Chapter 6: The Vault Beneath the Chapel
Chapter 6: The Vault Beneath the Chapel
Explosives.
Three Black Ravens sprinted toward the chapel carrying demolition charges.
"No!" Clara screamed.
Declan handed Lily to the elderly woman.
"Protect her."
Then he ran.
Victor followed close behind.
Gunfire erupted again as both sides raced toward the ancient stone building.
Inside, moonlight filtered through cracked stained-glass windows.
The chapel had clearly been abandoned for decades.
Dust covered every pew.
A wooden cross leaned crookedly against the altar.
Declan remembered coming here only once.
On the day he married Amelia.
She had insisted on lighting a candle inside before their ceremony.
She'd smiled and whispered,
"Now our marriage has two witnesses."
He never understood what she meant.
Until now.
Clara rushed to the altar.
"Amelia told me..."
"...look for the angel."
Declan searched frantically.
Then he noticed a carved stone angel missing one wing.
He pressed it.
A loud grinding sound echoed beneath the floor.
The altar slowly slid aside.
Hidden below—
A spiral staircase descended into darkness.
Victor stared.
"Another secret passage..."
They hurried down.
Below the chapel lay a room no larger than a study.
Shelves lined every wall.
Boxes.
Documents.
Photographs.
Hard drives.
Ledgers.
Enough evidence to destroy governments.
In the center stood a steel safe.
Its door bore a single engraved sentence.
For Lily.
Declan's throat tightened.
Inside the safe rested only three items.
A thick folder.
A silver key.
And another letter addressed in Amelia's handwriting.
To My Husband.
Before Declan could open it—
An explosion shook the ceiling.
Dust poured into the vault.
"They've planted charges!" Victor shouted.
The staircase began collapsing.
Chunks of stone crashed down behind them.
Their escape route was disappearing.
Above them, Adrian Kane's voice echoed through the ruins.
"Mr. Moretti!"
"You have one minute."
"Bring me the evidence..."
"...or your daughter dies."
Declan looked at the folder.
Then at Amelia's letter.
Then toward the collapsing staircase.
For the first time in his life...
He faced a choice no amount of power could solve.
Save the truth.
Or save Lily.
Then a tiny voice echoed from above.
"Daddy!"
Lily.
She wasn't supposed to be there.
Declan looked up in horror.
His daughter was standing at the top of the broken staircase—
Held tightly by Celeste Moretti.
A pistol rested against the little girl's head.
Celeste smiled down at her son.
"Choose carefully."
May you like
"An empire..."
"...or your child."
