THE SECRET SON-IN-LAW: Heir of War

CHAPTER 5 – The Man Outside

The vault was pitch-black the moment the heavy steel door slammed shut.

Sophia’s scream echoed in the darkness long after her voice gave out.

“Leon!” She pounded on the metal with both fists. “Leon! Open it! Leon!”

But the vault didn’t respond. It was meant to keep entire armies out. Her hands might as well have been feathers.

Adrian grabbed her wrists gently. “Stop. You’ll hurt yourself.”

“I don’t care!” she sobbed. “He’s out there! He’s with that man— that thing— and you’re telling me to stop?!”

Adrian stayed silent, breathing hard in the darkness.

Sophia gasped between shallow breaths, trying not to fall apart. “Why did he tell us to close the door? Why would he stay out there alone? He doesn’t even have a weapon!”

Adrian exhaled slowly. “Leon doesn’t stay unarmed.”

“What does that even mean?”

The vault hummed around them, a low buzzing from the ancient generators. A faint glow finally flickered above, weak lights struggling to warm the cold interior. Shadows stretched across the walls of old crates, wooden boxes, rotted tarps, and metal cabinets.

Sophia wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve, still shaking. “I don’t understand anything. Adrian… who was that man? Why did he call Leon the lost heir?”

Adrian didn’t answer at first. He walked to the door, pressed his ear against it, and listened.

Sophia watched him, waiting—hoping.

Nothing.

Not even footsteps.

Adrian stepped back. “He’s neither stupid nor scared. That means they’re either negotiating… or fighting quietly.”

Sophia’s knees went weak. “Leon can’t fight that man. He looked—different. Dangerous. The others were bad, but that man—”

“He wasn’t one of the attackers,” Adrian said grimly. “He was their handler.”

Sophia swallowed. “Handler?”

“The one in charge. The one the others obey. The one who doesn’t have to lift a finger until the end.”

Sophia hugged herself, trying not to break apart.

Adrian dusted the vault floor with his shoe, kicking aside dirt, revealing the outline of embedded steel plating. “This place is older than both of us,” he said. “Locked up for years. Leon knew it was here.”

“He never told me,” Sophia whispered.

“He was never supposed to,” Adrian muttered.

Sophia’s throat tightened at the way he said it. “Why? Why would Leon hide something like this from me?”

Adrian paused. He looked at her—really looked at her—like he was debating whether she deserved answers.

She stepped closer, voice trembling. “Please. I’m his wife. I need to know what’s going on.”

Adrian hesitated only a moment longer before he finally said, “Leon wasn’t supposed to have a normal life.”

Sophia blinked. “What does that mean?”

“He grew up with a target on his back,” Adrian said quietly. “His family—his original family—wasn’t ordinary. They weren’t kind. They weren’t peaceful. They weren’t something a normal person should ever get involved with.”

Sophia shook her head slowly. “But Leon… he’s gentle. He’s… kind. Why would a family like that—”

“Because he wasn’t raised by them.” Adrian turned to a dusty locker and pulled it open. “He rebelled. Disappeared. Cut ties. Vanished from their world.”

He glanced back at her.

“And he did it for one reason only: he wanted to live like an ordinary man.”

Sophia’s breath caught. She looked at the vault around them. At the dust, the rotting wood, the strange metal crates. At the lock only Leon could open.

“You’re saying he hid from them?” she whispered.

“From everyone,” Adrian said. “From enemies. From rivals. From his own bloodline.”

Sophia gripped her arms tighter. “So why did those men find him tonight?”

Adrian’s jaw tensed. “Because someone talked.”

Sophia’s mind went numb.

Adrian continued rummaging through the locker. Each clang of metal echoed sharply in the vault. Sophia approached him slowly.

“What are you looking for?”

“A weapon.”

“For you?”

“For Leon.”

Sophia frowned. “But he’s outside.”

“That’s why I need to find it fast.”

Sophia stepped aside as Adrian yanked out old boxes, tossing them aside. One slammed on the floor and burst open with a clatter—bullets rolling everywhere like silver marbles.

Sophia froze. “Adrian… what is all of this?”

“Leon’s inheritance,” Adrian muttered. “Or what’s left of it.”

Sophia stared at rows of weapons tucked into foam-lined cases—old but well-maintained.

“You’re telling me Leon was supposed to… take over something?”

