All Chapters of THE HEIR BEHIND THE CREST: Chapter 91
- Chapter 100
119 chapters
Chapter 91: The Man Who Held the Key
The room felt too calm for the kind of truth John expected to face. The man in front of him carried himself with the quiet confidence of someone who had stood beside power long enough to understand how fragile it was. He did not posture. He did not threaten. He existed with an unsettling certainty that made the air feel tighter with every passing second.John studied him carefully. There were traces of age at the temples, a few silver strands threading through dark hair. The eyes, however, were sharp. Observant. Measuring. Nothing about the man felt random.“You knew my father,” John said.The man nodded. “Intimately.”“Then you know why I am here.”“Of course,” the man replied. “Your father expected this moment. He knew you would come eventually. The only question was when.”John kept his tone controlled. “Do not speak in riddles. If you know something, say it.”The man gestured toward the seats arranged at the centre of the hall. “Sit. There is more to explain than you think.”John
Chapter 92: Shadows at the Door
The old training hall shifted from silent to perilous in a heartbeat. The faint creak at the far end of the corridor did not sound like wind or settling wood. It sounded like footsteps. Slow. Calculated. Confident.Roland did not move at first. His eyes remained fixed on the darkened doorway as if he could see beyond it. John felt his spine tighten. This was no accident. This was the kind of arrival that came with intention.Someone knew John was here.Someone wanted him to be found.Roland stepped slightly to the side, positioning himself just enough to keep his body between John and the corridor while still maintaining a clear view of the entrance.“They are early,” Roland murmured.John’s voice remained low. “Who?”Roland’s tone was even. “Not Harold. Someone far more reckless.”A figure appeared at the threshold. Tall. Lean. Wrapped in dark clothing that blended into the unlit corridor behind him. His movements were smooth, deliberate. A faint smirk rested on his lips, the kind wo
Chapter 93: The Secret That Buried a Legacy
The hall seemed to tighten around John as Roland’s words hung in the air. The candles flickered, sending thin shadows sliding across the old Crest emblems carved into the walls. The silence was thick, almost suffocating. John felt the weight of something immense lingering just beyond reach, waiting to be revealed.He took a step closer. “Say it.”Roland did not rush. He folded his hands behind him and walked to the centre of the room with deliberate steps. His expression carried neither fear nor hesitation. What he was about to reveal had lived inside him for years, buried under layers of secrecy and regret.Roland turned to face him. “Your father did not die because Harold wanted the Crest for himself.”John’s heart pounded once, hard. “Then why?”Roland held his gaze with steady clarity. “Your father died because he uncovered something Harold would kill anyone to protect. A truth about the Council. About the founding of the Crest. And about the blood that built it.”John felt the gr
Chapter 94: The Photograph That Should Not Exist
The photograph trembled slightly between John’s fingers, not because of the cold air in the hall but as a result of the shock pounding through his chest. The candlelight flickered across the glossy surface, revealing the same three faces again. Richard Raymond. Harold Hale. And the third man, the man who was never supposed to have lived long enough to stand beside either of them.John had never seen the face before, yet something about it stirred a strange recognition. Sharp eyes. A calculated stare. A presence that radiated effortless command. He looked like someone who belonged in the Crest long before men like Harold corrupted it.Roland watched John quietly, giving him time to process what stood right in front of him.John finally spoke. “Who is he?”Roland folded his hands. “Eamon Crest.”John blinked. “Crest. As in the founder?”Roland shook his head slowly. “No. Not the founder. The founder’s firstborn son. The true heir. The one who should have inherited everything. The man wh
Chapter 95: Returning to the Tower of Secrets
John stepped out of the old hall with the container tucked under his arm, the weight of the photograph pressing against him like a brand seared into his future. Roland followed him quietly, their footsteps echoing across the stone floor. Outside, the cold night wrapped around them, carrying the scent of pine and something older, something untouched by the world beyond the trees.The headlights of John’s car glowed faintly in the darkness. As he approached, a light on the dashboard blinked rapidly. Celine’s voice crackled through the speaker once the door opened.“John. We lost your signal for a full minute. What happened?”John slid into the driver’s seat. “Interference.”Celine did not hide her annoyance. “Interference is not a real answer.”“Then consider it the only one you are getting right now,” John answered.Before Celine could argue further, Morgan’s voice pushed through the line. “If you are not dead, speak so I can stop imagining dramatic funerals.”John smirked slightly. “I
