2025-07-26 17:07:56The SUV roared down the midnight highway, the city lights of Ravenport a blur outside the windows. Inside, silence hummed between Jeffrey and Camilla, broken only by the faint beeping of her vitals on Victor’s portable medscanner.
“She’ll live,” Victor said, stowing the device. “Bullet grazed her side. Missed anything vital. She’s lucky.”
Camilla winced as she leaned against the seat. “Don’t feel lucky.”
“You’re breathing,” Jeffrey said without looking at her. “That’s lucky enough.”
He held the safe on his lap like it was a bomb which, in a way, it was. A bomb packed with names, crimes, bribes, and betrayals. The kind that didn’t just end lives it ended legacies.
Camilla turned her head toward him. “When we open that, there’s no turning back.”
“We already passed that point,” he said.
Victor nodded. “So where are we going?”
Jeffrey’s eyes darkened. “Someplace no one would ever think I’d go.”
The gates groaned as Victor forced them open. Wind whistled through the iron bars, carrying the scent of damp earth and old secrets. Moonlight bathed the headstones in silver, but the crypt at the far end sat in cold shadow.
Jeffrey stepped out first, safe in hand, coat whipping in the wind. Camilla followed, limping slightly. Victor brought up the rear with a duffel bag of weapons and tools. “You sure this place is secure?” Camilla asked.
“No one’s used it in years,” Jeffrey said. “Not since my grandfather was buried. My father refused to come back after that. Said the dead should be left to rot in peace.”
Victor smirked. “Well, tonight, the dead are going to help us bring the living to justice.”
Inside, the crypt smelled of stone and secrets. Dust blanketed the floor. Marble plaques lined the walls. Jeffrey found the old maintenance room in the back, once used by groundskeepers, now converted into a makeshift bunker.
He set the safe on the steel table. Camilla lit a lantern. Victor locked the iron door, They were in, Now came the hard part.
Jeffrey stared at the safe’s keypad. “This model uses a 12-digit override code. It’s military grade.”
Victor stepped forward. “Then we brute-force it. I’ve got software that can try combinations.”
“No,” Jeffrey said. “I think I know the code.”
Camilla blinked. “You do?”
He exhaled slowly. “My father had a habit, he used the same code for things he wanted me to find someday. Birthday patterns. Hidden in chess scores. It was his way of testing me.”
Jeffrey typed slowly: 0406-1993-1210-195-9
Camilla tilted her head. “Your birthday and his?”
Jeffrey didn’t answer, The safe beeped.
Clicked, Unlocked. They all froze.
Victor pulled the lid open carefully, and inside, a single black ledger rested beneath a velvet cloth. No USBs. No backup drives. Just paper, Camilla stepped forward. “That’s it?”
Jeffrey opened the book, His breath caught. It was everything.
Names of politicians, CEOs, Foreign bank accounts, Illegal property acquisitions, Murder-for-hire contracts. A network stretching across continents, and at the center of it all, Henry Vance.
Camilla swallowed. “He owns half of Parliament. And half of Ravenport’s judiciary. This… this is treason.”
Jeffrey flipped another page, His own name stared back at him. Marked: “Liability. Watchlist. Neutralize if exposed.”
Camilla’s voice dropped. “They planned to kill you. Even before your exile.”
Jeffrey closed the ledger, hands trembling, Victor paced. “We leak this, we start a war.”
“Good,” Jeffrey said. “Let them come.”
Camilla hesitated. “There’s something else. The reason I was sent for the ledger, it wasn’t just about destroying it. They think there’s something else hidden with it. Something your father buried. A secondary document.”
Jeffrey frowned. “There was nothing else in the safe.”
But Victor was already scanning the walls. “Wait… here.”
He pressed his hand against the far wall of the crypt, where a faint groove circled a stone panel. He dug out a knife, pried at the edge and with a groan, the panel slid loose, revealing a hidden compartment.
Inside: a sealed envelope, yellowed with time. On it, written in his father’s handwriting: “To my firstborn son. When you’re ready to know the truth.”
