Chapter 1 - The Code of the Dead
The moment Mateo said Luca Vale’s old access code had been used, every instinct inside me screamed that something impossible had just happened.
A dead man had opened a locked door.
And in my world, nothing happened by accident.
I slowly lowered the phone.
Across the room, Clara watched my expression change.
She already knew.
She knew before I said a single word.
“Someone accessed the private archives.”
Her face lost all color.
“No.”
I stared at her.
“You expected this.”
She shook her head quickly.
“No. I feared it.”
There was a difference.
Fear meant something was possible.
Expectation meant something was coming.
I walked toward the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city.
Below me, thousands of people moved through their ordinary lives.
They had no idea that one of the most powerful families in America was standing on the edge of war.
“Mateo.”
I pressed the phone back to my ear.
“Lock down the building.”
A pause.
“Sebastian, are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“All entrances?”
“Every single one.”
“Even the executive floors?”
I looked at Clara.
Then at Emma.
The little girl was still sitting on the couch, drawing in her notebook.
Completely unaware that armed men might soon be searching the building for her.
“Especially the executive floors.”
Mateo understood immediately.
“Who are we protecting?”
My eyes remained fixed on the child.
“Luca’s daughter.”
The silence on the other end lasted several seconds.
Mateo had worked for me for twelve years.
He had seen me negotiate billion-dollar deals.
He had watched me destroy competitors.
He had watched me walk into rooms where everyone wanted me dead and leave with everyone afraid.
But he had never heard those words from me.
“Luca had a daughter?”
“Yes.”
My voice became colder.
“And someone tried to make sure she never existed.”
I ended the call.
Clara slowly stood.
“You need to understand something, Sebastian.”
Her voice trembled.
“Luca didn’t just run away.”
I turned toward her.
“Then tell me what happened.”
She looked at Emma.
The little girl was humming softly while she colored.
“He was hunted.”
The room became silent.
“By who?”
Clara swallowed.
“The same people who are hunting us now.”
My jaw tightened.
“Start from the beginning.”
She closed her eyes.
And thirteen years of secrets finally began to come out.
Luca had not disappeared during a business trip.
He had not been kidnapped by a rival organization.
He had not abandoned the family.
He had escaped.
Thirteen years ago, Luca arrived at Clara’s small home outside Boston in the middle of the night.
He was bleeding.
A bullet had torn through his side.
He barely managed to stand.
When Clara opened the door, she almost called an ambulance.
But Luca stopped her.
He told her that if anyone traced him to a hospital, everyone inside would know he was alive.
And if they knew he was alive…
They would finish what they started.
“What did he say about our family?”
I asked.
Clara looked down.
“He said the Vale name was more dangerous than any enemy outside the family.”
My hands tightened.
“That sounds like Luca.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“It didn’t.”
Her voice softened.
“Because Luca loved his family.”
She looked at me.
“He was terrified because he discovered his family had stopped loving him.”
The words hit harder than I expected.
Luca and I were different.
I was always the practical one.
The one who understood power.
The one who knew that loyalty had limits.
But Luca…
Luca believed family meant something.
He believed blood mattered.
Until someone proved him wrong.
“Who knew about the council?”
I asked.
Clara hesitated.
“The Vale Council.”
My expression darkened.
The Vale Council was older than Vale Global itself.
A secret group of family members and trusted advisors who controlled the decisions nobody outside the family knew about.
They managed hidden investments.
Offshore accounts.
Political connections.
Things even most executives at Vale Global never knew existed.
Only the highest members had access.
Only the most trusted.
My uncle Victor Vale had been the head of the council for years.
“You think Victor ordered the attack?”
Clara didn’t answer.
She didn’t need to.
Her silence was enough.
A small voice suddenly interrupted us.
“Is Uncle Sebastian angry?”
I looked over.
Emma was staring at me.
Her little hand held a black crayon.
For a moment, I forgot everything.
The investigation.
The betrayal.
The danger.
Because she wasn’t looking at the billionaire CEO of Vale Global.
She was looking at the man who was supposed to be her uncle.
“No.”
I walked closer.
“I’m not angry at you.”
She studied me carefully.
Then she held up her drawing.
“What are these?”
I looked down.
My blood froze.
Two wolves.
Again.
But this time, something was different.
There was a small circle between them.
A symbol.
A symbol I had never seen before.
“Emma.”
Her eyes lifted.
“Who taught you to draw this?”
She shrugged.
“Daddy.”
The room stopped breathing.
I lowered myself beside her.
“Your daddy?”
She nodded.
“Daddy said the wolves would find the right person.”
I looked at Clara.
She covered her mouth.
“Luca taught her that?”
“Yes.”
Emma continued coloring.
“Daddy said if I ever met the man with the same wolf, I would be safe.”
My heart stopped.
“The same wolf?”
Emma pointed at my arm.
Slowly.
Carefully.
My entire body went still.
I had forgotten.
The tattoo.
The one I got when Luca and I were teenagers.
A matching wolf symbol.
Something only we knew.
A symbol of brotherhood.
I had never shown it publicly.
Not once.
Because after Luca disappeared, looking at it became too painful.
But this little girl knew.
And she knew because her father had told her.
A sharp alarm suddenly echoed through the office.
Clara jumped.
Emma dropped her crayon.
I immediately moved in front of them.
The security system had activated.
Not a fire alarm.
Not an emergency drill.
A threat alert.
Mateo’s voice came through the speakers.
“Sebastian.”
I grabbed the phone.
“What happened?”
“Someone breached the executive elevator.”
My eyes narrowed.
“That’s impossible.”
“No one should be able to access it.”
A pause.
Then Mateo spoke quietly.
“But they used Luca’s authorization.”
The temperature in the room seemed to drop.
“Where are they?”
“Heading toward your floor.”
I looked at Clara.
Fear was written across her face.
Emma reached for my hand.
And without thinking…
I took it.
“Mateo.”
“Yes?”
“Do not engage.”
A pause.
“Sebastian?”
I looked toward the locked office door.
“They want us scared.”
May you like
My voice became deadly calm.
“So let them come.”
