The words remained on the screen.THE COVENANT’S FIRST ASHFORD.Ethan stared at them.For the first time since entering the West Estate, he felt something more dangerous than fear.Recognition.Not because he knew the name.Because he understood what it meant.Someone had been waiting for this moment.Someone had known that Ethan would eventually destroy the Legacy Vault.Someone had known that the Ashford family would be vulnerable afterward.Adrian stood beside him, his eyes fixed on the screen.“First Ashford,” he said quietly.“What does that mean?”Nobody answered.Samuel was staring at the display.His face had lost its color.Ethan noticed.He turned toward him.“You know something.”Samuel didn’t respond.“Samuel.”The older man finally looked at him.“I know the history.”“Then tell me.”Samuel glanced at Adrian.Then back at Ethan.“There are parts of the Ashford family history that Richard deliberately erased.”Ethan’s expression hardened.“How many times are we going to he

The rain began before midnight.By the time Ethan, Adrian, and Lucas reached the old house, the streets were almost empty.Water streamed across the windshield as they passed beneath rows of ancient trees. The road was narrow, poorly lit, and almost completely abandoned.At the end of it stood a two-story house surrounded by a rusted iron fence.Lucas stared through the windshield.For several seconds, he said nothing.Ethan noticed.“You’re sure this is the place?”Lucas nodded slowly.“My mother lived here for almost twenty years.”Adrian looked toward the dark windows.“And she never told anyone about the room?”Lucas shook his head.“She told me once.”“When?”“When I was seventeen.”He looked at the house again.“She made me promise never to enter the library after midnight.”Ethan frowned.“Why midnight?”“I don’t know.”“And you never asked?”Lucas gave a faint, bitter smile.“You have to understand my mother.”“She believed some questions were dangerous.”Ethan looked toward t

The mansion became silent again.Too silent.Ethan stood in the corridor, staring at the closed door behind them.Adrian remained beside him.Lucas was still looking at the wall of names.Hundreds of names.Some crossed out.Some marked with dates.Others carrying strange statuses Ethan still didn’t understand.Then Gabriel broke the silence.“We need to leave.”Ethan turned.“Why?”Gabriel pointed toward the ceiling.“The security system just came back online.”Adrian’s expression hardened.“How long?”“Less than a minute.”“Can you tell who’s controlling it?”Gabriel shook his head.“Not yet.”Ethan looked back at the hidden room.Someone had restored power to the property.Someone had been watching.And someone knew they had found Richard’s final secrets.“We’re not leaving yet,” Ethan said.Adrian looked at him.“You’re serious?”“Yes.”Ethan pointed toward the wall.“There’s something here we haven’t understood.”Lucas stepped closer.“The statuses.”Ethan nodded.“Exactly.”He p

The screen went black.For several seconds, nobody moved.The room beneath the abandoned Ashford Foundation was silent except for the rain striking the broken windows above them.Ethan stared at the monitor.The last words remained in his mind.If Ethan disappears, the succession fails.And then Charles’s voice.Then he must disappear.Ethan slowly lowered the memory card.Adrian was the first to speak.“That recording was real.”Ethan nodded.Lucas stared at the screen.“They planned it.”“Yes.”“Before you disappeared.”“Yes.”Lucas looked at Ethan.“How old were you?”Ethan swallowed.“Five.”The word hung in the room.Five years old.A child.Not an heir.Not a businessman.Not a threat.At least, that’s what Ethan had believed.Adrian stepped closer.“Why would Richard allow that to happen?”Ethan didn’t answer.Because that was the question that hurt the most.His father had spent years building secret systems to protect the family.He had created the Legacy Vault.He had divide

Margaret’s breathing remained shallow.Ethan knelt beside her, pressing a folded cloth against the wound while Adrian stood near the broken window, his weapon raised toward the darkness outside.Lucas was already calling for the medical team.“Stay with me,” Ethan said.Margaret’s eyes opened slightly.“The room…”Ethan leaned closer.“What room?”“The library.”“We already searched it.”Margaret shook her head weakly.“Not the books.”Ethan frowned.“Then what?”Her fingers tightened around his sleeve.“The wall.”Then her eyes closed again.Ethan stood.Adrian looked at him.“She knows something.”“She does.”Lucas returned from the hallway.“The medical team is coming.”Ethan looked toward the library.“Then we have a few minutes.”The library was exactly as they had left it.Old shelves.Dust.Richard’s portrait.The desk.The hidden door.Ethan stood in the middle of the room, studying the walls.Margaret had said:Not the books.The wall.Adrian moved along the shelves.“Nothing