Chapter 5 - The Stealer in the Shadows
Victoria pulled her hands back, her expression hardening with sudden desperation.
"Because he has the master key code to your family's vault," she said quickly.
Ethan stopped moving.
His eyes narrowed as he locked his gaze onto her face.
"What do you know about the vault?" Ethan demanded sharply.
"My father worked for your family fifteen years ago before the collapse," Victoria confessed.
"He stole the physical registry that locks you out of your inheritance."
"He told me if anything ever happened to him, the registry was hidden in the Vanguard safe."
Ethan remained silent, weighing her words carefully.
If she was telling the truth, that registry was the only thing that could prove his true identity to the board.
"The gala starts in two hours," Ethan said, looking at the wall clock.
"You stay here," he added, turning toward a closet containing a dark tailored suit.
"No! I'm coming with you!" Victoria insisted, standing up from the chair.
"You'll get us both killed," Ethan replied without turning around.
He pulled a pair of heavy hand-restraints from his belt and locked her wrist to a thick steel pipe.
"Hey! Let me go! You can't leave me here!" Victoria screamed, pulling frantically against the steel.
"This is for your own safety," Ethan said calmly, placing the key on a high shelf out of her reach.
He put on his suit jacket, adjusted his tie, and stepped out into the pouring rain.
Inside the quiet apartment, Victoria listened as his footsteps faded into the distance.
Once she was sure he was gone, her panicked expression instantly dissolved into a cold smirk.
She reached inside her tweed jacket's secret lining.
She pulled out a small, flexible metallic wire hidden beneath her gold bracelet.
Within three seconds, the restraint clicked open.
Victoria stood up, wiping the remaining tears from her face with a sneer.
"Foolish boy," she whispered to the empty room.
She walked straight over to Ethan’s main computer console on the workbench.
She plugged a small USB drive into the master terminal.
A green progress bar began downloading Ethan's encrypted personal files.
On the screen, a file folder opened automatically, revealing a list of confidential names.
At the very top of the list was Victoria's own name, marked with a red status label:
"ASSET ACQUIRED. PHASE ONE COMPLETE."
Victoria's smile froze on her face.
May you like
She realized with a sickening shudder that Ethan had planned for her to be in this room all along.
Suddenly, the apartment's main lights shut off, plunging the basement into pitch darkness.
