Chapter 21 - An Unmarked Confidential Package Reveals An Even Darker Truth
At ten o'clock that evening, after the last party guests had departed, Claire sat alone in her quiet study overlooking the dark lake.
A heavy thunderstorm began rolling across Mecklenburg County, flashes of distant lightning illuminating the two-story windows of the villa.
Her private security guard knocked softly on the study door, holding a thick, black leather courier box tied with red wax string.
“Ms. Whitmore, a private courier delivered this to the front gate five minutes ago,” the guard reported, setting the box on her desk.
“Did he leave a name or a company manifest?” Claire asked, frowning at the unlabelled red wax seal on the top of the box.
“No, ma’am. He only said it was recovered from a private bank vault in Zurich, Switzerland, following Arthur Vance Sr.’s death.”
Claire’s breath hitched in her chest as she picked up a silver letter opener and carefully broke the heavy red wax seal on the leather lid.
Inside the box lay a collection of yellowed blueprints, three encrypted flash drives, and a handwritten letter addressed to Claire in her father’s handwriting.
Claire opened the letter, her eyes scanning the faded black ink as a sudden, violent bolt of lightning illuminated the dark room outside.
May you like
“My dearest Claire... if you are reading this, it means Grant Whitmore has failed, but the real mastermind behind your mother’s death has just activated Project Centurion in London.”
Claire froze, her heart hammering wildly against her ribs as she looked down at the blueprint beneath the letter—it was a floor plan of her own Lake Norman villa, marked with a secret subterranean vault located directly beneath the floor she was standing on.
