Chapter 7 - The hidden vault
The confirmation of Richard Thorne's direct involvement in his mother's murder eradicated any remaining restraint in Alexander Sterling. His piercing gray eyes darkened to the color of a thunderhead. He was no longer a CEO plotting a corporate defense; he was a son demanding blood for blood. But Alexander was brilliant. He knew that killing Richard Thorne outright would ignite a corporate war that would leave Sofia vulnerable to the remaining conspirators on his board. He needed undeniable, catastrophic proof to dismantle Thorne's empire legally and financially, leaving the man with nothing before the final execution.
Alexander paced the massive bedroom, his powerful athletic physique tense with contained fury. My mother was paranoid in the months leading up to her death. She was developing a revolutionary data-encryption patent that was worth billions. Thorne wanted it, but she refused to sell. After the fire, Thorne’s company miraculously launched a similar technology, claiming they developed it independently.
If she was paranoid, she wouldn't have left the original patent unprotected, Sofia reasoned, her timid nature entirely replaced by a sharp, surviving intellect. She hid the locket in the necklace. Where would she hide the documents?
Alexander stopped pacing. His mother used to read him a specific bedtime story about a king who hid his treasure behind the eyes of an owl. He looked up at Sofia. The old wing. The library that survived the fire.
Leaving Marcus to guard the door, Alexander led Sofia through the sprawling estate to the original, restored wing of the mansion. The grand library was a cavernous room of dark oak and towering bookshelves, smelling of old paper and leather. Above the massive stone fireplace hung a large, ornate portrait of an owl in flight.
Alexander approached the fireplace. He ran his hands along the intricately carved wooden paneling beneath the painting. His fingers found a slight depression in the wood. He pressed it hard. With a soft, mechanical click, the entire panel holding the painting swung outward on hidden hinges, revealing a heavy steel wall safe built directly into the stone chimney.
Alexander exhaled a sharp breath. He punched in his mother's birthdate on the digital keypad.
Error.
He tried his own birthdate. The date of his parents' anniversary. Error. Error.
A lockout warning flashed on the small screen. One more failed attempt, and the safe would permanently seal itself.
Alexander stepped back, running a frustrated hand through his thick dark hair. I don't know the code. If we force it, the internal incendiary charge will destroy whatever is inside.
Sofia walked slowly toward the safe. She stared at the keypad, a strange, overwhelming sense of déjà vu washing over her. She closed her enormous hazel eyes, letting the fragmented memories of her earliest childhood surface. She remembered her mother holding her, whispering a specific string of numbers over and over, turning it into a lullaby so the toddler would never forget.
Sofia raised her trembling hand. She typed six numbers into the keypad. 1-4-0-9-9-8.
The keypad beeped a pleasant green. The heavy steel bolts clanked loudly, and the safe door popped open.
Alexander stared at her in sheer awe. How did you know that?
It’s the day you taught me how to walk, Sofia whispered, tears stinging her eyes. She told me to never forget the day my big brother held my hands.
Alexander pulled her into a fierce, protective embrace, kissing the top of her dark hair. He turned to the open safe. Inside lay a thick, fireproof manila envelope and a small, digital voice recorder.
Alexander pressed play on the recorder. His mother’s voice, clear and fraught with terror, filled the quiet library.
If anyone finds this, it means Richard Thorne has killed me, Eleanor Sterling’s voice echoed. He has infiltrated my company. He is planning to steal the encryption patent and kidnap my daughter, Sofia, to use as permanent leverage against the board. But Richard is not acting alone. He could not bypass my security without high-level executive access. He has an accomplice inside my own family. My brother-in-law. Elias Sterling.
The recording ended in a hiss of static.
May you like
Alexander froze, the blood running completely cold in his veins. Elias Sterling. His beloved uncle. The man who had stepped in to help him run the company after his mother's death. The man who sat at his right hand on the board of directors. The man who currently controlled the entire internal security apparatus of the Sterling empire.
Alexander looked at Sofia, a terrifying realization dawning on him. The assassin from the night before didn't belong to the Thorne family. He belonged to Alexander's own uncle. And Elias was currently inside the mansion, standing right outside their door.
