Chapter 6 - The Broken Vault
The discovery of the hospital tag sent a wave of icy tension through Arthur’s veins, but his facial expression remained an unreadable mask of stone. He stared at the blue plastic strip, processing the implications. If Lily was "Baby Girl B," then where was "Baby Girl A"? And more importantly, who had authorized the switch?
Without a word to Clara, Arthur exited the nursery and marched down the long, carpeted corridor toward his private study in the west wing.
The study was a fortress—panelled in dark mahogany, lined with thousands of leather-bound books, and secured by a biometrics scanner concealed behind an 18th-century oil painting of the Sterling ancestral home.
Arthur approached the painting, swung it open, and pressed his thumb against the glass scanner.
BEEP. ACCESS DENIED.
Arthur frowned. He wiped his thumb and pressed it again, firmer this time.
BEEP. ACCESS DENIED. ACCOUNT LOCKED.
Arthur’s eyes flared with rage. Someone had tampered with his private network from inside the mansion. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a heavy gold master key, and inserted it into a hidden manual lock beneath the scanner. With a hard twist, the heavy steel door of the wall vault clicked open.
Inside the vault sat three black leather ledgers containing fifty years of off-the-books family transactions. But as Arthur reached for the middle ledger—the one marked Project Horizon: 2020—his hand caught empty air.
The ledger was gone.
In its place sat a single, pristine silver fountain pen with an engraving on the side: PROPERTY OF THE STERLING FOUNDATION.
May you like
Arthur picked up the pen, his mind racing. That pen belonged to only one person in the estate—a person who hadn't been mentioned in any of the drama in the dining hall.
His eldest daughter, Beatrice.
