at Richard.
Richard's face changed.
“Don't.”
Gideon said:
“You gave him the access keys.”
Richard pulled a gun.
Everything happened at once.
He fired.
Gideon fell.
Stallone shielded Noah.
Marcus tackled Richard.
The gun skidded across the floor.
Richard escaped through the nursery door.
Stallone ran after him.
But the hallway was empty.
Only one thing remained.
A red tie.
Pinned to the wall.
May you like
And beneath it, written in blood:
YOU'RE STILL LOOKING AT THE WRONG PERSON.
