CHAPTER 6 — THE TRAITOR REVEALS HIS FACE
CHAPTER 6 — THE TRAITOR REVEALS HIS FACE
Adrian was already running before the emergency lights flickered on.
"Luca!"
Emma raced behind him.
The scream had come from the playroom.
Adrian kicked the door open.
The room was empty.
Only one lamp swayed slowly.
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
Like someone had just left.
Then Emma saw it.
Blood.
A single trail leading into the hallway.
"Luca!"
A tiny voice answered.
"In here!"
They followed the trail into the conservatory.
Luca crouched beneath a grand piano, crying.
He wasn't bleeding.
The blood belonged to someone else.
Marcus Doyle lay unconscious beside the doorway.
A bullet had grazed his shoulder.
He struggled to speak.
"The... basement..."
"They're after..."
Before he finished—
The fire alarm exploded throughout the mansion.
Sprinklers activated.
Water poured from the ceiling.
Every security monitor went black.
Adrian understood instantly.
"This is coordinated."
While chaos spread through Cain House—
Someone entered the secret room beneath the library.
The journals disappeared.
The letters vanished.
Every photograph was taken.
Only one item remained.
The cassette tape.
Because someone had smashed it beneath their boot.
Marcus was rushed to the medical room.
Before losing consciousness, he grabbed Adrian's sleeve.
"It wasn't..."
"Who?"
Marcus coughed blood.
"The enemy isn't outside."
"I know."
Marcus shook his head desperately.
"No..."
"It's higher."
Adrian leaned closer.
"Higher than who?"
Marcus whispered one final sentence.
"The man... with the keys..."
Then he passed out.
Only three people possessed master keys to every room in Cain House.
Adrian.
Marcus.
Victor Graves.
Adrian said nothing.
He simply walked toward Victor's office.
Emma followed.
The office door stood open.
Empty.
Too empty.
Every drawer had been cleaned.
Every file removed.
The safe hung open.
Victor was gone.
On the desk rested only a single chess piece.
The black knight.
The same signature left in Luca's bedroom.
Emma whispered,
"He fled."
Adrian picked up the piece.
"No."
"He wants me to think that."
Then Adrian noticed something hidden beneath the chess piece.
A folded page from one of the stolen journals.
Only one sentence remained readable.
Trust no one wearing the raven.
Emma frowned.
"The raven ring."
Adrian looked at her.
"You remember."
"Marcus mentioned it."
Adrian nodded slowly.
"So did my mother."
He opened the desk drawer one last time.
Hidden beneath the false bottom...
was Victor's passport.
His wallet.
His watch.
No one fleeing would leave those behind.
Adrian's voice became dangerously quiet.
"He didn't run."
Emma felt a chill.
"What are you saying?"
"He was taken."
Outside the estate...
Victor Graves awoke tied to a chair inside an abandoned warehouse.
His face was bruised.
Across from him stood the scarred man from the SUV.
"You failed."
Victor smiled weakly.
"I delayed them for twenty-six years."
"You let them find the room."
"I couldn't stop the girl."
The scarred man stepped forward.
"You were told to kill her."
Victor looked directly into his eyes.
"No."
"I was told to watch her."
The scarred man frowned.
Victor laughed.
For the first time...
It was genuine.
"You never understood."
"Rose knew."
"So did Evelyn Cain."
"The granddaughter isn't the key."
The scarred man grabbed his collar.
"Then what is?"
Victor's smile widened despite the blood running down his face.
"The song."
The scarred man stared.
Victor whispered,
"You've been hunting the wrong person..."
"...for twenty-six years."
A gunshot echoed through the warehouse.
Victor's body went still.
Miles away, Adrian's phone vibrated.
An anonymous message appeared on the screen.
One traitor is dead.
The real one still eats at your table.
Adrian slowly looked around the dining hall of Cain House.
Every servant.
Every guard.
Every adviser.
Every familiar face.
Someone met his eyes...
May you like
and smiled just a little too calmly.
The hunt had only just begun.
