Chapter 16 - The Vault of Secrets
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At the bottom of the stone stairs was a massive reinforced steel door fitted with a heavy, antique keyhole.
I stepped forward, pulled the rusted iron key from my pocket, inserted it into the keyhole, and turned it clockwise. With a loud hydraulic hiss, the heavy steel door swung inward, revealing a climate-controlled room glowing with soft, automated LED lighting.
Sal and I stepped inside, our breath catching in our throats.
The room wasn't filled with gold or cash. It was a state-of-the-art server room and archival library. Thousands of hard drives hummed quietly in black racks, and glass display cases lined the walls, containing ancient maps, legal charters, and classified government files.
In the center of the room sat a single glass desk with a glowing computer monitor displaying a video file labeled: PLAY_ME_VICTORIA.mp4.
I walked up to the desk with trembling legs and tapped the spacebar.
The monitor flickered, and suddenly, my father’s face filled the screen. He looked tired, with deep circles under his eyes, but his gaze was sharp and full of love.
"Hello, Victoria," my father’s recorded voice echoed through the speakers. "If you are watching this, you have reclaimed your strength, and Julian has been dealt with."
I covered my mouth with my hand, tears flowing freely down my cheeks. "Dad..."
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"What I am about to tell you will change everything you know about our world," Arthur Vance continued in the recording. "Vance Enterprises was never just a construction company, Victoria. It was a front created by the United States government sixty years ago to fund and protect Project Aegis—a global defense initiative designed to monitor financial crime and underground cartels."
Sal gasped beside me, his eyes widening in complete shock. "My God... Arthur never told me..."
