PART 6 — The Secret Beneath My Childhood Home Changed Everything
Godfrey grabbed Phedra and pulled her behind the kitchen counter.
I dropped beside them.
Another gunshot shattered the silence.
Glass fell across the floor.
My mother stood motionless.
“Mom!”
She didn't respond.
“Get down!”
She finally moved.
We crawled toward the hallway.
I could hear footsteps outside.
Slow.
Heavy.
Deliberate.
Someone was walking around the house.
Godfrey whispered:
“They found us.”
“Who?”
“The people Mom was talking about.”
I looked at my mother.
“You know them.”
She shook her head.
“I knew their leader.”
“Who?”
She looked at me.
“Your father's business partner.”
“What was his name?”
She swallowed.
“Victor Hale.”
I had never heard the name.
“Where is he now?”
“Dead.”
“Then who's outside?”
My mother whispered:
“His son.”
A loud bang came from the basement.
Everyone froze.
Someone had entered the house.
I grabbed a kitchen knife.
Godfrey looked at me.
“What are you doing?”
“Protecting my wife.”
We moved toward the basement.
Phedra stayed behind.
“Damian, don't.”
I looked at her.
“I'll come back.”
“You promised.”
“I always keep my promises.”
Godfrey followed me.
The basement door was open.
The light was on.
But nobody was there.
I stepped down slowly.
The basement smelled like dust and damp wood.
My childhood memories came flooding back.
My father used to bring me here when I was young.
He had a workbench.
Old tools.
Boxes.
Documents.
I remembered something.
A metal cabinet.
It was still there.
I opened it.
Nothing.
Godfrey searched the walls.
Then he stopped.
“Damian.”
“What?”
He pointed toward the floor.
There were fresh scratches in the concrete.
Someone had moved something recently.
We cleared away the dust.
A small metal hatch appeared.
I stared at it.
“My father.”
Godfrey nodded.
“He told me there was something beneath the house.”
I found a key taped beneath the workbench.
My hands shook as I inserted it.
Click.
The hatch opened.
Inside was a narrow staircase.
Phedra called from above.
“Damian?”
“We found something.”
I descended.
Godfrey followed.
At the bottom was a small room.
No windows.
No electricity.
But there were shelves.
Boxes.
Files.
Bank documents.
Photographs.
And a safe.
I opened the first box.
Inside were financial records.
Companies.
Properties.
Bank accounts.
Millions of dollars.
Then I found a photograph.
My father was standing beside three men.
One was Victor Hale.
The second was a younger man I didn't recognize.
The third…
I stared.
My mother.
But she was much younger.
She was smiling.
On the back of the photograph was a date.
Three months before my father's death.
And a handwritten sentence:
THEY ALL KNOW.
I looked at Godfrey.
“Who is the third man?”
He shook his head.
“I've never seen him.”
I searched the documents.
Then I found his name.
Daniel Cross.
My father had written something beside it.
TRUST NO ONE.
My heart began racing.
Then Phedra appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
“Damian.”
I turned.
She was holding a folder.
“I found this upstairs.”
“What is it?”
She handed it to me.
The folder contained medical documents.
My father's records.
But there was something different.
A laboratory report.
Toxicology.
I read the result.
A substance had been found in his blood.
Poison.
The report had been altered.
The original result was hidden underneath.
Phedra whispered:
“They killed him.”
I nodded.
“But why?”
Godfrey pointed toward the safe.
“Maybe that's why.”
I opened it.
Inside was a USB drive.
And one handwritten note.
I unfolded it.
My father's handwriting.
Damian, if you ever find this, it means they failed to stop you.
My hands trembled.
Everything you need is on the drive.
Then another line.
But don't trust your mother.
I looked at Selina.
She was standing at the bottom of the stairs.
Her face had gone completely white.
“Mom…”
She didn't answer.
“Did Dad know?”
She closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Did you help them?”
She whispered:
“I didn't know they would kill him.”
Godfrey stared at her.
“You knew?”
“I knew they wanted him silenced.”
“You let it happen.”
“I was afraid!”
I stepped toward her.
“You let me believe he died in an accident.”
She cried.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“You protected yourself.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
She pointed toward the USB.
“I protected you from what was on that.”
I looked at the drive.
“What is on it?”
She whispered:
“Names.”
“Whose names?”
“Everyone.”
Suddenly, footsteps sounded above us.
Someone had entered the house.
Godfrey looked at me.
“We need to leave.”
But the basement door slammed shut.
We heard a man's voice.
“Damian!”
I froze.
The voice was calm.
Almost friendly.
“Your father left you a fortune.”
A pause.
“And you have no idea how many people are willing to kill for it.”
Godfrey whispered:
“Victor's son.”
The man continued.
“Bring me the drive.”
I looked at the USB in my hand.
“No.”
A gunshot hit the basement door.
Phedra screamed.
The man shouted:
“You have five minutes.”
I looked around the hidden room.
Then I noticed something behind the safe.
A second door.
I opened it.
A narrow tunnel stretched beneath the house.
At the end was another exit.
But before we could move, my mother grabbed my arm.
“Damian.”
I turned.
Her eyes were filled with tears.
“There is one thing you don't know.”
“What?”
She took a deep breath.
“Your father didn't leave four million dollars.”
I stared at her.
“How much?”
She whispered:
“Forty-two million.”
My mouth went dry.
“Where?”
She pointed toward the USB.
“Your father didn't hide the money under this house.”
“Then where?”
She looked at Phedra.
“Your wife knows.”
Phedra's face went pale.
“What?”
My mother smiled sadly.
“She has been carrying the key for eleven months.”
Phedra touched her neck.
The hummingbird necklace.
My mother's eyes moved toward it.
“The necklace isn't jewelry.”
I slowly looked at the golden hummingbird around my wife's neck.
The necklace my mother had stolen.
The necklace she had been wearing when I came home.
I suddenly understood.
She hadn't stolen it because she wanted gold.
She had stolen it because she knew what it contained.
I reached for the necklace.
My mother whispered:
“The key to your father's fortune is inside.”
And above us…
the basement door began to open.
