CHAPTER 10 — THE VAULT OF SECRETS
At 2:17 a.m., I walked into the old Moretti estate alone.
At least that's what Elias believed.
Dominic was somewhere behind me.
Hidden.
Watching.
The rain had stopped.
The silence felt unnatural.
I followed the instructions Elias had sent.
Down the eastern corridor.
Past the ruined library.
Through a narrow door.
Down twelve stairs.
Then another hallway.
At the end was a steel door.
Elias was waiting.
“You came.”
“My mother.”
“Alive.”
“Show me.”
He pointed to a monitor.
The screen flickered.
My mother appeared.
She was sitting in a chair.
Her hands were free.
She looked exhausted.
“Mom.”
She looked up.
“Avery.”
I stepped toward the screen.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Where is Richard?”
“Not here.”
“Then where?”
My mother looked away.
“I don't know.”
Elias stepped closer.
“She's telling the truth.”
I looked at him.
“Why should I believe you?”
“You shouldn't.”
“At least you're honest.”
He smiled.
“Your father liked that about you.”
“You knew him.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“He saved me.”
“From Richard?”
“From Matteo.”
I frowned.
“Matteo worked with Richard.”
“Yes.”
“Then why would Matteo want you dead?”
“Because I knew too much.”
“What did you know?”
“That the Circle wasn't controlled by Richard.”
“Who controlled it?”
Elias looked at me.
“Your father.”
I froze.
“No.”
“He created it.”
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“That's impossible.”
“He created it to protect people.”
“By blackmailing them?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“By collecting evidence.”
I stared.
“Evidence against criminals.”
“Against corrupt officials.”
“Against murderers.”
“Against people who could never be prosecuted.”
Elias stepped closer.
“Your father believed the law couldn't protect everyone.”
“So he built his own system.”
“Yes.”
“And Richard?”
“Richard infiltrated it.”
“Matteo?”
“Betrayed it.”
“And Dominic's father?”
“Was trying to destroy it.”
I looked at the screen.
“My mother knows.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't she tell me?”
“Because she promised your father.”
“Promised what?”
“That you'd have a normal life.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Normal?”
Elias looked away.
“Your father believed you deserved one.”
I felt tears in my eyes.
“I spent eight years thinking he abandoned us.”
“He didn't.”
“Then why didn't he come home?”
“Because he knew he was going to die.”
My chest tightened.
“Who killed him?”
Elias didn't answer.
Instead, he pointed toward another door.
“The vault.”
I looked at it.
“What is inside?”
“The truth.”
I approached.
The door opened when I placed my hand against it.
A scanner recognized me.
Dominic's voice came through my earpiece.
“Avery.”
“I know.”
“Don't go inside.”
I looked back.
“Why?”
“I don't trust him.”
I whispered:
“Neither do I.”
Then I entered.
The vault was enormous.
Not filled with gold.
Not filled with money.
Filled with evidence.
Files.
Photographs.
Hard drives.
Audio recordings.
Bank records.
Police reports.
Names.
Hundreds of names.
Thousands.
Every powerful person in Chicago seemed to exist inside those walls.
And in the center stood a single table.
On it was a red folder.
My name was written across it.
I opened it.
Inside was a photograph of me at seventeen.
And a letter.
My father's handwriting.
Avery,
If you're reading this, then you finally found the vault.
I stopped breathing.
You are probably angry.
I laughed through tears.
“That's an understatement.”
You have every right to be.
I kept reading.
But I need you to understand why I lied.
The Circle was never about power.
It was about survival.
I built it because people like Richard Whitmore were destroying lives while hiding behind money and influence.
I gathered evidence.
I protected witnesses.
I paid for lawyers.
I saved people the law had abandoned.
I looked around the vault.
Maybe he had been telling the truth.
But then Matteo joined us.
And everything changed.
My hands trembled.
He wanted the Circle for himself.
Richard offered him something I couldn't.
Power without rules.
I turned the page.
The next sentence made my blood freeze.
Dominic is not my biological son.
I stopped.
I read it again.
Dominic is not my biological son.
I looked toward the doorway.
Dominic stood there.
His face was pale.
He had heard everything.
“Avery.”
I couldn't speak.
