PART 22 — THE DAUGHTER OF THE ENEMY

The first bullet struck the stone wall.

Everyone ducked.

“Get the children into the inner chamber!” the old man shouted.

The families scattered.

Samuel fired toward the corridor.

A man screamed somewhere in the darkness.

Silas pulled Nora and Anna behind a stone pillar.

Jonathan stood in the open.

“Come out!”

No answer.

Another shot.

Jonathan fired back.

Then silence.

Nora looked at him.

“You’re protecting her.”

Jonathan didn’t turn.

“She’s my daughter.”

“You said Margaret disappeared.”

“She did.”

“Then how is Anna here?”

Jonathan lowered his weapon.

“Margaret gave her to me.”

Nora stared.

“Why?”

“Because she knew what was coming.”

“What was coming?”

Jonathan looked toward the tunnel.

“Her own organization.”

Elias suddenly appeared behind them.

“She knew you would betray her.”

Jonathan spun.

“You.”

Elias smiled.

“She was right.”

Jonathan fired.

Elias disappeared behind the stone wall.

Samuel shouted,

“Don’t waste ammunition!”

Nora looked at Anna.

The girl was shaking.

Nora crouched beside her.

“Anna, what did your mother tell you?”

Anna looked down.

“She said never trust the man who comes looking for the ledger.”

Nora’s eyes moved toward Jonathan.

“Did she say his name?”

Anna shook her head.

“She said his name didn’t matter.”

“What mattered?”

Anna reached beneath her coat.

She pulled out a tiny brass key.

“My mother said this belongs to Nora.”

Nora stared.

“Why?”

“She said you’re the last person who can open the door.”

Nora took the key.

It was warm.

And on its surface was the same symbol from her pendant.

Silas looked at her.

“Another door?”

Nora nodded.

“Apparently.”

Samuel came toward them.

“We have to move.”

“Where?”

“The inner chamber.”

Jonathan stepped closer.

“No.”

Samuel looked at him.

“Why?”

“Because that’s where Margaret kept the original records.”

Everyone froze.

Nora tightened her grip on the key.

“You said the records were gone.”

“I said they were hidden.”

“Where?”

Jonathan looked at Anna.

Then at Nora.

“Behind the door your mother told you never to open.”

Clara suddenly appeared.

She had gone pale.

“What door?”

Jonathan looked at her.

“The one you spent twenty years trying to forget.”

Clara’s eyes widened.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, you do.”

Jonathan stepped closer.

“You’ve been inside it.”

Clara shook her head.

“No.”

“You carried Nora through it.”

Nora turned to her mother.

“Mom?”

Clara’s eyes filled with tears.

“I was trying to save you.”

“From what?”

“From knowing.”

Nora’s voice hardened.

“Everyone keeps saying that.”

She held up the key.

“Everyone keeps telling me they lied to protect me.”

Then she looked directly at Clara.

“But every lie brought me closer to this place.”

Clara lowered her head.

“I know.”

Nora’s anger faltered.

Clara continued.

“When I was young, Margaret showed me the room.”

“What was inside?”

“A record of every family whose land had been taken.”

Nora stared.

“How many?”

Clara closed her eyes.

“Thousands.”

Jonathan interrupted.

“And one final document.”

“What document?”

“The original agreement.”

“Between whom?”

Jonathan’s answer came slowly.

“Between the Whitmores…”

He looked at Elias.

“…and the people who actually owned the land.”

Elias smiled.

“And that document proves the Whitmore fortune was never legally theirs.”

Nora looked at the ledger.

Then at the key.

Then at Anna.

“Then we open the door.”

Jonathan shook his head.

“You don’t understand what happens if you do.”

Nora stepped toward him.

“Then tell me.”

Jonathan looked at Anna.

His voice became almost a whisper.

“Because the document doesn’t just destroy the Whitmore name.”

He looked at Elias.

“It destroys the Vale name too.”

Elias’s smile disappeared.

For the first time—

he looked afraid.