BILLIONAIRE ARRIVED HOME UNANNOUNCED AND SAW THE MAID WITH HIS SON — WHAT HE SAW SHOCKED HIM
Chapter 6
The hidden room beneath the mansion changed everything.
Adrian discovered it beneath the library floor.
The key opened a steel panel hidden behind the bookshelves.
Inside was a narrow staircase.
Clara followed.
Samuel stayed upstairs with Ethan.
The stairs descended almost twenty feet.
At the bottom was a small room.
No windows.
No furniture.
Only boxes.
Dozens of them.
Each contained documents.
Photographs.
Bank records.
Medical files.
Adoption records.
And names.
Hundreds of names.
Adrian realized what his father had built.
Not a vault for money.
A vault for secrets.
Victoria had known about it.
She had used it.
And apparently, she had left something specifically for Adrian.
He found an envelope.
His name was written on it.
He opened it.
Victoria’s handwriting.
Adrian, if you found this, then I failed to protect you.
His hands trembled.
There is someone inside the company you trust completely.
Adrian immediately thought of his CFO.
But the next sentence changed everything.
It isn’t him.
Adrian frowned.
The person controlling the network is someone you would never suspect because you believe he died years ago.
Adrian stopped breathing.
Marcus Hale.
But Marcus wasn’t the only person Adrian believed dead.
His father.
He searched the files.
Then found a photograph.
His father was alive.
Older.
Standing beside a private aircraft.
The date was only eight months earlier.
Adrian stared at the photograph.
His father had been alive all this time.
He had abandoned Adrian.
And he had been running the network.
Or at least part of it.
A noise came from upstairs.
Adrian and Clara rushed back.
The panic room door was open.
Samuel was unconscious.
Ethan was gone.
Adrian’s world collapsed.
“ETHAN!”
Clara screamed.
They searched the mansion.
Nothing.
Then Adrian noticed something.
A security camera had been redirected toward the basement.
On the screen was a single image.
A black car leaving the estate.
Adrian recognized the license plate.
It belonged to his father’s private company.
His father had taken Ethan.
Adrian grabbed his phone.
“Call the police.”
Clara did.
Adrian called his pilot.
“Get the jet ready.”
“Where are we going?”
Adrian looked at the screen.
“I don’t know yet.”
Then Samuel regained consciousness.
He grabbed Adrian’s arm.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“Your father doesn’t want Ethan dead.”
Adrian stared.
“Then what does he want?”
Samuel looked terrified.
“He wants the key.”
Adrian looked at the key.
“What key?”
“The one Ethan found.”
Adrian’s face changed.
The key wasn’t simply for the hidden room.
It opened something else.
Something far more important.
Samuel whispered:
“The master vault.”
Adrian asked:
“Where?”
Samuel pointed toward the old photograph.
“Your father’s first factory.”
The factory had been demolished twenty years earlier.
But according to the records, one underground structure remained.
Adrian understood.
His father had planned this.
The entire time.
The house.
The company.
Victoria’s investigation.
Clara’s arrival.
Even Ethan.
Everything was connected.
Adrian looked at Clara.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“You have a daughter to protect.”
“And you have a son.”
She grabbed her coat.
“I’m coming.”
Adrian nodded.
They left the mansion.
Outside, police vehicles arrived.
The security chief had been arrested.
Several intruders were captured.
But Ethan was still missing.
Adrian boarded the jet.
As the engines started, he looked through the window.
Boston disappeared beneath the clouds.
For the first time in his life, his billions meant nothing.
He didn’t care about his company.
He didn’t care about his reputation.
He didn’t care about losing everything.
He only cared about finding his son.
And somewhere ahead, his father was waiting.
With Ethan.
And the final secret Victoria had died trying to protect.
