CHAPTER 5 — THE FIFTH SECRET WAS NEVER INSIDE THE HOUSE
The explosion threw everyone to the floor.
Glass shattered.
The chandeliers crashed from the ceiling.
Guests screamed as smoke swallowed the grand ballroom below.
Daniel grabbed Emily's hand.
"Run!"
Michael rushed toward their injured mother while Daniel's father disappeared into the smoke without saying a word.
"He knows something!" Daniel shouted.
"We have to follow him!"
But before they could move, every television in the mansion flickered to life.
The wedding video vanished.
A black screen appeared.
Then a masked man slowly stepped into view.
His voice echoed through every room.
"If you're watching this..."
"...then Eleanor Carter is dead."
Everyone froze.
Daniel looked at his mother.
She was still alive.
Barely breathing.
But the man on the screen continued.
"She believed she controlled this family."
"She was wrong."
"The Carter empire has always belonged to someone else."
A countdown suddenly appeared.
09:59... 09:58... 09:57...
Emily's eyes widened.
"It's another trap."
The masked man smiled.
"In ten minutes, every file inside this mansion will be erased forever."
"Unless one of you reaches the vault."
Daniel frowned.
"What vault?"
Michael's face turned pale.
"There isn't one..."
His father suddenly emerged from the smoke.
"Yes, there is."
He pulled an old blueprint from inside his jacket.
"The vault was built beneath the wine cellar thirty years ago."
Daniel stared at the blueprint.
"You knew this entire time?"
"I built it."
"You BUILT it?"
His father nodded.
"But I was never allowed inside."
The countdown reached eight minutes.
Without another word, the four of them ran through the burning mansion.
Smoke filled every hallway.
Wedding guests pushed toward the exits while firefighters were still minutes away.
They finally reached the underground wine cellar.
Thousands of dusty bottles lined the walls.
Nothing looked unusual.
"There has to be another entrance," Emily whispered.
Daniel searched the room.
Then he noticed something strange.
One bottle was spotless.
Unlike the others.
He pulled it.
A deep rumble shook the floor.
The wine rack slowly slid aside, revealing a narrow staircase descending into darkness.
Cold air rushed upward.
Michael looked down.
"No one has been here for decades."
Daniel switched on a flashlight.
The four of them descended.
At the bottom waited a massive steel door.
Above it were engraved five words.
THE TRUTH HAS A PRICE.
Emily inserted the bloody silver key.
Nothing happened.
"It needs another key," she whispered.
Daniel suddenly remembered the wedding ring he had dropped upstairs.
His heart sank.
"The ring..."
"What?"
"It wasn't just a wedding ring."
He remembered his mother insisting the Carter family heirloom must never be removed.
His father slowly smiled.
"Now you understand."
"The ring was the second key."
Daniel looked horrified.
"It's still upstairs..."
Before anyone could react—
A voice echoed behind them.
"You won't be needing it."
Everyone turned.
Standing in the tunnel was a young woman wearing a black suit.
She held Daniel's wedding ring between two fingers.
Her smile was chilling.
"You've all been chasing ghosts."
She slipped the ring onto her own finger.
"My name is Evelyn Cross."
Emily gasped.
"No..."
Daniel frowned.
"Who are you?"
The woman smiled.
"I'm the last living member of the Cross family."
She looked directly at Emily.
"And I'm also..."
"...your cousin."
Emily's knees nearly gave out.
Evelyn laughed.
"Grandfather E.C. never wanted the Carter fortune."
"He wanted revenge."
"For fifty years."
She raised a small remote control.
"This vault doesn't contain money."
"It contains every secret powerful people have paid billions to hide."
She pressed one button.
The steel door behind Daniel slammed shut.
Another countdown appeared above it.
60...59...58...
Daniel shouted, "What did you do?"
Evelyn's smile never faded.
"I've locked the vault."
"In exactly one minute..."
"The oxygen inside this chamber will run out."
She took one final step backward into the darkness.
"Oh... and one more thing."
She looked straight at Daniel.
"The person who betrayed you first..."
"...was never Emily."
"It was your father."
The tunnel door slammed shut.
Darkness swallowed the chamber.
The timer continued counting down.
45...44...43...
Daniel slowly turned toward his father.
For the first time...
May you like
His father couldn't meet his eyes.
TO BE CONTINUED...
