CHAPTER 7 – The Countdown That Changed Everything
The explosion shattered every window in the mansion.
Crystal chandeliers crashed to the marble floor.
Smoke poured through the hallways as terrified screams echoed from every direction.
"Everyone out!" Edmund shouted.
Security agents rushed to protect Lily and Sophia, but the twin sisters stood frozen, staring at each other through the chaos.
Then...
The emergency lights flickered on.
A computerized voice echoed through hidden speakers.
"Vault Seven breach detected."
"Self-destruct sequence activated."
"Ten minutes remaining."
Mrs. Ashford's confident smile disappeared.
"What?"
She looked around in panic.
"No... that's impossible!"
Edmund's face darkened.
"I warned your husband years ago."
"He built this mansion with one final safeguard."
"If anyone ever tried to steal the Ashford fortune, the entire underground archive would destroy itself."
Mrs. Ashford grabbed Edmund by the collar.
"You knew?"
"I knew justice would eventually find this house."
Suddenly, Sophia stepped forward.
"There’s another way."
Everyone turned toward her.
"The explosion wasn't designed to destroy the mansion."
"It was designed to seal the evidence forever."
She pulled a small black device from her pocket.
"The real archive is still intact."
"But it's hidden beneath the east wing."
Lily frowned.
"Then why is the countdown still running?"
Sophia hesitated.
"Because someone is already inside..."
"...trying to erase everything."
Before anyone could react, the security monitors throughout the mansion suddenly came back online.
A live camera feed appeared on every screen.
A masked figure dressed in black was racing through the underground tunnels.
In one hand, he carried a gasoline can.
In the other...
A hard drive labeled:
ASHFORD LEGACY – ORIGINAL FILES
Edmund's eyes widened.
"No..."
"If he burns those files..."
"There will never be proof of who murdered your father."
Lily didn't hesitate.
"I'm going after him."
"No!" Edmund shouted.
"It's too dangerous!"
But Lily was already running.
Sophia watched her disappear into the smoke.
For the first time in her life, the cold expression she had worn for eleven years finally cracked.
Quietly, almost in a whisper, she said,
"She's just like Dad..."
Without another word, Sophia ran after her sister.
The twins sprinted into the collapsing underground tunnels together—one raised in poverty, the other raised by the enemy.
Above them, the countdown continued.
05:42...
05:41...
05:40...
Then the masked man reached the final steel door.
He removed his mask.
Lily stopped in horror.
Sophia's face turned completely white.
The man wasn't a stranger.
He wasn't a hired criminal.
He was Richard Ashford...
The man whose funeral had been held eleven years earlier.
The man everyone believed had died in the car crash.
May you like
Lily's father...
...was still alive.
