Chapter 10 - The Vault Beneath the Foundation
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The Vercetti Heritage Foundation stood twelve blocks away.
Dominic’s driver covered the distance fast without breaking a single traffic law.
That impressed Evelyn more than anything.
“You’re getting old.”
Dominic glanced at her.
“I’m disciplined.”
“You’re getting old.”
Harold almost laughed from the front seat.
For ten seconds, the terror of the evening loosened.
Then the clock on the dashboard turned 11:33.
Evelyn’s smile vanished.
The foundation occupied an old limestone building Dominic’s parents had purchased before he was born.
The public galleries upstairs had been closed for renovation.
But Evelyn led them past the main elevators.
Down a narrow hallway.
To a brass door marked ARCHIVE B.
Dominic frowned.
“This?”
“No.”
She continued.
At the end of the hall stood an antique framed photograph of the original Vercetti grocery store.
Evelyn lifted it from the wall.
Behind it was a small keyhole.
Dominic stared.
“You hid a vault behind a photograph?”
“Your father liked drama.”
“You married him.”
“Against my better judgment.”
She inserted a tiny brass key from her bracelet.
A panel opened.
Behind it was a keypad.
Dominic stared at her.
“The key from the chair doesn’t open the vault.”
“No.”
“What does it open?”
Evelyn entered six numbers.
“An evidence box inside.”
The heavy door unlocked.
Dominic finally understood.
Marcella could steal the chair key.
She could steal the hidden compartment.
She could even get inside the building.
But without Evelyn, she couldn’t open the actual archive.
And that was why Marcella needed Evelyn declared incompetent.
If Evelyn’s authority was legally erased, Marcella could demand supervised access as her supposed agent.
They entered.
Rows of climate-controlled cabinets filled the room.
Evelyn walked directly to cabinet 19.
Drawer 98.
Inside sat a black metal box.
There was the lock Marcella’s stolen key would open.
The box was still there.
Locked.
Harold checked his phone.
11:38.
“The courier never made it inside.”
Dominic’s phone rang.
Thomas.
Dominic answered.
“I found Daniel Ross.”
“Where?”
“Parking garage three blocks from the estate.”
“The key?”
“He says Marcella told him to take it to a lawyer.”
“What lawyer?”
Thomas gave the name.
Harold went pale.
“Carter & Vale?”
“You know them?”
“They represent the buyer in Marcella’s merger.”
Dominic’s eyes hardened.
The key wasn’t meant to retrieve evidence.
It was meant to be delivered to the people buying the company.
Proof that Marcella had neutralized whatever Evelyn was hiding.
Except she hadn’t.
Evelyn suddenly reached inside her blouse and removed a thin gold chain.
A second key hung from it.
Dominic stared.
“You had another one?”
“My husband made two.”
She inserted it.
The black box opened.
Inside were three sealed envelopes.
One leather-bound ledger.
One flash drive.
And a notarized document stamped:
FOUNDER’S PROTECTIVE AMENDMENT — 1998.
Harold let out a breath.
“We have it.”
Dominic looked at the clock.
11:41.
Nineteen minutes.
Then Harold opened the amendment.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Harold looked at Evelyn.
“Evelyn…”
“What is it?”
“This does more than block Marcella’s merger.”
Dominic stepped closer.
Harold turned the final page toward him.
The controlling founder listed on the document was not Dominic’s father.
It was Evelyn.
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👉 For his entire life, Dominic had believed his father built the Vercetti empire — but the document in his hands said the family’s real founder had been sitting quietly beside him all along.
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