Jeffrey stared at it, fingers trembling, Camilla placed a hand on his arm. “You don’t have to read it now.”
“I do.” He broke the seal, Inside was a handwritten letter.
Jeffrey,
I pretended to hate you to protect you. I had to keep you out of the family’s reach. They would’ve killed you if they knew how much I trusted you.
Zane was never meant to inherit. He wasn’t strong enough. But I had to play my part until I had enough proof to clean house.
The ledger is only the beginning. The real power is hidden deeper in the vault beneath Goodman Tower. Only you can access it. Only you know the combination. I made sure of that.
Be careful who you trust.
-R.G.
Jeffrey lowered the letter, Camilla looked at him. “Vault?”
Victor stepped forward. “Goodman Tower has a private sublevel. Never on the building plans. I’ve only heard rumors.”
Jeffrey’s face turned to stone. “My father buried the real crown there.”
Victor’s phone buzzed suddenly, he answered, Then his face drained of color. “Say that again.”
They Paused. He looked at Jeffrey, “It’s Zane. He just announced to the press that you’re under investigation for murder. The police have a warrant. They’re heading to every property you’ve ever touched.”
Jeffrey’s blood boiled. “He’s trying to smoke me out.”
Victor didn’t blink. “He’s trying to bury you. For good.”
Jeffrey looked at the ledger, then at the letter. “I need to get into that vault before Zane does.”
Camilla hesitated. “Jeffrey… if what your father said is true, what’s in that vault could be dangerous.”
“Everything’s dangerous now.”
“But what if it’s not just weapons or documents? What if it’s something worse? Something… alive?”
He met her gaze.“I’ll face whatever’s in that vault. Because whatever it is, it’s the only way I end this war.”
Suddenly-BOOM.
The door to the crypt blew off its hinges, Flashbangs rolled in. Light, Screams, Smoke, Victor shouted, “MOVE!” Gunfire erupted. Jeffrey grabbed the ledger and dove behind a marble slab, Camilla was pulled down beside him.
Victor returned fire, dropping two masked soldiers. “Who are they?” she yelled.
Jeffrey’s voice was ice. “Not police.”
He saw the insignia on one attacker’s sleeve as the smoke cleared: A black chess rook.
Camilla gasped. “That’s Henry Vance’s private security.” Victor fired another shot, But more were coming. Jeffrey looked at the exit tunnel behind the crypt wall.
Only one choice, He grabbed Camilla’s hand. “We run now. Or we die in this tomb.”
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Chapter 57 – The Man Who Returned Was Not the Same
The night split open. Camilla staggered back as fire swallowed the skyline, a column of molten light roaring upward from the ruins below Goodman Tower.It wasn’t just destruction, it was proclamation. The city itself seemed to bow beneath the force of it. Windows shattered for miles. Car alarms wailed. Every living soul felt it in their bones.And then, through the smoke and fire, he rose. Jeffrey Goodman. But not the Jeffrey she remembered. His body was wreathed in fire that did not consume him but crowned him.His eyes glowed gold, so bright they were blinding, and strange sigils crawled across his skin like living scars. His every step melted stone; the ground trembled beneath his feet.Martin fell to his knees, choking on the smoke, whispering like a man in prayer. “It’s him. He survived. God help us… he survived.”Camilla clutched the balcony rail, her breath caught in her throat. Her heart screamed recognition, this was the man who had once held her, once bled for her, once whis
Chapter 56 – Baptism of Fire
Jeffrey Goodman was burning. But the fire did not kill him. It remade him. The abyss was endless, a storm of black and crimson flames that hissed and shrieked like living things.Chains twisted in the inferno, lashing around him, piercing his skin, threading through his veins like molten wire. Every heartbeat was an explosion, every breath a scream, every nerve a battlefield between destruction and rebirth.He tried to fight. He tried to claw upward, but the fire dragged him deeper, devouring. It tore memories from him, the sound of his mother’s laughter, the warmth of Camilla’s touch, the echo of his father’s cold eyes, and burned them to ash. In their place, it whispered.“You are not man. You are fire. Fire consumes. Fire rules. Fire bows to no one.”Jeffrey’s body convulsed, flames boiling out of his mouth, his eyes, his wounds. His flesh split, only to seal again in burning threads of gold and black. His scream became a roar that shook the abyss itself.And in that roar, he reali
