Chapter 7 - The Man Without a FaceThe Enemy Was Closer Than Alexander ThoughtThe forty-seventh floor had been sealed for twenty years.
Alexander entered using the master key recovered from the hidden chamber.
The corridor was empty.
No offices.
No windows.
Only unfinished concrete walls.
Elena followed despite his orders.
Sofie held her hand.
Alexander didn't argue.
Not anymore.
He had learned that Sofie noticed things adults didn't.
At the end of the corridor stood a steel door.
There was no handle.
Only the three-circle symbol.
Alexander touched it.
Nothing.
Sofie stepped forward.
“Say his name.”
Alexander looked down.
“Whose?”
“Grandpa.”
Alexander hesitated.
Then said:
“William Carter.”
The door unlocked.
Elena gasped.
The room beyond was enormous.
Shelves filled with boxes.
Hard drives.
Paper files.
Photographs.
Recordings.
Everything William Carter had collected during his final decade alive.
Alexander began searching.
Elena found a box labeled ORCHID.
She opened it.
Inside were bank records.
And one handwritten note.
She read it silently.
Then sat down.
“What?”
She handed it to Alexander.
Richard is not the architect.
Alexander looked at her.
“Then who is?”
Below that sentence was another.
He answers to the man who owns no name.
Alexander remembered Richard's words.
The man without a face.
He searched the records.
Corporate structures.
Shell companies.
Political donations.
Private security firms.
One holding company appeared repeatedly.
VANTAGE MERIDIAN.
Alexander knew it.
It owned 18 percent of Carter Holdings.
Its chairman was a reclusive billionaire named Elias Kane.
Alexander had met him once.
Seven years earlier.
At a charity gala.
Elias Kane had worn a red watch.
Alexander's blood turned cold.
“Elena.”
She looked up.
“Do you recognize this name?”
She read it.
Her face collapsed.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He was at the hospital.”
“What hospital?”
“When I had Sofie.”
Alexander stared.
“You saw him?”
“I saw him through the glass.”
“Why didn't you tell anyone?”
“Because William told me not to.”
Alexander felt anger rising.
“My father kept you silent for twenty-three years.”
“He was trying to keep us alive.”
Sofie walked toward a shelf.
She reached for a red folder.
Alexander stopped.
“Let me.”
She pulled back.
“No. This one.”
She opened it herself.
Inside was a hospital photograph.
William Carter.
Elena.
A newborn Sofie.
And a fourth person.
The face had been blacked out.
But the wrist was visible.
Red watch.
Alexander stared.
Then he found another photograph.
Same hospital.
Another angle.
The man was carrying a document.
The corner showed a name.
ELIAS KANE.
Alexander whispered:
“He was there.”
Elena nodded.
“He wanted her.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
A sound came from the corridor.
Footsteps.
Alexander grabbed Elena.
“Hide.”
They moved behind shelves.
The door opened.
A man entered.
Not Richard.
Not Martin.
He was tall.
Gray-haired.
Elegant.
Wearing a dark suit.
On his wrist was a red watch.
Elias Kane.
He looked around the room.
“Alexander.”
Alexander stepped out.
Elias smiled.
“I was hoping you would find this.”
Alexander aimed a gun at him.
“You ordered the attack on Elena.”
Elias shook his head.
“No.”
“Richard works for you.”
“Yes.”
“You killed my father.”
“No.”
“Then what do you want?”
Elias looked at Sofie.
His expression softened.
“The child.”
Elena moved in front of her.
“You are not taking her.”
Elias shook his head.
“I don't intend to.”
He looked at Alexander.
“I intend to tell you who her father is.”
Alexander's finger tightened around the weapon.
“Who?”
Elias smiled.
“Your brother.”
Alexander froze.
“My brother died.”
“Yes.”
“He died before Sofie was born.”
Elias's eyes remained fixed on him.
“That is what your father wanted everyone to believe.”
Elena whispered:
“No.”
Elias took a photograph from his pocket.
He placed it on the floor.
Alexander looked down.
The photograph showed a young man.
Alexander knew him.
His younger brother, Daniel Carter.
Standing beside Elena.
Holding her hand.
And smiling at the camera.
Daniel had died eleven months before Sofie's birth.
Alexander looked at Elena.
She was crying.
“You knew?”
She nodded.
“I loved him.”
Alexander's world tilted.
Elias stepped backward.
“There is your real secret, Alexander.”
He pointed toward Sofie.
“She isn't the housekeeper's child.”
A pause.
“She is a Carter.”
Then the fire alarm started.
May you like
The archive door locked.
And flames appeared beneath the shelves.
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