CHAPTER 13 The Choice Alexander Never Wanted to Make
CHAPTER 13 The Choice Alexander Never Wanted to Make
The underground room fell silent.
Alexander Vale stood in the doorway.
A pistol rested in his right hand.
The barrel pointed toward the floor.
But no one could ignore it.
Theodore stared at his father.
He had waited years to ask a thousand questions.
Now only one mattered.
“Why do you have a gun?”
Alexander didn't answer immediately.
His eyes swept across the room.
He counted every face.
Sebastian.
Rosalie.
Isabella.
Daniel.
Dr. Mercer.
Then he looked behind them.
As if expecting someone else to appear.
Finally, he spoke.
“Because we're not alone.”
A faint scraping sound echoed through the tunnel.
Someone was moving in the darkness.
Slowly.
Patiently.
Listening.
Alexander raised a hand.
“Everyone stay quiet.”
No one argued.
For nearly thirty seconds, the only sound was dripping water somewhere deep inside the tunnel.
Then it stopped.
Alexander lowered the weapon.
“They're waiting.”
Theodore frowned.
“Who?”
“The people Victor sent.”
Rosalie looked toward the passage.
“How many?”
Alexander answered honestly.
“I don't know.”
Sebastian stepped beside Alexander.
“You should have told us sooner.”
Alexander gave him a tired smile.
“I've spent eight years telling the wrong people the wrong things.”
Sebastian looked away.
“That includes me.”
Alexander nodded once.
“Yes.”
For a moment, neither man spoke.
Years of anger.
Years of guilt.
Years they could never recover.
Finally, Sebastian extended his hand.
Alexander looked at it.
Then shook it.
Not because everything had been forgiven.
But because they had a larger enemy now.
Theodore watched them.
“This changes nothing.”
Alexander turned toward him.
“I know.”
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
“You left.”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
Alexander's shoulders sank.
“Yes.”
Theodore's voice broke.
“So don't expect one conversation to fix everything.”
Alexander walked closer.
“I don't.”
He stopped only a few feet away.
“But I hope you'll let me earn another chance.”
Theodore said nothing.
His silence wasn't acceptance.
But it wasn't rejection either.
Daniel spread several blueprints across the table.
“These tunnels run beneath the original estate.”
Rosalie studied them.
“There are three exits.”
Daniel nodded.
“There used to be.”
He pointed toward two sections marked in red.
“Victor collapsed those years ago.”
Sebastian looked at the remaining route.
“So there's only one way out.”
Daniel nodded.
“And Victor knows exactly where it is.”
Dr. Mercer suddenly cleared his throat.
“There may be another way.”
Everyone looked at him.
Mercer reached into his coat pocket.
He removed a small brass key.
Alexander recognized it immediately.
“You still have it.”
Mercer nodded.
“I never threw it away.”
Theodore frowned.
“What does it open?”
Alexander answered.
“My father's private archive.”
Rosalie looked surprised.
“I thought we already found it.”
Alexander shook his head.
“No.”
“That room contained copies.”
He looked at the key.
“The originals are somewhere else.”
Theodore stepped forward.
“What's in the archive?”
Alexander looked directly at him.
“Enough evidence to destroy Victor forever.”
Sebastian's expression became serious.
“Then why didn't you use it?”
Alexander hesitated.
“Because there's something else inside.”
“What?”
Alexander took a slow breath.
“A list.”
Rosalie frowned.
“A list of what?”
Alexander's eyes darkened.
“Every person Victor bribed over the last thirty years.”
The room became quiet.
“That includes judges.”
“Police officers.”
“Doctors.”
“Business leaders.”
“And members of our own family.”
Before anyone could speak again, a loud metallic bang echoed through the tunnel.
Someone had reached the security door.
Another bang followed.
This one louder.
Daniel looked at the monitor.
“They're cutting through.”
“How long?”
“Five minutes.”
Sebastian immediately took charge.
“We move now.”
Everyone gathered what they could carry.
Alexander handed Theodore a flashlight.
“Stay close to Rosalie.”
Theodore accepted it.
Without arguing.
The group hurried through a narrow passage hidden behind the archive room.
The tunnel sloped downward.
The air became colder.
Water covered parts of the stone floor.
After several minutes, they reached another steel door.
Mercer inserted the brass key.
Nothing happened.
He frowned.
“It should work.”
Alexander examined the lock.
Then he noticed something.
Fresh scratches.
Someone had used the door recently.
“This lock was replaced.”
Mercer stepped back.
“That isn't possible.”
Alexander looked at him.
“It is now.”
Suddenly, the door unlocked from the other side.
It slowly swung inward.
Everyone froze.
A young woman stepped into the light.
She wore dark jeans and a gray jacket.
A flashlight hung from one shoulder.
She couldn't have been older than twenty-five.
She raised both hands.
“Don't shoot.”
Alexander narrowed his eyes.
“Who are you?”
“My name is Claire.”
Nobody recognized the name.
Claire reached into her backpack.
Theodore instinctively tensed.
Instead of a weapon, she removed a worn leather journal.
She held it toward Alexander.
“I believe this belongs to your family.”
Alexander looked at the cover.
His face lost all color.
“Where did you get that?”
Claire answered quietly.
“Your father gave it to me.”
Theodore frowned.
“My grandfather?”
Claire shook her head.
“No.”
She looked directly at Theodore.
“Your father.”
The room became silent.
Alexander stared at her.
“I've never met you.”
Claire nodded.
“I know.”
She turned toward Theodore.
“I wasn't talking about Alexander.”
Theodore felt his heartbeat stop.
Claire slowly opened the journal.
Inside the front cover was a handwritten inscription.
To my son, Theodore.
Beneath it was a signature Theodore had never seen before.
Not Alexander Vale.
Not any member of the Vale family.
Just two words.
Gabriel Cross.
Theodore looked up in confusion.
“Who is Gabriel Cross?”
Claire's expression turned solemn.
“The only man who ever knew why you were really brought into the Vale family.”
At that exact moment, three gunshots echoed through the tunnel behind them.
Victor's people had found the entrance.
Alexander raised his pistol.
“Run!”
The lights suddenly went out.
May you like
And in the darkness, someone screamed.
TO BE CONTINUED...
