THE SECRET SON-IN-LAW: Heir of War

CHAPTER 3 – The Vault That Should Never Be Opened

For a moment, no one breathed.

Not Leon.

Not Sophia.

Not Adrian.

Not even Olivia, whose trembling hands clutched the doorframe as though the house itself might give way.

Leon’s voice finally broke through the suffocating silence.

“Say that again,” he said quietly.

Adrian swallowed, phone still vibrating in his palm. “Your father’s vault. They found it. And—sir, they opened it.”

Leon’s jaw tightened. A slow, cold heat spread through his chest, something dangerous, something old. He took a step toward Adrian.

“How?” Leon asked. “The vault was sealed. Only—”

“Only you could open it,” Adrian finished, voice strained. “I know. That’s why this doesn’t make sense.”

Sophia looked between them, eyes wide. “What vault? What are you talking about?”

Leon didn’t answer. He couldn’t—not until he understood what was happening. He turned back to Adrian.

“Who opened it?” Leon demanded.

Adrian shook his head. “Unknown. The message came from someone inside the old division. Whoever found the vault didn’t leave survivors.”

Sophia’s hand flew to her mouth. “Survivors? Leon, what does he mean?”

Again, Leon didn’t speak. He stared at Adrian, eyes sharp and calculating.

“How far is it?” Leon asked.

“A few hours from here.”

“Take me.”

Adrian nodded instantly. “I came prepared. The car’s ready.”

Before either man could move, Sophia stepped between them.

“No,” she said, voice trembling but firm. “Leon, you’re not leaving like this.”

Leon blinked. “Sophia—”

“I don’t understand what’s happening,” she said, breath shaky, “but I know that you almost got killed. I watched three men try to murder you. I watched you… you fight like—like someone I don’t know.”

He didn’t look away. He couldn’t.

Sophia continued, voice breaking. “You told me nothing. I don’t know who Adrian is. I don’t know what this vault is. And now you’re leaving in the middle of the night?”

Leon took a slow breath. “Sophia, I have to. If someone broke into my father’s vault… it means they’re after more than just me.”

Sophia shook her head, brushing tears away fast. “I’m coming with you.”

Leon froze. “No.”

“Yes,” she insisted. “You’re my husband. I’m not staying here waiting for another group of assassins to show up. If you’re in danger, I’m not letting you go alone.”

Behind her, Olivia gasped. “Have you lost your mind, Sophia? Did you not see what he did out there? He’s dangerous!”

Sophia spun on her. “Dangerous to them. Not to me.”

Olivia grabbed her daughter’s arm. “You are not going anywhere with him. Do you understand me?”

Sophia pulled free. “You don’t get to decide that.”

“You’re my daughter!”

“I’m his wife.”

The words sliced clean through the tension. Even Leon felt the impact.

Sophia turned back to him, eyes soft but determined. “Let me come.”

Leon hesitated only because he didn’t want her near whatever horrors waited at the vault. But one look at her trembling, stubborn expression told him he wasn’t winning this argument.

Adrian stepped up. “Sir, if she goes, she’s a target.”

Leon glanced at Sophia. “She already is.”

Sophia exhaled shakily. “I’m coming.”

Leon rubbed his forehead. “Fine. But you don’t leave my side. Understand?”

Sophia nodded quickly. “I won’t.”

Olivia sputtered. “Sophia, if you walk out that door—”

Leon turned slowly toward her. Olivia froze mid-sentence. The look in Leon’s eyes wasn’t threatening, but it wasn’t the quiet, submissive Leon she thought she knew.

He spoke calmly. “I promise you, Mrs. Carson. I’ll bring her back safely.”

Olivia shook her head wildly. “You can’t promise anything! You can’t just—”

Derek pushed past her, face red and confused. “Sophia, you’re not leaving with him. Not after what those men said. Not after what we heard!”

Sophia’s voice hardened. “Derek, move.”

He blinked. “Soph—”

“Move.”

Derek stepped aside.

Leon stepped forward. “We’re leaving.”

Adrian nodded and hurried toward a sleek black sedan parked down the street. Leon took Sophia’s hand and led her down the steps.

