CHAPTER 6: THE DEAD MAN’S SECRET
“The name written here,” Lily started, turning her head slowly to look directly at the bleeding billionaire. “Is Victor.”
Vance staggered backward as if he had just been shot directly in the chest.
Victor was his head of security, the exact same man who had supposedly stayed behind in the burning penthouse to buy them time.
“That is impossible,” Vance whispered, his face draining of all remaining color.
“I am just reading what Daddy wrote,” Lily replied, stating the horrifying fact with absolute innocence.
“Victor has been my right-hand man for fifteen years,” Vance argued, his voice shaking with pure, unrestrained rage.
“And he is the one who pushed my husband off the bridge,” Sarah realized, stepping protectively in front of her daughter.
If your most trusted protector turned out to be your greatest enemy, how could you ever close your eyes to sleep again?
The heavy steel safe suddenly let out a loud, mechanical hiss that echoed sharply through the bunker.
Thick, white pressure vented from the seams as the massive steel door slowly swung open entirely on its own.
Sarah flinched, expecting a bomb, but the dark interior only held a single silver hard drive and a black leather journal.
“Get the drive,” Vance commanded, gripping his bleeding shoulder as he collapsed into Mark’s expensive desk chair.
“Do not give him anything, Lily,” Sarah snapped, glaring fiercely at the wounded billionaire. “His own people murdered Mark.”
“And right now, those same people are hunting all three of us,” Vance fired back, gasping heavily for air.
He ripped open his ruined white shirt, revealing a deeply torn, bleeding bullet graze across his tattooed collarbone.
“I am going to bleed out in ten minutes if you do not help me,” Vance admitted, his arrogant facade finally cracking.
Sarah stared at his bleeding wound, her mind racing with a million terrifying thoughts of leaving him to die.
“Mom, there is a green medical box under the desk,” Lily pointed out, already pulling the heavy plastic kit across the floor.
Would you save the life of the dangerous mob boss who dragged you into a literal war zone?
Sarah cursed loudly under her breath, dropping to her knees to tear open the military-grade medical kit.
“If you die down here, we are trapped forever,” Sarah muttered, pulling out heavy gauze and a bottle of clear antiseptic.
“Exactly,” Vance grunted, gripping the leather armrests until his knuckles turned bone white.
Sarah poured the burning liquid directly over his open wound, ignoring the sharp hiss that escaped his teeth.
“You are remarkably calm for a waitress,” Vance observed, his dark eyes watching her trembling hands work the heavy bandages.
“When you are a single mother with zero money, you learn how to fix things fast,” Sarah answered coldly.
She pulled the heavy white bandage tightly across his broad chest, tying it off with a brutal, unforgiving yank.
“Grab Mark’s journal,” Vance instructed, his breathing slowly returning to a normal, steady rhythm.
Sarah stood up slowly, her legs shaking terribly as she walked over to the open steel safe.
She reached inside cautiously, pulling out the worn, black leather book that smelled exactly like her dead husband.
“Read the very first page,” Vance ordered, typing aggressively on the main computer console with his one good hand.
Sarah opened the heavy cover, her heart physically aching as she recognized Mark’s messy, rushed handwriting.
“If you are reading this, I am already dead, and Victor has officially betrayed the syndicate,” Sarah read aloud, her voice trembling.
Vance slammed his uninjured fist directly onto the glass desk, shattering a framed computer monitor into a hundred pieces.
“He played me for five years,” Vance roared, his anger consuming the underground room.
“Victor did not just kill Mark,” Sarah continued reading, her eyes scanning the terrifying paragraphs rapidly. “He stole the Sato syndicate’s money and blamed Mark for the theft.”
Lily stepped closer to the massive computer screens, her bright copper braids glowing under the blue monitor light.
“Mom, the screens are changing colors,” Lily announced, ignoring the adult outbursts.
Vance spun around in the leather chair, staring in horror as every single monitor in the bunker flashed red.
“Someone is hacking into the bunker’s mainframe,” Vance realized, frantically typing override codes into the master keyboard.
“How is that even possible if we are disconnected from the internet?” Sarah asked, her panic instantly flaring back to life.
“Victor knows exactly how I build my safe houses,” Vance answered, locked in a desperate digital war.
A harsh, metallic screech suddenly echoed directly from the bunker’s hidden ceiling speakers.
“Vance, my old friend,” a deep, distorted voice echoed through the massive underground chamber.
Sarah grabbed Lily instantly, pulling the eleven-year-old girl behind her own body to shield her.
“Victor,” Vance growled, pulling his heavy handgun from his waist and aiming it wildly at the ceiling speakers.
“I see you found the accountant’s little rat hole,” Victor mocked lightly, his voice dripping with toxic amusement.
“I am going to rip your head off your shoulders,” Vance promised, his dark eyes burning with pure murder.
“You are not going to do anything except drown,” Victor laughed, the cruel sound chilling Sarah to her bones.
“What does he mean by drown?” Sarah screamed, looking frantically around the sealed concrete room.
“He compromised the hydraulic locks on the upper tunnel,” Vance realized, abandoning the computer terminal to grab Sarah’s arm.
“The shipping yard sits directly above the rising ocean tide,” Victor explained calmly over the screeching speakers.
A massive boom shook the underground bunker, knocking Sarah directly to the concrete floor.
“I just blew the main water valves,” Victor announced proudly.
Dark, freezing ocean water began pouring from the air ventilation shafts directly above their heads.
“We need to get back in the elevator right now,” Vance shouted, pulling Sarah up by her uniform collar.
“The elevator is dead,” Lily pointed out, aiming a trembling finger at the dark, lifeless steel doors.
The freezing salt water was already pooling around their ankles, rising with terrifying speed.
“There has to be another way out,” Sarah cried, desperate as the water soaked through her cheap shoes.
“Mark built this place as a vault, not an escape room,” Vance admitted, looking wildly around the rapidly flooding chamber.
If the walls of your only sanctuary suddenly became your watery grave, who would you save first?
“Daddy left a map,” Lily yelled over the roaring sound of the rushing ocean water.
She held up the black leather journal, pointing directly to a crude drawing on the very back page.
“It is a drainage pipe located directly behind the server racks,” Vance realized, splashing heavily through the knee-deep water.
He threw his shoulder against the towering metal server racks, shoving thousands of pounds of electronics aside.
A small, dark circular tunnel sat directly exposed in the wet concrete wall.
“Get inside quickly,” Vance ordered, forcing Lily and Sarah into the dark, incredibly narrow pipe.
The freezing water was up to their waists now, pulling them toward the back of the room.
Sarah crawled frantically into the claustrophobic pipe, terrified of the blackness waiting ahead.
Vance squeezed in directly behind them, blocking the tunnel entrance with his massive, muscular frame.
“Keep crawling and do not stop for anything,” Vance commanded, his voice echoing loudly in the tight space.
“I cannot see anything at all,” Sarah sobbed, her hands scraping against the sharp, rusted metal of the pipe.
“Just follow the smell of fresh air,” Vance encouraged, coughing as the rising water splashed into his face.
Suddenly, a massive, heavy iron grate blocked their path in the dark.
Sarah pushed against the iron bars with all of her remaining strength, but the metal refused to budge.
“It is locked from the outside,” Sarah screamed, trapped in the terrifying, wet darkness.
The freezing ocean water rushed up to their chins, filling the narrow pipe with lethal speed.