Chapter 55 – The Crucible of Chains
The world was gone. There was no sky, no ground, only chains. They swarmed like serpents in the dark, rattling with a sound that sank into bone.They dragged Jeffrey down through fire, through smoke, through the black pulse of the abyss until he no longer knew if he was falling or being devoured.His chest seared where the molten tears had burned him. His sword was gone, torn from his hands, his flames smothered by the coils around his arms.Every breath was ash, every heartbeat a hammer against the cage of chains. And then, sudden stillness.He hit ground that wasn’t ground at all but a shifting surface of steel links, stretching endlessly into black. The Crucible. “Here, the heir will be tested.”The Third Shadow’s voices rolled through the dark, three mouths speaking from nowhere and everywhere.Chains slithered, forming walls, a dome, a prison. Within it, shapes stirred. Figures. Shadows coalescing into forms Jeffrey knew too well. The first to step forward made his blood run cold
Chapter 54 – The Third Shadow
The sky was breaking. Every soul in the city looked up, frozen beneath the rain of chains that screamed like falling blades.The rift above gaped wider, tearing the heavens apart. Fire bled into blackness, and blackness pulsed like a living heart.Jeffrey’s knees buckled beneath him. He was slick with blood, barely standing, his sword trembling in his hand. His vision was ash and fire, but his instincts screamed what his mind refused to accept.This wasn’t over. It had never been about the Doppelgänger or the Beast. They were gatekeepers. And the true horror was still behind the door.“The heir has awakened. The seals are broken.”The voice rolled through the city like an earthquake, rattling windows, shaking steel, making children scream and soldiers drop their guns.Camilla stopped mid-run, clutching her ears as blood streamed from her nose. Her body crumpled, but still her lips formed his name.Jeffrey staggered toward her, each step tearing his muscles raw. He reached her in time t
Chapter 53 – The Ashen Veil
The world was fire. Jeffrey’s lungs burned, his skin flayed by molten air. Darkness pressed in from all sides, pierced only by violent flashes of red and white.He tried to move. His body didn’t respond. Then, voices. Whispers, endless, writhing. They slithered through the inferno, caressing his skull like smoke.Child of flame. Son of ash. You are not broken. You are becoming. Jeffrey’s eyes snapped open. He wasn’t in the courtyard anymore. He wasn’t anywhere human.The ground beneath him was charred bone. The sky above was a ceiling of fire, cracking, bleeding light. Chains hung down from nothing, rattling with no wind, stretching into infinity.And between them, two shadows. The Doppelgänger. The Beast. Alive. Waiting. The Doppelgänger loomed, his molten form reduced but no less menacing, heat dripping from his limbs. His eyes burned, twin suns locked on Jeffrey.The Beast crouched opposite, its body darker than void, its eyes two smoldering embers. Chains slithered from its skin,
Chapter 52 – Chains of the Abyss
The giant’s grip was closing. Jeffrey’s ribs buckled, vision tunneling, blood rising in his throat. The Doppelgänger’s molten fist was a coffin, searing, suffocating, inevitable. And then came the chains.They tore up from the fractured earth, red-hot and clanging, each link thick as a carriage wheel. They coiled around the titan’s arms, burning into molten flesh, dragging him backward toward the yawning abyss below.The Doppelgänger howled, his colossal body thrashing as though hooked by the hands of hell itself. And then, from that abyss, eyes ignited. Twin infernos, vast and hungry. The beast.The same abomination Jeffrey had chained in the underworld, the same monster he had bled and broken to prove his dominion, alive, reborn, hungrier than ever. Its roar split the heavens.The Doppelgänger reeled, momentarily distracted, and his grip slackened just enough for Jeffrey to gasp a ragged breath.Pain lanced through every bone in his chest, but he forced his arm to move, his blade to
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