CHAPTER 6 – The Safe That Should Have Been Empty
The rain hadn't stopped by the time Caleb and the old man reached the abandoned farmhouse where his father had once lived.
Hidden beneath loose floorboards in the bedroom was a rusted steel safe.
Caleb stared at the brass key.
"My father never told me about this."
"He couldn't," the old man replied. "He knew someone was listening long before he died."
The key turned with a loud metallic click.
For thirty years...
No one had opened the safe.
Inside wasn't money.
It wasn't gold.
It wasn't even a will.
There was a leather folder marked:
IRON REAPERS – ORIGINAL CHARTER
Caleb carefully unfolded the brittle pages.
Every founding member had signed the document.
At the bottom was one final paragraph.
"If any president betrays the brotherhood for personal profit, ownership of all club assets shall immediately transfer to the surviving founder or to the founder's chosen heir."
Caleb looked up in shock.
"My father..."
The old man nodded.
"Your father was the last surviving founder."
Caleb's hands began to shake.
"Then... after he died..."
"The club legally became yours."
The room fell silent.
For thirty years...
Rex Maddox had ruled a club he never legally owned.
But there was something else inside the safe.
A small velvet pouch.
The old man frowned.
"I've never seen that before."
Caleb opened it.
A silver ring fell into his hand.
The Iron Reapers founder's ring.
Engraved inside were six words:
"Trust no one wearing the patch."
Before either man could speak, headlights swept across the farmhouse windows.
Several black pickup trucks surrounded the property.
Doors slammed.
Heavy footsteps echoed outside.
One of the old man's security guards rushed inside.
"Chairman!"
"They're not here to rescue Rex..."
"They're here to finish what he started."
The lights suddenly went out.
Darkness swallowed the farmhouse.
A voice echoed from outside through a loudspeaker.
"Hand over Caleb..."
"And everyone else walks away alive."
The old man slowly smiled.
"No..."
"They finally came."
Caleb frowned.
"Who are they?"
The old man's expression turned grim.
"The people Rex was terrified of."
"He wasn't the man at the top..."
"He was only collecting money for someone far more powerful."
Outside...
More than fifty armed men stepped into the rain.
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And standing in the center...
Was a woman wearing the exact same founder's ring as Caleb.
