CHAPTER 6 – The Board's Chosen Heir
The smoke slowly cleared.
Emily stood perfectly still.
Dozens of rifles were aimed at her chest, yet no one pulled the trigger.
The masked captain took one respectful step forward and bowed his head.
"Miss Emily..."
"For twenty-five years, the Board has protected your inheritance."
Daniel tightened his grip on his pistol.
"Don't believe a single word they say."
The captain smiled.
"Oh, she deserves the truth."
With a snap of his fingers, the armed soldiers lowered their weapons.
Not because they had surrendered...
But because Emily was no longer considered a target.
She was considered their future.
The captain handed her a sealed black envelope.
Across the front, in elegant gold lettering, were five words:
"To Be Opened By Emily Only."
Her hands trembled as she broke the wax seal.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
The signature at the bottom made her heart stop.
Her father's.
Not a photograph.
Not a copy.
The original.
Emily had been told her father died before she was born.
But the letter began with one impossible sentence.
"If you are reading this, I have already disappeared—not because I am dead, but because I chose to vanish."
Her vision blurred.
Daniel slowly lowered his weapon.
"No..."
"He destroyed that letter."
Emily continued reading.
"The day will come when Daniel and your mother will tell you different versions of the same story. They both love you... but both have lied to you. Trust neither until you discover what lies beneath Blackstone Manor."
At the bottom of the page was a strange symbol.
Three interlocking circles.
The same symbol engraved on Emily's silver necklace.
The captain looked at her.
"Your father built Genesis."
"Your mother expanded it."
"Your grandfather tried to destroy it."
"And you..."
He smiled.
"...were born to control it."
Before Emily could answer, every computer screen inside the vault suddenly went black.
Then a familiar face appeared.
A man in his early fifties with piercing blue eyes.
The entire room froze.
Daniel staggered backward as though he had seen a ghost.
The commander whispered,
"It can't be..."
The man smiled directly into the camera.
"Hello, old friends."
"My name is Michael Carter."
Emily's hands began shaking uncontrollably.
That was impossible.
Michael Carter...
Was her father.
The man everyone believed had died twenty-six years ago.
"I've been watching all of you," he said calmly.
"I knew this day would come."
Daniel shouted at the screen.
"Where are you?"
Michael ignored him.
Instead, he looked only at Emily.
"If you want the truth..."
"Come to Blackstone Manor before sunrise."
"But come alone."
"If anyone follows you..."
"I will disappear forever."
The screen went dark.
Silence filled the vault.
Then the captain stepped aside.
"We won't stop you."
"Neither will your mother."
"Because this has never been about choosing sides."
He pointed toward the tunnel leading out of the vault.
"It's about discovering which member of your family murdered the other."
Emily looked at Daniel.
Then at the letter in her hands.
Finally, she whispered the question no one wanted to answer.
"If my father is alive..."
"Whose grave have I been visiting all these years?"
No one spoke.
Because every person in the room knew the answer...
May you like
And none of them had the courage to say it aloud.
END OF CHAPTER 6...