As they reached the car, Sophia whispered, “Leon… what was that blade you broke? How did you even do that?”

Leon looked straight ahead. “Later.”

Sophia squeezed his fingers. “You keep saying that.”

He paused, just for a second. “Because I need to see the vault first.”

Adrian opened the back door for them. “Get in. We don’t have much time.”

Sophia climbed in, still shaken. Leon followed, sitting beside her. Adrian took the driver’s seat, flicked a few switches, and the engine roared to life.

As they pulled away from the Carson mansion, Sophia looked out the window one last time. Olivia stood at the door, clutching her chest. Derek watched them leave with a mix of suspicion and fear.

But what caught Leon’s attention wasn’t the Carsons.

It was the dark, broken bodies of the assassins still lying on the driveway.

Sophia shivered. “What’s going to happen now?”

Leon said nothing.

Because he didn't know.

---

The city lights faded behind them as Adrian drove into the night. Sophia watched Leon silently from the corner of her eye. He sat stiffly, jaw clenched, hands resting on his knees like coiled springs.

Finally she whispered, “Leon… I don’t care how dangerous this is. I just want you to tell me the truth.”

Leon looked at her. Her eyes were red from crying. Her voice was small. But her hands weren’t shaking anymore. She was scared, but she was strong.

He owed her an answer.

He took a slow breath. “Sophia… I wasn’t always who you think I am.”

Sophia stared at him. “Who are you?”

Leon sighed. “My father… wasn’t a normal man. He didn’t run a business. He didn’t work a regular job.”

“What was he?”

“A soldier,” Leon said quietly. “But not like the ones you see on TV.”

Adrian chimed in. “General Aldric Hale commanded the most elite black-ops force in the country. They called him the Iron Wolf.”

Sophia’s mouth fell open. “Your father was… famous?”

Leon shook his head. “Not famous. Feared.”

Sophia swallowed. “What about you?”

Leon looked away. “I was… trained. Prepared to inherit his command one day.”

Sophia stared at him as if seeing him for the first time. “So you’re… a soldier?”

Leon exhaled. “I was supposed to be.”

He didn’t add the rest.

I was supposed to become something monstrous.

Sophia whispered, “What happened?”

Leon rubbed his hands. “He died. My mother died. I ran. I didn’t want that life. I didn’t want their world.”

Sophia placed her hand gently on his arm. “Leon…”

Adrian glanced at them in the mirror. “Sir, you know the vault wasn’t only your father’s. It holds records, intelligence, names—everything the General accumulated. If someone opened it…”

Leon finished quietly, “Then they have access to every secret he ever kept.”

Sophia’s hand tightened on his arm. “Who would want that?”

Adrian’s voice turned grim. “Anyone who wants power. Control. Or revenge.”

Leon leaned back, eyes focused on the road ahead.

“We’re getting close,” Adrian said. “Brace yourselves.”

The car turned off the highway, heading down a narrow forest road. Fog drifted across the path, thick and heavy. The air grew colder.

Sophia’s fingers slid into Leon’s. “I’m scared.”

Leon tightened his grip. “I’m here.”

Adrian pushed deeper into the woods until the trees swallowed the moonlight.

Finally, the car stopped.

“This is it,” Adrian said.

Leon stepped out first. The air smelled of damp earth and metal. Sophia followed, shivering at the sudden drop in temperature.

Adrian walked around the car and pointed through the trees. “Over there.”

They moved cautiously through the undergrowth until they reached a clearing.

Sophia gasped.

The entrance to the vault wasn’t a building. It was buried underground, disguised as an old storm shelter. But now…

The metal door was ripped open.

Torn apart.

As though something had exploded outward from inside.

“Someone used high-impact charges,” Adrian muttered, kneeling to examine the twisted steel.

Sophia stepped closer to Leon. “Who would know this place even existed?”

Leon stared at the gaping hole. “No one.”

Adrian’s expression darkened. “Unless…”

Leon nodded grimly. “Unless they had help.”

Sophia’s eyes widened. “Help from who?”

Leon stepped forward, crouched, and touched the shredded metal. His voice dropped.

“Someone from my father’s inner circle.”

Sophia shivered. “But… didn’t they all… die?”

