The gates closed behind Magnus.For several seconds, nobody moved.Damian was the first to speak.“What did he mean?”Benedict kept his eyes on the gates.“The same thing he has meant from the beginning.”“That isn't an answer.”“No.”Benedict turned toward him.“It isn't.”Damian stepped closer.“You know more than you're telling me.”Benedict held his gaze.“So do you.”Damian frowned.“What does that mean?”“It means your family has spent twenty-five years protecting something.”Damian glanced toward the manor.“My father.”“Your father. Your mother. Your grandfather.”Benedict paused.“And perhaps none of us have met.”Damian's expression hardened.“You said you came here looking for the truth.”“I did.”“Then stop speaking in riddles.”Benedict looked at him.“I don't trust people who demand the truth before they're willing to accept what it might cost them.”Damian stared at him.“You think I can't handle it?”“I think you don't know what you're asking for.”Before Damian could

Damian remained in the archive long after everyone else had left.The manor had gone quiet.Too quiet.The kind of silence that made every movement sound louder than it should.He stood before the old succession cabinet, staring at the empty space where the original Ashcroft records had once been kept.For years, he had believed his family history was complicated.Now he understood something worse.It had been edited.Names had been removed.Documents had been replaced.Dates had been altered.And someone had spent decades making sure nobody asked why.Damian opened the folder he had taken from the cabinet.The first pages contained ordinary corporate succession records.The later pages were different.Older.Handwritten.Several paragraphs had been blacked out.He turned another page.Then stopped.A single sentence remained visible beneath the ink.The original order will stay secret until the family line comes back.Damian read it twice.Bloodline.Not shareholder.Not beneficiary.

The old law office was torn down a long time ago, twelve years to be exact.That's what the official records showed, anyway.Damian stood behind the wheel of the car, staring at the empty lot ahead.Nothing remained of the building.All that's left is a broken pavement, some weeds, and an old rusty barrier that was once used for construction.“This is it?”Mercer nodded from the passenger seat.“What's left of it.”Benedict sat in the back, studying the property.Damian looked at him through the mirror.You mentioned that there's some kind of archive hidden beneath this building, right?“I didn't say it.”“Mercer did.”Benedict looked toward the old lot.“Then Mercer knows where we're going.”Mercer sighed.There's a way under the east side of the building.Damian looked around.“There isn't a foundation.”“There is.”“Where?”Mercer gestured to a spot on the pavement, over by the far wall.“That was once the basement entrance.”Damian parked.The three men stepped out.The air was st

Damian stared at the photograph.He couldn't look away.Evelyn Vandross was holding a child.The child's face was turned from the camera.There was something about the picture that didn't sit right with Damian, it made him feel uneasy.Not the child.The date.He turned the photograph over again.The handwriting remained clear.HE WAS NEVER THE ONE THEY BURIED.Damian looked at Victor.“What does that mean?”Victor didn't answer.Benedict stood completely still.His eyes were fixed on Evelyn.“That's my mother.”Victor nodded.“You remember her?”“Not clearly.”Benedict's voice was quiet.“But I remember her voice.”Damian looked at the photograph.“Then who is the child?”Silence.Victor looked toward the vault entrance.“We shouldn't be standing here.”Damian turned sharply.“You knew this photograph existed.”Victor's expression tightened.“I knew there were photographs.”“Of Evelyn?”“Yes.”“Of this child?”Victor hesitated.“Yes.”Damian's eyes narrowed.You've known about the ki

The name stuck with Benedict even after they had moved away from the river.Margaret Vale.As they headed back to Aurelia, he quietly repeated it to himself, lost in thought, while Damian took the wheel.The woman in the photograph had disappeared twenty-five years ago.The kid who was missing had vanished at the same time too.Someone had just warned another person that it was time to move Adrian to a different place.Benedict stared through the window.“They're going to move him.”Damian kept his eyes on the road.“Yes.”“We don't have much time.”“We don't even know where he is.”“We know someone was protecting him.”“Margaret.”Benedict nodded.“If we find her, we find the trail.”Damian glanced at him.“And if she refuses to talk?”Benedict looked down at the photograph.“Then we'll have to find another way.”Eleanor was sitting in the back seat, watching the two men, but they didn't even notice her.She hadn't said a word since they walked away from the river.Too silent.Damian