Chapter 12 - box four-hundred-and-four
The grand neoclassical lobby of Manhattan Trust opened promptly at eight o'clock.
Adrien, dressed in a fresh charcoal suit with his coat draped over his arm, walked through the security metal detectors flanked by Marco. Lena walked beside him, her hair pulled back, wearing a clean beige trench coat that concealed the bruises on her neck.
The bank manager bowed nervously the moment he saw Adrien. "Mr. Viscari. We weren't expecting you."
"Private vault access," Adrien said smoothly, sliding a platinum authorization card across the marble counter. "Now."
Within minutes, they were escorted deep underground into the vault—a massive room lined with thousands of polished steel safety boxes.
"Box four-hundred-and-four," Lena told the clerk.
The clerk inserted the master bank key, but the second keyhole remained locked. Lena stepped forward. She unscrewed the tail of the serpent pendant, pulling out a tiny silver cylinder. She inserted the cylinder into the lock and twisted it clockwise.
A heavy mechanical click echoed in the vault.
The steel door swung open.
Inside lay a single leather-bound binder and a cassette tape labeled: *For Adrien and Lena.*
Adrien pulled the binder out. It contained Elena’s true last will and testament, stamped by the state supreme court, alongside legal documents proving that Antonio Viscari had left seventy percent of all legitimate real estate and commercial assets to Elena’s lineage.
"She owned everything," Lena whispered, reading the numbers. "The ports, the hotels, the logistics companies..."
"She owned the empire," Adrien corrected softly. "I only kept the streets safe for her to return."
May you like
A slow clap echoed from the vault entrance.
Evelyn Cross stood there, dressed in elegant black silk, surrounded by four private security officers with drawn weapons. Standing behind her was Marcus Blake, his face bruised from the tunnel fight, holding a silenced pistol.
