Chapter 12
The steel safe gleamed dully in the flickering light of the approaching blue flames. Julian’s hands shook as he stared at the digital keypad, which was already short-circuiting and sparking with erratic white jolts of electricity.
"Think," Julian muttered to himself, his breath coming in shallow, burning gasps through the cloth tied around his face. "What combination would she use?"
He remembered his grandfather’s death date—the day Elena took full control of the corporate board. He punched the numbers into the keypad with rapid precision: 11-04-89.
The keypad beeped twice with a harsh, error tone, and a small red LED light flashed angrily.
"Damn it!" Julian cursed, smashing his fist against the metal casing. He had one attempt left before the security lockout protocol triggered a permanent magnetic seal.
Above him, a massive groan of stressed timber signaled that the first-floor joists were beginning to give way under the intense heat of the library fire. Dust and falling debris rained down onto his shoulders, stinging his eyes and making it nearly impossible to see.
He closed his eyes for a single second, blocking out the roar of the fire and the choking smoke. He thought about his unborn child, about Clara lying helpless on the gravel outside, and about the generational curse of greed that had poisoned every member of this family.
It wasn't a date. It was an amount. The exact figure of the first illegal offshore transfer his mother had executed to secure her absolute dominance over the estate.
Julian’s fingers moved across the sparking keypad with desperate speed, entering the digits of the initial embezzlement sum: 5-0-0-0-0-0-0.
The keypad chimed with a long, clean green flash. With a heavy mechanical clunk, the massive steel door swung open automatically, revealing stacks of aged paper files, notarized bank certificates, and a single, heavy leather-bound ledger resting on the top shelf.
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Julian lunged forward, sweeping the entire stack of documents into his arms just as a massive section of the ceiling collapsed directly behind him with a deafening crash. A wall of blinding white heat roared down the corridor, cutting off his only path of retreat.
Trapped in the vault alcove with a wall of fire blocking the exit, Julian clutched the documents tightly to his chest, realizing with sudden, chilling clarity that he had run out of time.
