Chapter 16 - THE LAST VAULT
By morning, we had a plan.
It was a terrible plan.
Which, in my experience, meant it was probably the only plan that had a chance.
Mercer spread maps across the dining table.
“The syndicate controls three locations.”
He pointed.
“Chicago.”
“New York.”
“Milwaukee.”
I looked at him.
“Why Milwaukee?”
“Because that's where Anna was hidden.”
Victoria shook her head.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
“The syndicate doesn't care about Milwaukee.”
She pointed to the map.
“They care about this.”
A small town in northern Wisconsin.
I frowned.
“What is there?”
“My mother's childhood home.”
Dominic went pale.
“Eleanor's house.”
“Yes.”
Anna looked confused.
“Why would that matter?”
Victoria answered.
“Because your mother didn't hide the evidence in a bank.”
“Where?”
“In the house where she first learned to hide.”
We drove north before sunrise.
Chloe stayed with Elena.
For once, I listened when someone told me not to bring her into danger.
Anna sat beside me.
Evelyn sat behind us.
Victoria drove.
Dominic followed.
Mercer led a federal convoy.
The farther north we went, the more remote the roads became.
Pine trees.
Frozen lakes.
Small towns.
No skyscrapers.
No sirens.
No evidence of the empire that had shaped my life.
Finally, we reached an old farmhouse.
Anna stared.
“I know this place.”
I looked at her.
“How?”
She shook her head.
“I don't know.”
We entered.
Dust covered everything.
Victoria walked directly to the kitchen.
She opened a cabinet.
Nothing.
Then she removed a wooden panel.
Behind it was a narrow staircase.
Dominic whispered:
“Of course.”
We descended.
At the bottom was a room.
Small.
Warm.
Almost peaceful.
A wooden desk stood against the wall.
On it was a music box.
Anna approached it.
She touched the lid.
The box began playing automatically.
A lullaby.
She started crying.
“I know this song.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
“Our mother sang it.”
Anna sat down.
“I remember.”
Her voice trembled.
“She sang it when I was sick.”
Evelyn knelt beside her.
“What else do you remember?”
“A woman.”
“Our mother?”
“I think so.”
Anna looked at me.
“And a boy.”
My heart stopped.
“Me?”
She nodded.
“You gave me a wooden horse.”
I couldn't breathe.
I remembered.
A little girl.
A wooden horse.
My mother's pantry.
My father's voice.
The locked door.
The night everything changed.
I whispered:
“You were there.”
Anna nodded.
“You were my brother.”
I looked away.
For the first time, a childhood memory came back whole.
My mother had held both of us.
She had kissed my forehead.
Then hers.
And said:
“Whatever happens, protect each other.”
I had forgotten.
No.
My father had made me forget.
I opened the desk drawer.
Inside was a letter.
My name was written on it.
I opened it.
Vincent,
If you have found this room, then the syndicate has finally come for my children.
My hands shook.
Do not trust the person who claims to control the Thorne empire.
I looked at Victoria.
She was reading over my shoulder.
The syndicate is not one organization. It is a circle.
Seven families.
Seven names.
Seven men and women who have controlled Chicago for generations.
Then the names appeared.
I recognized every one.
Judges.
Senators.
Billionaires.
Police commissioners.
Bankers.
One name made me stop.
Daniel Mercer.
I looked up.
Mercer stood across the room.
He was holding a gun.
Everyone froze.
Mercer smiled.
“I was wondering when you'd figure it out.”
Victoria whispered:
“No.”
Mercer raised his weapon.
“Put your hands where I can see them.”
Dominic reached for his gun.
“Don't.”
Mercer's voice was calm.
“I'm not here to hurt Anna.”
“Then why?”
“Because she's the key.”
“To what?”
“The last vault.”
Anna stared at him.
“What vault?”
Mercer smiled.
“The one your mother died protecting.”
I stepped in front of Anna.
“You're one of them.”
“Not one.”
He laughed.
“I'm the man who has been keeping the circle alive.”
Evelyn raised her weapon.
Mercer fired.
The bullet struck her shoulder.
She screamed.
Dominic returned fire.
The room exploded into chaos.
Victoria pulled Anna behind the desk.
I tackled Mercer.
We crashed into the wall.
He punched me.
I hit him back.
“You took Grace!”
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
“Alive.”
“Where?”
He laughed.
“You're still thinking too small.”
I slammed him against the wall.
