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Chapter 9 - The Ghost in the Foundation

The demolition of the Vance estate was scheduled for dawn, but long before the heavy wrecking balls arrived, the local press had already turned the infamous mansion into a circus. Flashing camera bulbs illuminated the shattered wrought-iron gates, and news vans lined the coastal highway for miles.

Inside the cordoned-off grounds, a lone structural engineer stood in the hollow core of the ruined grand foyer, staring down at the exposed concrete footing beneath where the marble bust of Venus had once rested.

"Get a core sample over here," the engineer shouted to his crew over the roar of a portable generator. "Something doesn't add up with the load-bearing calculations. This house wasn't built on standard bedrock."

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A hydraulic drill whined to life, biting savagely into the thick, aged concrete. Within minutes, the bit punched through into a subterranean void, releasing a thick, stale puff of air that smelled faintly of damp earth and rusted iron.

When the crew jackhammered away the surrounding slab, they didn't just find a reinforced utility room. They uncovered a hidden secondary vault—one that Rosa's key hadn't unlocked, and one that Arthur Vance’s ledger had never mentioned.

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