Chapter 6
The tactical commander stopped ten steps away, holding the charred ledger as if it were radioactive. The smell of burnt paper and old leather drifted across the marble floor, cutting through the lingering scent of spilled wine and gunpowder.
"Sir," the commander said, his voice tight with hesitation. "We breached the library safe as ordered. The South American mining deeds are inside, but... this ledger was wrapped around them. It's addressed to Miss Lyra."
Lyra stared at the dark, jagged stains marking the cover of the book. Even across the room, she recognized the handwriting—bold, elegant, and unmistakably her mother’s.
Arthur’s face hardened instantly, his gray eyes narrowing as he stepped toward the commander and snatched the ledger from his hands. He flipped open the cover, his eyes scanning the first few lines before his breathing hitched—a reaction so rare for the hardened patriarch that Lyra felt a sudden, cold knot form in her stomach.
"Dad? What does it say?" Lyra asked, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper.
Arthur didn't answer immediately. He turned the book slowly, revealing a page filled with neat, terrifying columns of names, dates, and financial transfers dating back twenty years—long before Lyra was even born.
"Your mother didn't die in that car accident in Zurich, Lyra," Arthur said, his voice shaking with a suppressed fury that eclipsed even his anger toward Julian. "Or at least... not the way the coroner's report claimed."
Lyra froze, the glass slipping from her fingers to shatter against the floor. "What are you talking about? I attended her funeral. I saw the casket."
"The casket was sealed," Arthur replied, his thumb tracing a jagged tear in the paper. "Julian’s grandfather didn't just steal our company twenty years ago; he blackmailed your mother into signing away her shares by threatening to expose an assassination plot orchestrated by the Vance family's founding board members. And Clara’s family was the one holding the detonator."
The tactical commander stepped closer, lowering his voice. "Sir, we just intercepted a secure radio transmission from the perimeter guards. A second extraction team has breached the eastern gate, and they aren't federal agents. They're carrying Vance Global corporate security insignia, and they're heavily armed."
Arthur slammed the ledger shut, his eyes flashing with lethal intent. "They've come to burn the estate and eliminate any witnesses before the federal auditors arrive."
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Lyra turned toward the tall dark windows overlooking the eastern gardens. Through the pouring rain, the rhythmic flashes of tactical flashlights were cutting through the fog, advancing rapidly toward the main conservatory doors.
"Let them come," Lyra whispered, reaching into the pocket of her silver gown and pulling out a heavy brass key that she had quietly lifted from Julian’s belt before the guards dragged him away. "They think this house is their fortress. They don't know it's a tomb."
