Keifer's POV
"How do you know about this?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper. The air in my mother's room felt thin, suffocating. "How do you know what's behind that painting?"
"Keigen told me," she said simply.
The name hit me like a punch to the gut. My brother had told her-a girl from Section E-about the one secret he wouldn't even share with me? "What?" I stepped toward her. "When? Why would he tell you?"
She ignored me. Her focus was entirely on the suitcase. She pulled out a small, sleek device and set it on the table. Her fingers flew across her laptop, cables snaking from the computer to the digital lock behind the painting.
The room was silent except for the tapping of keys. After a few seconds, a heavy metallic thud echoed. The first lid of the vault slid upward, revealing a glowing blue glass panel.
A scanner. She held the small device up to it.
"What is that?" I demanded, my patience fraying.
"Iris," she replied shortly.
"What? How? From where did you get an iris scan for this lock?" I pressed, my mind racing. Only three people should have had access to this.
She didn't look at me. "Italy," she replied.
"Italy !" I repeated, but no one pays attention to me.
What the hell, Angelo didn't seem bothered , am I the only one who don't know anything. Ugh!
The scanner beeped. A beam of light flickered, reading the digital eye print stored within the hardware. There was a long, tense pause, and then several heavy bolts retracted deep inside the wall.
The final door hissed open.
Angelo and I both leaned forward, expecting to see the mountain of files or the hard drive that could end our father's reign. But as the door swung wide, the light from the room spilled into the small space.
It was empty.
Nothing. No papers, no drives. Just a cold, velvet-lined shelf.
"It's gone," Angelo breathed, his face turning pale.
I felt a surge of pure cold. If the evidence was gone, it meant my father was already ten steps ahead of us. I looked at Elara, but she wasn't surprised. She was staring at the empty space with a look that made my skin crawl.
Elara stood up slowly, her face unreadable. She didn't look disappointed that the vault was empty; she just looked at her watch.
"Only 2 minutes," she said, her voice terrifyingly flat.
"What? 2 minutes for what?" I demanded, my heart starting to hammer against my ribs.
"Now 1 minute and 45 seconds," she countered, checking the dial again.
"Elara, talk to me! What are you saying?"
"Run," she said, already turning toward the door.
"Why?!" Angelo yelled, gripping his rifle tighter.
She didn't stop walking. She didn't even look back. "This house is going to blast in 1 minute and 30 seconds. I wouldn't recommend being inside when it does."
"What?!"
The word hadn't even finished leaving my mouth before we were all sprinting. We didn't care about dignity or questions anymore.
We ran through the hallways like our lives depended on it-because they did. We reached the driveway in a blur of motion. Section E was already piled into the armored truck, their faces pressed against the glass in terror.
Angelo and I dove into the Knight XV just as Elara slammed it into gear.
She floored the accelerator, the tires screaming as we tore away from the estate. She didn't stop until we reached a ridge a safe distance away, where the entire Watson Mansion was visible against the dark sky.
The car was filled with a frantic explosion of voices.
"What just happened?!"
"Why is Elara covered in blood?"
"Who the hell is she really?"
"Why did we stop? We need to go to the docks!"
The questions were a roar of noise, but Elara didn't say a word. She just leaned back against the driver's seat and looked at the rearview mirror, a tiny, chilling smirk playing on her lips.
I grabbed the back of her seat, my knuckles white. "Elara, why did we stop here? Answer me!"
"I just want to see," she whispered.
"See what?"
BOOM.
A massive, bone-shaking explosion ripped through the air. The Watson Mansion-the symbol of my father's empire, the house of my childhood-erupted into a giant ball of orange and red fire.
The shockwave rocked the heavy truck, and the sound locked my mouth shut.
Elara stepped out of the truck, the flickering orange glow of the fire dancing in her eyes.
She stood there, watching the mansion burn with a satisfied smirk on her face, as if she were watching a beautiful sunset instead of a massacre.
Angelo and I stepped out right behind her, the heat from the distance still brushing against our skin.
"Now tell me," I demanded, my voice low and trembling with suppressed rage. "Who are you?"
She didn't look at me.
She kept her eyes on the flames. "Give me that device," she said.
"Which device?" I asked, though my heart skipped a beat.
"The one you found in Hanamichi's village."
The air between us turned ice-cold. Our expressions shifted instantly. Behind us, the doors of the truck clicked open, and Yuri, Edrix, and Rory stepped out, their faces pale. The mention of the village-a secret we thought we had buried-hit like a physical blow.
"How do you know about that device?" I stepped closer, my hand tightening into a fist. "Tell me, Elara. Now."
She finally turned to look at us, her expression bored. "It's mine. Anything else? Give it to me fast; we don't have much time."
A storm of questions erupted from the group. "Who are you?" "Why is it yours?" "What does this mean?" The confusion was spiraling out of control until Angelo stepped forward. He silenced everyone with a sharp gesture and walked right up to Elara.
He stared into her eyes, looking for a single lie. "Can we trust you?" he asked, his voice steady.
"Yes," she replied, making direct eye contact.
"But only until I help you save them. After that, I can't promise."
Angelo didn't hesitate. He nodded. He turned to me and held out his hand. I tried to deny I even had it-the device was the only leverage we thought we had left-but Angelo cut me off with a look that said 'Not now.'
Reluctantly, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the small, metallic object. I handed it to her, and the moment her fingers touched it, that chilling smirk returned.
Before we could climb back into the armored truck, Yuri stepped forward, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Elara. The suspicion that had been brewing in him finally boiled over.
"Were you the one?" he asked, his voice tight. "In Hanamichi's village... were you the person who cleared the perimeters before we got there?"
Elara didn't even stop walking. She keep her face unreadable . "Who knows?" she replied cryptically. "By the way, get into the car if you actually want to save them. Every second you talk is a second they lose."
We scrambled back into the vehicle, but I kept my eyes on her. She held the device we had found-the one we thought was a mystery-and pressed her thumb against a hidden sensor. A soft chime echoed through the quiet cabin as her fingerprint was scanned.
The device clicked and began to unfold, expanding into a more complex piece of tech.
She pressed a sequence of buttons, her movements practiced and fast. Then, she held the device to her ear.
Angelo and others also see that.
But we don't have any other choice.
She began to speak, but the words were foreign. It wasn't English, Tagalog, or anything I recognized. It was a sharp, rhythmic language-maybe a coded dialect or an ancient tongue-that sent chills down my spine. Whatever she said, she sounded like a commander giving an order.
She tossed the device onto the dashboard, stepped on the gas, and the truck roared back to life. She accelerated with even more ferocity than before, the tires screaming against the asphalt as we left the burning remains of the mansion behind.