Adrian paused, fingers brushing the top of a worn pistol as if recalling something painful. “He was supposed to rule it.”

Sophia’s heart dropped into her stomach.

Before she could ask anything else—

A faint thump sounded outside.

Sophia whipped to the vault door. “Leon?!”

Adrian raised a hand fast. “Don’t shout.”

They listened.

Another thump.

Then another.

Not footsteps.

Not gunshots.

Pressure.

Like someone was leaning their weight against the steel.

Sophia’s voice cracked. “He’s hurt. He has to be. Adrian—he’s right there! Open the door!”

“We can’t,” Adrian said firmly. “If it’s not Leon—”

“It is him!”

“You don’t know that!”

Sophia shoved past him, palms flat against the vault door. “Leon?! Leon, answer me!”

The thumps stopped abruptly.

Silence stretched tight enough to snap.

Sophia pressed her forehead to the cold metal. “Please… please say something…”

One second.

Two.

Five.

Eight.

Then—

A laugh.

Soft.

Chilling.

Not Leon’s.

Adrian grabbed her shoulders and pulled her away from the vault so fast she stumbled. “Get back!”

The voice outside spoke clearly now, right against the steel.

“Hiding won’t help you.”

Sophia froze, blood running cold.

It was the handler from earlier.

“You can’t keep him locked away from his destiny,” the man said calmly. “Leon belonged to us long before he belonged to you.”

Sophia’s breath hitched. “Where is he?!”

The man hummed, amused. “Alive. For now.”

Adrian took a step toward the door. “What do you want?”

“You already know.” The handler’s tone was almost conversational. “We’re simply collecting what was abandoned. Leon Hale is a runaway heir. He has obligations. Blood-signed. Irrevocable.”

Sophia’s voice rose, shaking with anger. “He owes you nothing!”

The handler chuckled. “He’ll disagree once he remembers.”

“What did you do to him?!” she shouted.

“Oh, nothing irreversible,” the man replied. “Yet.”

Adrian’s fingers curled into fists, knuckles white.

The handler continued, “Now… listen carefully. Open this door. Hand over the girl. And maybe I’ll let the two of you live long enough to say goodbye.”

Sophia’s entire body went cold.

Adrian laughed dryly. “You really think we’re opening that door?”

The man outside tapped the steel—

once, twice—

each knock echoing with lazy confidence.

“I think,” he murmured, “you don’t understand who you’re defying.”

Another tap.

“And I think Leon didn’t tell you what he really is.”

One last tap.

“Or what he’s truly capable of.”

Sophia trembled. “Where is he?! Let me talk to him! Leon!”

This time, only silence answered her.

Adrian pulled her behind a stack of crates, voice low. “We need to stay quiet. That man wants to rattle us.”

“He has Leon,” she whispered. “He has him and we’re sitting here hiding—”

Before Adrian could answer, something shifted above them.

A metallic groan.

Sophia jerked her head upward. “What was that?”

Adrian tensed. “The air vents.”

Another groan.

Followed by a scrape.

Something… crawling inside the ducts.

Sophia’s skin prickled. “Adrian…”

He held up a hand, signaling her to stay silent.

The vault lights flickered.

And then—

A voice whispered through the vents.

“Sophia.”

Her entire body froze.

She knew that voice.

“Leon?” she breathed.

“Sophia…”

The voice came again, faint, strained… but undeniably his.

She stumbled toward the sound. “Leon! Where are you?!”

Adrian grabbed her arm. “Wait. That could be—”

“No,” she said fiercely. “That’s him.”

The voice whispered again. “Listen… they’re coming…”

Adrian paled. “Damn it—Sophia, step back—”

Too late.

The vent above them suddenly dented inward—hard—like something crashed into it from the inside.

Sophia stumbled backward as dust rained down.

The vent didn’t dent.

It bulged.

Once.

Twice.

A fist-shaped impact slamming from the inside.

Sophia stared, horrified and hopeful all at once.

“Leon! Are you trying to break through?! I’m here! We’re here!”

Another slam.

Adrian grabbed her, pulling her behind him. “No—something’s wrong. That’s not—”

The vent exploded downward in a burst of metal and debris.

And something dropped through the ceiling into the vault.

Not Leon.

Not human.

Covered in blood.

Breathing like an animal.

Eyes unfocused—yet burning with something savage.

Sophia’s scream tore through the vault.

Because the thing that landed in front of them—

Wore Leon’s jacket.