Chapter 7: The Vault on Mercer Street**
Beneath the historic district of Mercer Street stood the Old National Depository, a private bank built in 1912. Rain cascaded down the stone gargoyles as Julian and Clara stepped out of an unmarked sedan, escorted by Marcus.
"Elena kept a safety deposit box under her maiden name," Clara explained as they followed the elderly vault keeper down a spiral staircase into the reinforced basement. "She told me that if the Sterling board ever tried to erase Ewan, the master key in this box would unlock the truth about the clinical trials."
The vault keeper unlocked box #418, slid the heavy brass container onto a viewing table, and discreetly stepped outside.
Julian lifted the lid. Inside lay a leather journal, a series of encrypted flash drives, and a handwritten letter addressed to him in Elena’s delicate cursive script.
Julian picked up the letter, his fingers tracing the ink.
> *Julian,*
> *If you are reading this, it means the walls of your family's empire have finally closed in. I never blamed you for your father's cruelty. I knew you loved our son. But love without courage is a cage. Inside these drives is the proof that Victoria’s father suppressed the cure for my illness to keep their patent prices inflated. Do not use this for revenge. Use it to give our son a world where truth matters.*
> *Always,*
> *Elena.*
Clara watched as a single tear escaped Julian's eye, soaking into the parchment. "She never stopped loving you, Julian."
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"And I spent five years letting her murderers dictate the terms of my life," Julian said, closing his fist around the flash drive. "That ends now."
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