Chapter 6 - THE KEY INSIDE OUR MARRIAGE
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We returned to my father's old laboratory.
It had been sealed since his death.
Damien found an access panel hidden beneath a metal desk.
Claire stood beside me.
“What are we looking for?”
“My father said the access key was inside the marriage.”
I touched the desk.
Nothing.
Then I remembered something.
My wedding ring.
The one Blake gave me.
I took it off.
A tiny symbol was engraved inside the band.
I had never noticed.
Three letters.
AVX.
Damien's eyes widened.
“That's not a jewelry engraving.”
“What is it?”
“A biometric designation.”
Claire stepped closer.
“My father hid technology in ordinary objects.”
I looked at the ring.
Blake had chosen it.
Or so I thought.
We inserted the ring into a scanner.
A hidden screen illuminated.
My father's face appeared.
“Audrey.”
I nearly cried.
“If you're seeing this, the marriage has ended.”
Damien looked at me.
My father continued.
“I knew Blake would eventually betray you.”
He explained that the ring wasn't the key.
It was the container for a digital certificate.
A certificate that could unlock a classified defense platform.
But only if three conditions were met.
The first was the heir's identity.
The second was the surviving sister.
The third was the spouse.
I stared.
“The spouse?”
My father nodded.
“The system requires the trust beneficiary to enter the authorization with someone who has no financial claim on the company.”
Damien understood first.
“Blake was never eligible.”
“Because he was already trustee.”
My father continued.
“I chose the spouse because I wanted someone with nothing to gain.”
I looked at Damien.
He looked back at me.
The man who had walked into the gala holding my hand.
The man who had every reason to hate Seraphina.
The man who had helped me without asking for anything.
He was the first person my father had trusted.
The system opened.
A warning appeared.
SECOND AUTHORIZER REQUIRED.
Damien placed his hand on the scanner.
Green.
AUTHORIZED.
Then I placed mine.
Green.
AUTHORIZED.
The screen displayed the final option.
RELEASE OR DESTROY.
Claire looked at me.
“What will you do?”
I thought about Blake.
The company.
My father.
The employees.
The billions.
Then I thought about how quickly power had corrupted everyone around me.
“Destroy it.”
Damien nodded.
My father had built a weapon.
I would not inherit one.
I pressed the button.
The system began deleting itself.
Thousands of files vanished.
Encrypted servers shut down.
The technology was gone.
For the first time in decades, nobody could use it.
Then a final message appeared.
THE ORIGINAL ARCHIVE REMAINS.
I stared.
“What archive?”
Claire went pale.
“My father told me about it.”
“Where?”
She whispered:
“Inside Northstar.”
Damien looked at me.
“So this was never the final system.”
“No.”
I closed my hand around the wedding ring.
“It was the map.”
That afternoon, federal agents raided Northstar Meridian.
But Blake had already disappeared.
Seraphina was arrested.
Several executives were charged.
My former husband was nowhere to be found.
Then one of the investigators contacted me.
“We found something.”
“What?”
“A private vault.”
“Whose?”
“Your mother's.”
I felt my stomach tighten.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“There was a letter inside.”
He handed it to me.
I recognized her handwriting.
Audrey, if you are reading this, I failed to protect your father. But there is one truth I never told you.
I opened the second page.
Blake didn't choose Seraphina because he loved her.
I froze.
May you like
The last sentence read:
He chose her because she was my daughter.
