Chapter 9: The Voice From the Past
Chapter 9: The Voice From the Past
Darkness swallowed the vault.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Nobody knew who to trust.
Olivia stood frozen, trying to process what she had just heard.
Her mother’s voice.
After fifteen years.
Impossible.
Yet somehow...
real.
“Everyone stay where you are,” Victor ordered.
His voice echoed through the small underground room.
Sophie immediately grabbed Olivia’s hand.
“Are you okay?”
Olivia couldn’t answer.
Her mind was trapped between memories.
Her mother singing in the kitchen.
Her father reading stories before bed.
A family that had once felt unbreakable.
Now all she had were questions.
“Turn on the lights,” Emma whispered.
Nobody responded.
Then suddenly, a small emergency light flickered on.
The room became visible again.
And everyone looked at each other.
The first thing Olivia noticed was the vault door.
Still locked.
The second thing she noticed...
was that the sealed box with her name on it was gone.
Her heart dropped.
“The box.”
Everyone turned.
“What box?” Dr. Harper asked.
Olivia pointed to the empty space.
“The box that was here.”
Victor’s expression changed.
Nobody had seen anyone take it.
But someone had.
Someone inside the vault.
Olivia slowly looked around.
There were only five people.
Sophie.
Emma.
Victor.
Dr. Harper.
And herself.
Her stomach tightened.
“One of you took it.”
Nobody spoke.
“Olivia,” Victor said carefully.
“Don’t start turning against everyone.”
She looked at him.
“Why?”
Her voice was cold.
“Because everyone here has lied to me.”
Nobody could argue.
Then Dr. Harper noticed something.
“Wait.”
He walked toward the wall.
“What?”
He pointed at a small opening near the ceiling.
“There’s another passage.”
Victor frowned.
“That wasn’t there before.”
Dr. Harper examined it.
“It’s not a passage.”
He touched the edge.
“It’s an air vent.”
Sophie looked confused.
“Could someone have reached through there?”
Dr. Harper shook his head.
“No.”
Then he stopped.
His face changed.
“Unless…”
He looked toward the empty space where the box had been.
“Unless this vault has another entrance.”
Olivia felt a chill.
Her father had built a hidden room.
A place designed to hide secrets.
Of course, he would have created a way in and out.
“Find it,” she said.
Everyone looked at her.
“We need to find it now.”
They searched the walls.
Minutes passed.
Then Emma suddenly stopped.
“Wait.”
She pointed toward the floor.
“There.”
A small scratch.
Almost invisible.
Near the corner.
Victor moved a heavy wooden cabinet aside.
Behind it was a hidden door.
But it was already open.
Someone had escaped.
Olivia stared into the darkness beyond.
“This is how they got out.”
Dr. Harper nodded.
“Yes.”
Sophie looked at Olivia.
“Then someone was waiting for us.”
The realization was terrifying.
They had not discovered the vault.
They had been led there.
A trap.
Olivia looked at the empty room.
Her father’s final secret.
Her mother’s impossible message.
The missing box.
Everything was connected.
Then Victor’s phone rang.
Everyone jumped.
He looked at the screen.
His face changed.
“Who is it?” Olivia asked.
Victor didn’t answer.
The phone continued ringing.
Finally, he answered.
“Hello?”
Nobody could hear the other person.
But they could see Victor’s expression.
Shock.
Fear.
Regret.
Then he slowly lowered the phone.
“Who was it?” Dr. Harper asked.
Victor looked at Olivia.
“It was Richard.”
The room froze.
Olivia felt her heartbeat stop.
“My father?”
Victor nodded.
“No.”
A pause.
“His lawyer.”
The relief disappeared.
“Why would your father’s lawyer call you now?” Olivia asked.
Victor looked at the phone.
“Because he found something.”
“What?”
Victor swallowed.
“Your father’s original will.”
Olivia stared.
“I already know his will.”
“No.”
Victor shook his head.
“You know the fake one.”
The room went silent.
“What?”
Victor continued.
“The will that was used after his death was altered.”
Olivia felt dizzy.
“Who changed it?”
Victor looked toward the others.
“That’s the problem.”
A pause.
“We don’t know.”
Then his phone received a message.
He opened it.
A photo appeared.
Everyone leaned closer.
It was a picture of the missing box.
Sitting on a table somewhere.
Beside it was a handwritten note.
Victor read it aloud.
"The truth belongs to the person willing to sacrifice everything."
Olivia stared at the image.
Then she noticed something.
A reflection in the background.
A mirror.
And in that mirror...
a person was standing behind the camera.
Someone familiar.
Someone she never expected.
Her breathing stopped.
“Impossible.”
Sophie looked at her.
“What?”
Olivia pointed at the screen.
“That’s my mother.”
Everyone froze.
Because the reflection showed a woman standing in the room.
A woman who looked exactly like Olivia’s mother.
The woman who was supposed to be dead.
Then another message appeared.
This time directly to Olivia.
"Come alone if you want the truth about your father."
Olivia stared at the words.
Everyone immediately told her not to go.
But deep inside...
she already knew.
The truth she had spent five years searching for...
was finally waiting.
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And whoever had been controlling the game wanted only one thing.
Her.
