Chapter 6 - The Man Behind the Mask
The hidden room sealed automatically when Marcus pulled the door shut.
Outside, furniture crashed.
Ruby covered her ears.
Nathaniel tried to reopen the door, but Marcus stopped him.
“You are not going out there.”
“June and Claire are still outside.”
“So is an armed intruder.”
Nathaniel struck the wall with his palm.
“Open it.”
Marcus entered a code into his radio.
Two security officers stationed downstairs rushed into the apartment.
There was shouting, followed by a struggle.
Then silence.
Marcus waited for confirmation before releasing the hidden door.
The kitchen was filled with smoke.
June was coughing near the table. Claire had been knocked to the floor but remained conscious.
The masked intruder was gone.
The damaged section of the wall had been cut away.
Whatever remained of the seventh name had disappeared with him.
One security officer lay beside the open window. He had been struck, but his injuries were not serious.
Marcus examined the metal frame.
“The attacker used a maintenance line to descend from the roof.”
Nathaniel turned to Claire.
“You said the man who ordered Ruby’s eviction was her father.”
“I said the person who ordered it shares the same identity.”
“That is not an answer.”
Claire looked at Ruby.
“We should not discuss this in front of her.”
Ruby crossed her arms.
“Everyone is discussing me in front of me while pretending they aren’t.”
Claire lowered herself to Ruby’s height.
“You deserve the truth. But the truth I know may be incomplete.”
“Tell me the part you know.”
Claire took a breath.
“Your birth certificate was changed after you were born.”
“What did it say before?”
“Your father’s name was Gabriel Cross.”
Nathaniel’s jaw tightened.
Ruby looked at the photograph of Gabriel.
“Is he my father?”
“I don’t know,” Claire said.
“You just said his name was there.”
“Elara told me to write it. Two hours later, she begged me to destroy the certificate. She said Gabriel had used her trust to get close to you.”
June stared at Claire.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Elara believed the fewer people who knew, the safer Ruby would be.”
“Everyone keeps saying that,” June replied. “Meanwhile, a child has lived her entire life inside someone else’s secret.”
Nathaniel looked at the open window.
“Gabriel arranged the eviction. He wanted the apartment emptied so he could search this room.”
Marcus checked his phone.
“The authorization came from Gabriel’s executive credentials, but the command was routed through Silas’s department.”
“Then Gabriel is controlling Silas.”
“Possibly.”
Claire shook her head.
“You’re making the same mistake Elara made.”
Nathaniel faced her.
“Which mistake?”
“Assuming the name on a document belongs to the person who used it.”
Nathaniel looked down at Ruby’s eviction notice.
His own name had been forged.
Gabriel’s could have been stolen too.
Marcus received an alert from the tower.
“Security found Silas.”
“Where?”
“In the underground parking level.”
“Bring him in.”
“He’s unconscious.”
Nathaniel’s expression sharpened.
“What happened?”
“He was found inside Gabriel Cross’s car.”
June moved closer.
“Where is Gabriel?”
“No one knows.”
Marcus’s phone rang again.
This time, his face changed before he answered.
“Speak.”
He listened.
“When?”
Another pause.
“Seal the building. No one touches the body.”
Nathaniel waited.
Marcus lowered the phone.
“Victoria Hale was found dead in her office.”
Ruby looked frightened.
June pulled her away from the adults.
Nathaniel spoke quietly.
“How?”
“The first report says natural causes.”
“But you don’t believe that.”
“Her computer was wiped fourteen minutes before she was found.”
Claire stared at the list.
“Victoria was the company lawyer who created Hawthorne Residential Holdings.”
Nathaniel nodded.
“She was also the only person besides me who knew Elara had purchased this apartment.”
Ruby tugged at Nathaniel’s sleeve.
On the floor beneath the damaged wall was a tiny piece of paper that the intruder had missed.
Nathaniel picked it up.
Only half a sentence remained.
The Architect sits closer than blood, but Ruby’s father…
A handwritten number appeared on the back.
It was a bank deposit code.
May you like
Nathaniel recognized it as the format used by Vale Private Trust.
Only members of his immediate family had access.