Adrian stiffened. “We thought they did.”

Leon didn’t look away from the broken vault door. “Apparently not.”

Adrian drew a flashlight and handed another to Leon. “We need to see what they took.”

Leon nodded. “Stay close. Don’t touch anything.”

Sophia swallowed and nodded back.

Leon and Adrian stepped inside first. Sophia followed a moment later, nerves crawling up her spine.

The air inside was like a tomb—cold, silent, suffocating. The walls were lined with metal shelves, many of them broken or empty. Papers were scattered like snow. Files torn open. Storage crates smashed.

Adrian exhaled shakily. “They looted everything.”

Leon went to the back of the vault, where a reinforced steel cabinet stood. Or used to stand.

Now it lay on the floor, cracked open.

Leon bent down and sifted through the debris until he found a piece of paper—a ripped cover page.

His father’s handwriting.

Project Seraphim.

Leon froze.

“Sir?” Adrian whispered. “What did they take?”

Leon didn’t answer.

Sophia approached slowly. “Leon?”

He held up the torn page. Adrian’s face drained of color.

“No,” Adrian whispered. “Not that. Not Project Seraphim.”

Sophia looked between them. “What is it?”

Leon closed his eyes. “A list.”

“A list of what?” Sophia asked.

Leon opened his eyes, voice colder than she’d ever heard.

“Targets.”

Sophia’s breath caught. “Targets? As in… people?”

Adrian swallowed. “People your father swore to protect.”

Sophia stepped back. “Why would someone want that?”

Leon stared at the torn page.

“Because those targets aren’t just anyone.”

He turned to Adrian.

“They’re the descendants of the War God line.”

Sophia blinked. “War God… line?”

Leon nodded slowly.

“There are thirty-four bloodlines connected to my father’s legacy. Each one carries influence—political, military, financial. If someone controls them…”

Adrian finished the sentence.

“They control the entire nation.”

Sophia’s hand flew to her chest. “And now someone has that list.”

Leon’s jaw locked. “We need to find out who.”

A sudden crash echoed deeper in the vault.

Sophia jumped. “What was that?”

Adrian drew a concealed knife. “Someone’s here.”

Leon motioned for silence. They crept deeper into the vault until they reached a corner filled with collapsed shelves.

Leon lifted a fallen plank—

And froze.

Sophia gasped.

Adrian cursed.

Lying beneath the wreckage was a man—blood-soaked, barely breathing, uniform torn. His chest rose painfully with each breath.

His eyes fluttered open, focusing on Leon with desperate urgency.

He reached up, grabbing Leon’s wrist with what strength he had left.

“Le… Leon Hale…” he rasped.

Leon leaned closer. “Who did this? Who broke into the vault?”

The man coughed blood, shaking violently.

Sophia knelt beside him, horrified. “We need to get him out of here!”

But the man tightened his grip on Leon, refusing to let go. His voice cracked with terror.

“They’re coming back… they’re coming back for the rest…”

Leon frowned. “Who?”

The man’s lips trembled.

“They took the list… but that wasn’t all.”

Leon’s stomach dropped. “What else did they take?”

The dying man looked Leon in the eye—fear burning where strength once lived.

“They took… her.”

Leon froze.

Sophia blinked. “Her? Who’s her?”

The man’s final breath shuddered out.

“Your sister…” he whispered.

Leon’s blood turned to ice.

“My… what?” he breathed.

But the man was already dead.

Adrian stumbled backward. “Sir… this can’t be…”

Sophia stared at Leon in horror. “Leon… do you have a sister?”

Leon stood slowly, heart pounding in his ears.

He didn’t answer.

He couldn’t answer.

Because deep down… he already knew the truth.

And it terrified him.

Adrian whispered, voice cracking with fear.

“Sir… if they took your sister… then they know exactly how to destroy you.”

Leon turned toward the dark mouth of the vault, eyes burning with something far more deadly than anger.

Resolve.

The shadows shifted outside.

Footsteps.

Voices.

Adrian’s breath caught.

“They’re here.”

Leon’s jaw tightened.

“Then we’re not running.”

He stepped forward, eyes cold, voice steady as stone.

“We’re waiting.”