The Billionaire Heir Nobody Saw Coming

7. The Vault Awakens 1

The sound was like a mountain tearing in half. Stone shuddered. Dust poured from the ceiling in choking clouds as an icy wind blasted through the tunnel, carrying the metallic scent of ozone.

Jacob braced himself against the wall. The titanium case in his jacket felt heavier than iron.

Victoria staggered to her knees, one arm slick with blood. “It’s opening,” she rasped. “Marcus, you idiot, you don’t know what you’ve unleashed.”

Marcus stood perfectly still, eyes glittering with triumph. “I know exactly.”

A low, rhythmic pulse rolled from the direction of the vault, like a giant’s heartbeat, each throb vibrating through the stone floor.

The guard groaned, half-conscious. Jacob helped him upright, never taking his eyes off Marcus. “Step away from the vault,” Jacob ordered.

Marcus smiled faintly. “And miss history?”

Another tremor ripped through the corridor. Far ahead, a blinding white glow seeped from a newly formed crack in the rock. The air grew colder, sharper, as if the very oxygen was thinning.

Victoria struggled to her feet, wincing. “Jacob, listen to me. The vault isn’t just a room. It’s a machine. An engine. Your grandfather sealed it for a reason.”

Marcus’s gaze stayed fixed on the light. “Father sealed it because he feared progress.”

Jacob tightened his grip on the pistol. “What’s inside?”

“Answers,” Marcus said. “Power. Proof we are not alone in the universe.”

The words hung in the icy air. The guard muttered, “This is insane.”

Marcus took a slow step toward the light. “The first Smith expedition found the core a century ago. A technology older than humanity. Father hid it. I will reveal it.”

Victoria’s voice sharpened. “You’ll start a war.”

“No,” Marcus said softly. “I’ll end them.”

Another shockwave struck, hurling dust and fragments of stone. An electronic wail echoed through the tunnels, alarms Victor had never mentioned.

Jacob’s earpiece crackled back to life: a fractured whisper of his grandfather’s voice.  “Jacob… do not… vault.”

Static swallowed the rest. Jacob called into the comm. “Grandfather! Can you hear me?” Nothing.

Marcus’s eyes flicked to the comm, then back to Jacob. “He can’t stop it now. None of us can.”

Victoria raised her pistol again despite the blood streaking her sleeve. “Move another inch and I shoot.”

Marcus turned his head slightly, calm as winter. “You won’t.”

“Try me,” she said.

Jacob stepped forward, weapon leveled. “Everyone back away. Now.”

Marcus studied him, something almost paternal in his look. “Nephew, you feel it, don’t you? That pull. The hum. It calls to our blood.”

Jacob did feel it, a faint vibration in his chest, in the roots of his teeth. A whisper of… something. Ancient. Intelligent. He shook it off. “I feel danger.”

The guard hissed, “Sir, we need to retreat.”

The white glow brightened, casting sharp shadows. From the widening crack came a sound like a thousand voices singing just out of human range, eerie, harmonic. Victoria paled. “It’s awake.”

Marcus’s smile widened. “Magnificent.”

Suddenly the floor lurched violently. A new fissure tore across the corridor between them and the vault, splitting stone with a deafening crack.

A rush of frigid mist surged upward, carrying a faint blue luminescence. The guard cursed. “Seismic breach!”

Chunks of rock tumbled, sealing part of the path behind them. They were trapped between the vault and the blocked exit. Marcus laughed quietly. “The earth itself welcomes it.”

Jacob steadied his voice. “Whatever that thing is, you can’t control it.”

Marcus’s eyes gleamed. “Control? No. But we can join it.”

He reached inside his jacket and pulled out a thin, crystalline shard that glowed faintly, a twin to the titanium cylinder. Victoria’s face hardened. “So that’s your failsafe.”

“Father gave us each half of the key,” Marcus said. “But only together do they sing.”

He held the shard toward Jacob. “Combine them. Open it fully.”

Jacob took a half-step back. “Not happening.”

Marcus’s tone deepened, almost reverent. “It’s destiny. The Smith bloodline was chosen to awaken the core. You’ve felt the resonance. You know I’m right.”

The hum in Jacob’s chest intensified, threatening to drown reason. He clenched his jaw. “I know you’re mad.”

Another tremor shook the ground. The glowing crack in the vault flared brilliant blue. Sparks of energy danced along the tunnel walls. The guard shouted over the din. “Sir, we need to move now or we’re rubble.”

Victoria aimed squarely at Marcus. “Last chance.”

Marcus simply extended the shard farther. “Jacob. Together.”

Jacob raised his pistol, every muscle taut. Before he could speak, a deafening metallic screech erupted from the vault. The crack burst wide, blinding white and blue light flooding the corridor.

Through the glare, a silhouette emerged, tall, human-shaped yet unmistakably alien, its outline shifting like liquid metal.

Everyone froze. The figure stepped forward, and a voice, not sound but vibration, filled Jacob’s mind: “Heir of Smith. The key is you.”