He walked toward me.
“What did it say?”
I handed him the letter.
He read.
His hands began shaking.
“My father…”
He looked at me.
“Who am I?”
I shook my head.
“I don't know.”
He continued reading.
Then he stopped.
A single sentence remained.
Dominic was adopted because his real father was murdered by the Circle.
Dominic stared at the page.
“Who?”
I looked at the documents.
There was a photograph attached.
A man.
My father.
And a woman.
Sofia Bellini.
And between them stood a little boy.
Dominic.
My stomach dropped.
Dominic stared at the photograph.
“That can't be me.”
“You were there.”
He shook his head.
“I don't remember.”
I looked at the date.
It was twenty years ago.
Dominic had been six.
My father had adopted him after Sofia's murder.
But why?
I turned the photograph over.
My father's handwriting:
I promised Sofia I would protect her son.
Dominic stepped backward.
“Sofia was my mother?”
“Yes.”
“And Richard killed her?”
I nodded.
“But why?”
Before I could answer, a gunshot echoed.
The vault door slammed shut.
Elias screamed from outside.
Then another gunshot.
Dominic pulled me behind the table.
Someone was coming.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Calm.
Deliberate.
Then a voice.
“Open the door.”
Dominic raised his weapon.
“Who?”
The answer came softly.
“Your mother.”
I froze.
Dominic looked at me.
“That isn't possible.”
The vault door opened.
My mother stepped inside.
She was holding a gun.
Blood covered her sleeve.
I stared at her.
“Mom?”
She looked at me.
Tears filled her eyes.
“I didn't want you to find this.”
Dominic raised his weapon.
“Put it down.”
My mother looked at him.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
She shook her head.
“It's too late.”
I stepped forward.
“What did you do?”
She looked at me.
Then at Dominic.
And finally at the red folder.
“I killed your father.”
The words destroyed me.
“No.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
“Because he asked me to.”
Silence.
Dominic lowered his weapon slightly.
“Why would he ask you to kill him?”
My mother began crying.
“Because he knew who the real enemy was.”
“Who?”
She looked directly at Dominic.
“You.”
His face went completely still.
I stared at her.
“What?”
My mother whispered:
“Your father believed Dominic was the only person capable of destroying the Circle.”
Dominic shook his head.
“No.”
“He knew what you would become.”
I looked at Dominic.
My mother continued.
“He made me promise that if you ever discovered the vault, I would stop you.”
“Stop me from what?”
She looked at me.
“From becoming exactly like him.”
A gunshot came from behind her.
My mother collapsed.
I screamed.
Dominic caught her before she hit the floor.
Blood spread across his hands.
He looked at me.
“Someone shot her.”
I turned toward the vault entrance.
Nobody.
Only darkness.
Then the lights went out.
A voice whispered through the speakers.
“Hello, Avery.”
I froze.
Richard.
“You finally opened the vault.”
His voice became almost amused.
“And now you finally know why your father had to die.”
The emergency lights flickered.
A screen activated.
Richard appeared.
Beside him stood Vanessa.
And behind them...
was Elias.
Alive.
Holding a gun.
I stared.
“You betrayed us.”
Elias looked at me.
“No.”
He lowered the gun.
“I betrayed them.”
Then he shot Richard.
The screen went black.
Dominic looked at me.
“What the hell just happened?”
I couldn't answer.
Because my mother's eyes opened.
She grabbed my wrist.
Her voice was barely audible.
“Avery…”
I leaned closer.
“Mom?”
She whispered:
“Richard isn't the man you should fear.”
“Who is?”
She looked toward Dominic.
Then her eyes closed.
“Your father.”
I stared at her.
Dominic stared at me.
And somewhere beneath the mansion, a hidden alarm began counting down.
Ten.
Nine.
Eight.
Seven.
The vault doors began locking.
Six.
Five.
Four.
Dominic grabbed my hand.
“We're leaving.”
Three.
Two.
One.
The entire room exploded into darkness.
And as I ran beside Dominic through the collapsing vault, one terrible thought followed me:
My father had spent eight years preparing me for this moment.
May you like
But what if he hadn't been preparing me to survive?
What if he had been preparing me to finish what he started?
