The room had been silent for several minutes.The strange metal key sat on the table between Elias and Elara, its dark surface reflecting the faint light above them. The initials C.R. were still visible on the back, just as Elara had shown him earlier.Elias picked it up again and examined it carefully.“Your grandfather didn’t leave this behind by accident,” he said.Elara crossed her arms. “I know.”“The question is what he wanted it to open.”They had searched the key repeatedly since Elara revealed it, but there had been no obvious lock anywhere in the room. Elias had almost concluded that the key belonged somewhere else when he noticed something beneath the table.A tiny metal plate was concealed underneath the wooden frame.He crouched and ran his fingers over it.“This wasn’t here by accident.”Elara immediately moved closer.Elias pressed the plate.A faint click came from beneath the floor.Both of them looked down.One of the stone tiles shifted slightly.Elara stared at him

The old man stood at the end of the corridor, watching Elias with an expression that was difficult to read.He looked nothing like the powerful figures Elias had encountered since leaving Blackstone. His clothes were simple, his white hair was slightly disheveled, and his body carried the unmistakable signs of age. Yet there was something about the way he stood that immediately caught Elias’s attention.The man wasn’t afraid of him.Most people who knew who Elias Crowe was either feared him, respected him, or tried desperately to hide their intentions.This man did none of those things.He simply looked at Elias as though he had been expecting him.“You knew I would come,” Elias said.The old man nodded.“I knew someone would eventually find this place. I wasn’t certain it would be you.”Elara stepped forward.“Who are you?”The man looked at her before answering.“My name is Gideon Rook.”Elias’s eyes narrowed.The name meant nothing to him.Gideon noticed.“It wouldn’t. Most records

The underground room had fallen silent again.The three men who had attacked them were unconscious, scattered across the floor. Elias stood over them for a moment before turning back to Gideon.“You’re still hiding something.”Gideon didn’t deny it.“There are many things I haven’t told you.”Elias reached for the old photograph.“Then start with him.”He held it up.The photograph showed Zucker, Richard, and Marcus. But the fourth man was only partially visible at the edge, his face deliberately removed.“Who was he?”Gideon stared at the photograph for several seconds.Then he sighed.“Alexander Roth.”Elias’s expression changed instantly.“Roth?”Gideon nodded.“Yes.”Elara looked between them.“The chairman of Aurelius?”“The same man.”Elias lowered the photograph slowly.He had already seen Roth in another old photograph.That picture had shown Richard Crowe, Jonathan Voss, Zucker, and Alexander Roth together. At the time, Elias had assumed Roth’s connection to his father was an

The screen remained black.For several seconds, neither Elias nor Zia spoke.The warning was still fresh in their minds.STOP DIGGING.Elias stared at the dead monitor.“Can they erase the recovered file remotely?”Zia shook her head.“Not from this system.”“Then how did they get into it?”“I don’t know.”She immediately began checking the server.Elias walked toward the window, his mind returning to the same conclusion.Someone had been watching them.Not just watching Azure.Watching him.After several minutes, Zia called out.“Elias.”He turned.“I found something.”She had managed to recover a fragment of one of the missing pages. Most of the file was corrupted, but a small section remained intact.A name appeared on the screen.ALDEN R. HAWTHORNEElias walked over.“We already know Hawthorne.”“Look beside his name.”Elias did.Beneath Hawthorne’s name was another designation.PROJECT CUSTODIAN.Elias’s expression hardened.“What is that?”“I don’t know.”“Find out.”Zia opened

The message came just after midnight.Elias was standing alone in the Azure intelligence room when his phone vibrated.There was only one line.I know you have the photograph. If you want the truth, come alone.No name was attached.Elias didn’t need one.He knew who had sent it.Marcus Vale.For several seconds, he stared at the message.Then he picked up the photograph from the desk and slipped it into his coat.He didn’t tell Zia where he was going.He didn’t tell Elara.If Marcus wanted to speak privately, Elias would give him that opportunity.But he would not give him another opportunity to lie.The meeting place was an abandoned warehouse on the eastern edge of Greyhaven.Elias arrived shortly after one in the morning.The building was dark except for a single light hanging above a wooden table.Marcus was sitting beneath it.He looked older than Elias remembered.His hair had turned almost completely gray, and the years of carrying secrets had left deep lines across his face.