“What does the syndicate want?”
He smiled.
“You.”
Then the door behind us opened.
A dozen armed men entered.
We were surrounded.
Mercer stepped away from me.
A woman walked into the room.
Elegant.
Gray hair.
Emerald eyes.
I knew her face.
I had seen her photograph in my father's files.
She was one of the most powerful politicians in Illinois.
She smiled.
“Vincent Thorne.”
I raised my weapon.
“Who are you?”
She looked at Anna.
Then Evelyn.
Then Victoria.
“I am the woman who has been waiting for your family to come home.”
Anna whispered:
“Why?”
The woman smiled.
“Because your mother stole something from us.”
“What?”
The woman looked directly at me.
“The names.”
I remembered the notebook.
The flash drive.
The documents.
She continued.
“Your mother copied the identities of every member of the Circle.”
“And you want them back.”
“No.”
Her smile disappeared.
“We want you to publish them.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“We need someone to destroy the Circle.”
I frowned.
“You kidnapped Grace.”
“To force you to act.”
“You murdered my mother.”
The woman's face changed.
“No.”
She looked toward Victoria.
“Your father did.”
I turned.
My father had told me the truth only once.
He had said:
Ask Dominic.
Now I understood.
My father wasn't protecting the Circle.
He had been protecting us from it.
The woman stepped closer.
“Your father betrayed the Circle thirty years ago.”
I stared.
“He built his own empire.”
“Yes.”
“And my mother?”
“She stole the evidence.”
“Why?”
“Because she discovered the Circle planned to use her children.”
Anna stepped forward.
“For what?”
The woman looked at her.
“For the succession.”
Silence.
Then she said:
“Seven families.”
“Seven heirs.”
“Seven bloodlines.”
“And one throne.”
My father had never been the king.
He had been fighting to become one.
And now the Circle wanted me to sit on the throne he had spent his life building.
I looked at Anna.
She was terrified.
I looked at Evelyn.
Blood ran down her arm.
I looked at Victoria.
Then I remembered Chloe.
Her words.
Don't be alone in the dark.
I lowered my weapon.
The woman smiled.
“Wise choice.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
Her smile faded.
“I choose something else.”
I reached into my coat.
Pulled out my phone.
And held it up.
The recording indicator was glowing red.
“I've been recording everything.”
Mercer's face went white.
The woman stepped backward.
“You wouldn't.”
I smiled.
“I would.”
Then the farmhouse windows exploded.
Federal agents stormed the building.
Mercer was tackled to the floor.
The woman was arrested.
Men dropped their weapons.
For several seconds, nobody understood what had happened.
Then Mercer looked at me.
“You think this ends here?”
I stared at him.
“No.”
I looked at the seven names on the table.
“It starts here.”
Three hours later, the recording was uploaded to a federal evidence server.
The names were no longer secrets.
The Circle was exposed.
But Grace was still missing.
And one question remained.
Who had taken her?
That night, Chloe sat beside me at the safe house.
She handed me a cup of hot chocolate.
“You look tired.”
“I am.”
She climbed onto the sofa.
“Did you find the bad people?”
“Some.”
“Are there more?”
“Yes.”
She thought for a moment.
“Then keep going.”
I smiled.
“I will.”
She pulled the blanket over both of us.
“Are you happy?”
I looked at her.
For the first time, I didn't know how to answer.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
A man's voice whispered:
“You found the Circle.”
I said nothing.
“You exposed them.”
“Who are you?”
The voice laughed.
“Someone who has Grace.”
My blood froze.
“Where?”
“Come to Chicago.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
“Why?”
“Because there is one last secret your mother left behind.”
The call ended.
A message appeared.
A photograph.
Grace.
Alive.
Standing beside a woman.
The woman was holding a newborn baby.
I zoomed in.
The woman had emerald eyes.
I looked at Victoria.
She saw the photograph.
Her face turned white.
“Who is that?”
Victoria whispered:
“Eleanor.”
I stared.
“Our mother?”
Victoria nodded.
“That photograph was taken eight years ago.”
I couldn't breathe.
My mother had supposedly been dead for eight years.
Then who was the woman standing beside Grace?
And why was she holding a baby?
The phone buzzed again.
One final message appeared:
Your mother is alive.
I looked at Chloe.
Then at my sisters.
And for the first time since the Thorne empire collapsed, I understood something.
May you like
The worst secret hadn't been uncovered.
It had only just begun.