Chapter 96: The Descent Beneath the Council
The Tower’s upper floors were quiet when John and his team stepped back into the private elevator. The doors slid shut with a soft metallic thud, sealing them inside a confined space humming with hidden tension. No one spoke at first. They all understood the weight of the mission ahead.Celine tapped rapidly on her tablet, pulling up maps and encrypted blueprints. “The sealed archive sits directly beneath the Council chamber. Access is restricted by codes that only the old Circle members possessed.”Roland nodded. “Which is why I am here.”Morgan leaned against the wall. “You had better hope those codes still work. Otherwise, this entire plan collapses before it begins.”“They will work,” Roland said quietly. “The Council believed tradition was unbreakable. They never imagined someone would dare enter the archive without their permission.”Rita stepped closer to John, her voice low and firm. “If things look wrong at any point, we fall back. I do not care what secrets are down there. Y
Chapter 97: Blood That Should Not Exist
John did not move. He stood frozen in the centre of the archive as if the earth had stopped turning under his feet. The air around him felt heavier, pressing against his chest, making it difficult to breathe.Lucien Raymond.His father’s brother.A name he had never heard in his life.Morgan slowly stepped backwards, eyes still locked on the glowing text floating in the air. “John… your father had a brother. And Harold hid it.”Rita came closer, voice steady but shaken. “Is it possible the system is wrong? These archives are ancient.”Roland shook his head. “The purge codex predates the Council. It has no allegiance to anyone. It is the only record that has never been altered.”Elias remained silent, observing John with the quiet intensity of a man who sees a storm coming long before anyone else.Celine cautiously scrolled through the holographic interface. “There are more details. The purge record lists survivors, involvement… and roles.” Her eyes widened. “Lucien was not only a surv
Chapter 98: The Archive’s Last Warning
The archives dimmed as Lucien Raymond’s recording dissolved into fading light. For a heartbeat, the entire room stood frozen, as if the air itself refused to move after hearing his voice. John’s pulse hammered. The truth still echoed inside his skull, cold and unyielding. Around him, the others stared at the empty projection, shaken in their own ways.Morgan was the first to regain movement. He stepped forward, eyes darting around the chamber. “We need to go. Now. This place is reacting to what we just unlocked.”The crystalline cores trembled at his words. A low rumble swept through the walls, and the entire archive flickered.Rita tightened her grip on her blade and stepped closer to John. “John, we cannot stay here. Something is happening to the system.”Elias scanned the projections rapidly. “The archive is entering containment mode. It is trying to seal the restricted files again.”Celine’s fingers flew across the holographic interface. “The system is locking down. We triggered a
Chapter 99: The Surface Is No Longer Safe
The lift shuddered violently as it neared the upper floors, rattling with the weight of everything the team had left behind. The hum of the machinery vibrated through the metal walls, punctuated by the steady thump of John’s heartbeat. Rita stood beside him, her expression tightly guarded, but her eyes betrayed the turmoil swirling behind them. Celine steadied herself with a hand against the wall while Elias monitored the scanner pulsing on his wrist screen.Morgan stood closest to the door, shoulders squared, ready for whatever waited above.The lift slowed.It did not stop immediately.It hesitated.A subtle, mechanical pause that made every person in the cramped space stiffen.Elias frowned. “Someone manually intercepted the control sequence.”Celine’s voice dropped. “The Foundation.”Rita moved instinctively closer to John.Morgan raised a hand, whispering, “Be ready.”The lift finally stopped at Level Seventeen, but the doors did not open right away. The silence outside felt thic
Chapter 100: The Agents at the Door
The agents did not hear them coming.That was their first mistake.John moved along the wall with controlled precision, each footstep silent on the polished floor. Morgan flanked the opposite side, expression carved into a cold grin as he sized up the two men blocking their suite door. Elias stayed slightly behind, syncing the team’s movement through short-hand signals, while Celine and Rita positioned themselves where they could react instantly if anything went wrong.The agents stood stiffly at attention, unaware of how close danger had already crept.One of them pressed a finger to his earpiece. “Sector Fourteen clear. No movement. Holding position.”Morgan mouthed, “Wrong.”John reached the midpoint of the corridor and paused. He looked at Elias.Elias nodded once, a small but absolute signal.Move.John surged forward.Morgan mirrored him.The two agents had just enough time to register movement before both were silenced.John hit the first man with a sharp elbow to the throat, c