Chapter 7 - THE GHOST IN THE BASEMENT
"He's alive," Damian whispered, his grip on the phone tightening so hard the screen cracked under his knuckles.
Marco leaned over to look at the screen, his face draining of all color. "That's impossible. I identified Viktor's body myself. I saw the dental records!"
"Then you lied to me five years ago, or someone played us both," Damian spat, turning on his heel and sprinting toward the private elevator at the end of the hall, ignoring the weakness still burning in his veins.
"Damian, wait!" Mara called out, running after him with Lila in her arms. "If that man is alive, we aren't safe here!"
"You're safer next to me than anywhere else in this city," Damian barked as the elevator doors slid open. "Get in."
The private elevator descended directly into the sub-basement of Grayhaven House—a cold, concrete bunker where the Volkov family kept their off-the-books assets, bearer bonds, and emergency weaponry.
When the heavy steel doors opened, the air smelled of metallic cold and fresh exhaust fumes.
The vault door was indeed swung open, its heavy titanium bolts retracting automatically.
Damian stepped out, his gun drawn. The room was empty, but the gurney was gone, along with the three wooden crates.
Mara stayed behind Damian, her eyes scanning the dark concrete walls. Lila pointed toward the back corner of the vault, near a heavy metal supply cabinet.
Clack. Clack.
A faint sound echoed from behind the metal cabinet.
Marco stepped forward, kicking the cabinet aside. Bound to a chair, gagged with heavy tape, was a man in an expensive gray suit. His face was bruised, and a dark linen hood covered his head.
Marco pulled off the hood.
Mara gasped, covering her mouth.
It wasn't a stranger. It was Julian Vance—the head of the city's corrupt district attorney office and Damian’s primary legal fixer.
"Julian?" Damian frowned, stepping closer. "What the hell are you doing down here?"
Marco ripped the tape off Julian’s mouth. The attorney gasped for air, his chest heaving.
"It's a trap, Damian!" Julian choked out, his eyes wide with panic. "Viktor... Viktor didn't take the bearer bonds!"
"Then what was in those crates?" Damian demanded.
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Julian looked up, his voice trembling violently. "Your wife's original autopsy reports... and the real DNA tests for every child born in the Volkov family over the last thirty years."
Julian looked directly at Mara, his eyes filled with genuine pity. "Including the file that proves Mara Reyes isn't a maid from town. She's Elena’s twin sister."
