Chapter 7 - The House That Buried Secrets
The old Vale estate had been abandoned for almost a decade.
At least, that was what everyone believed.
The property sat beyond the northern hills, hidden behind iron gates and miles of forest.
It was where my grandfather built the foundation of the Vale empire.
It was where every major family decision had been made.
Births.
Marriages.
Deals.
Betrayals.
And apparently…
Disappearances.
The moment my car passed through the gates, I felt it.
A strange weight in the air.
Like the house itself remembered every secret hidden inside its walls.
Mateo sat beside me.
His eyes never left the dark windows.
“I don’t like this.”
I looked at him.
“You never like anything.”
“This is different.”
He checked his weapon.
“This place feels wrong.”
I understood what he meant.
Because I felt it too.
The old Vale estate was not a home.
It was a graveyard.
A place where the family buried more than people.
They buried the truth.
The car stopped in front of the mansion.
The front doors opened before we reached them.
Someone was waiting.
Victor.
I stepped out.
“You came.”
I stared at him.
“You knew I would.”
He looked tired.
Older than yesterday.
For the first time, my uncle didn’t look like the powerful man who controlled Vale Global.
He looked like someone who had been carrying a burden too heavy for too long.
“I knew Luca would eventually find a way to bring you here.”
My expression hardened.
“Luca is dead.”
Victor looked away.
“That’s what they wanted you to believe.”
The words froze me.
“What does that mean?”
Before Victor could answer, a voice came from behind us.
“Because Luca never died here.”
I turned.
Adrian stood near the entrance.
Victor’s face changed.
Fear.
Not surprise.
Fear.
“You.”
Adrian smiled bitterly.
“Still shocked I survived?”
Victor took a step back.
“I watched them bury your name.”
“And I watched you let them.”
The tension between them was immediate.
Two men carrying decades of hatred.
I looked between them.
“You both knew each other.”
Adrian laughed softly.
“Of course they knew me.”
He looked at Victor.
“I was the first secret they buried.”
---
Inside the estate, Victor led us to the underground archive.
A place I never knew existed.
Behind a hidden wall was a massive room filled with old documents.
Family records.
Financial files.
Photographs.
Every piece of history the Vale family had tried to erase.
“This is where the council kept everything.”
Victor said.
“Everything?”
I looked around.
“Every crime.”
He didn’t deny it.
“The council was created to protect the family.”
He touched an old document.
“But eventually, they decided the family needed protection from itself.”
I stared at him.
“That makes no sense.”
“It does when you understand power.”
Victor looked at me.
“The Vale name became too valuable.”
He opened an old file.
“People stopped seeing family members.”
“They saw threats.”
The file contained names.
Dozens of names.
Young heirs.
Relatives.
People who had died under suspicious circumstances.
My stomach tightened.
“How many?”
Victor was silent.
“How many people did they remove?”
“Twenty-seven.”
The number felt unreal.
Twenty-seven lives.
Twenty-seven families destroyed.
All for control.
Then I saw it.
A name.
Luca Vale.
But next to it was something different.
Not deceased.
Not missing.
Marked:
UNRESOLVED.
I looked at Victor.
“You knew.”
He nodded.
“I knew Luca survived the first attack.”
My anger exploded.
“You knew my brother was alive?”
Victor’s face broke.
“I tried to find him.”
“You tried?”
I grabbed his collar.
“My brother disappeared for thirteen years!”
Mateo stepped closer.
But I didn’t care.
“You let me believe he was dead.”
Victor looked at me.
“Because the moment you knew he was alive…”
His voice cracked.
“They would have killed you too.”
The room went silent.
---
A sound suddenly echoed from above.
Footsteps.
Multiple people.
Mateo immediately reached for his weapon.
“We have company.”
Victor’s face changed.
“No.”
“What?”
“They found us.”
The lights shut off.
Again.
But this time, I was ready.
The emergency system activated.
Red lights flashed through the archive.
Then the doors exploded open.
Armed men entered.
Not security.
Not police.
Vale soldiers.
People wearing the family crest.
The same crest I had grown up seeing.
The same crest I trusted.
Mateo fired first.
Chaos erupted.
And in the middle of the gunfire, I saw the person leading them.
Richard Hale.
The man who supposedly disappeared.
The man who tried to kill me.
He smiled.
“Sebastian.”
I raised my weapon.
“Richard.”
He looked at Adrian.
“Looks like the forgotten son finally came home.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“You should have killed me when you had the chance.”
Richard smiled.
“We tried.”
Then he looked at me.
“But your brother made the mistake of protecting everyone.”
The words hit me.
“Where is Luca?”
Richard’s smile disappeared.
“You really don’t know?”
The room went silent.
“He’s not dead.”
My heart stopped.
“What did you say?”
Richard stepped backward.
“Your brother is alive.”
Then the lights exploded.
May you like
And Richard vanished.
---
