The silence after Lucian's last sentence felt suffocating.
"Someone inside the family granted them access."
Selina stood near the desk, her fingers curled tightly against her sleeves.
The east wing.
A sealed part of the Vale estate she had ignored her entire life.
Not because she never noticed it.
Because no one was ever allowed near it.
Questions about the east wing were always dismissed casually.
Storage.
Old construction damage.
Unused family property.
Excuses.
Now every explanation felt like a lie layered over another lie.
Lucian watched her carefully.
"You already know who opened it."
Selina looked away toward the city skyline.
"Elara."
It wasn't anger in her voice.
That was the frightening part.
Only certainty.
Lucian remained silent.
That silence confirmed enough.
Selina laughed softly under her breath.
"She really hated me that much."
"No," Lucian said quietly.
Selina looked back at him.
His silver eyes remained steady.
"She hated feeling second to someone she couldn't control."
The words settled heavily between them.
And painfully—
they sounded true.
Elara had always needed attention.
Validation.
Control over every room she entered.
Selina used to think if she stayed quiet enough, helpful enough, invisible enough—
peace would exist between them.
But now she understood something much darker.
Her existence alone threatened Elara without trying.
Because even unnoticed—
Selina still drew people's attention naturally.
Her intelligence.
Her calmness.
The way Damian slowly began trusting her business judgment.
The way Lucian looked at her.
And eventually—
Elara noticed it too.
Selina pressed a hand lightly against her forehead.
Everything felt clearer now.
Cruelly clear.
Lucian's phone vibrated again against the desk.
He checked the message briefly before looking back at her.
"My security team confirmed movement beneath the east wing."
Selina's pulse slowed immediately.
"Beneath?"
Lucian nodded once.
"There's an underground level connected to the original structure of the estate."
A memory flashed instantly.
Dark stairs.
Cold walls.
A locked iron door.
Selina inhaled sharply.
Lucian noticed immediately.
"You remembered something again."
She nodded faintly.
"There were stairs."
Her voice sounded distant now.
"I think… I've seen them before."
Lucian's expression sharpened slightly.
"When?"
Selina closed her eyes briefly.
The memory remained fragmented.
Not complete.
Just sensations.
Fear.
A woman holding her hand tightly.
Rain outside.
And someone whispering—
"Never tell anyone what you saw downstairs."
Selina's eyes opened immediately.
Her breathing slowed unevenly.
Lucian stepped closer.
"What else?"
She shook her head slightly.
"That's all."
But it wasn't all.
Something else lingered beneath the memory.
A feeling.
Safety.
Like whoever held her hand had been trying desperately to protect her.
Selina looked toward Lucian slowly.
"…Was it my mother?"
For the first time in hours—
Lucian hesitated emotionally instead of strategically.
"Yes."
The single word hit harder than she expected.
Her mother.
A person she couldn't even remember properly.
Yet fragments of her still existed somewhere inside Selina's mind.
The realization tightened her chest painfully.
Lucian's voice softened slightly.
"Your memories are returning faster now because you've stopped resisting them."
Selina frowned faintly.
"I was resisting them?"
"Yes."
A pause.
"In every previous outcome, you avoided questioning your past because you were too focused on earning the Vale family's acceptance."
Silence.
That truth hurt more than it should have.
Because it was accurate.
She spent so many years trying to become lovable to people who never intended to fully love her back—
that she never once searched for herself.
Selina walked toward the window slowly.
The pale afternoon sunlight stretched across the city beneath them.
Somewhere beyond those buildings stood the Vale estate.
And beneath that estate—
possibly the final thing her parents died protecting.
Lucian spoke again.
"We need to reach the underground level before the Hollow Circle does."
Selina turned immediately.
"You want to go there now?"
"Yes."
Her eyes widened slightly.
"That's insane."
"It's necessary."
Selina crossed her arms tightly.
"There are already people searching the estate."
"And if they access the archive before us," Lucian replied calmly, "everything becomes significantly worse."
The certainty in his voice made her stomach tighten slightly.
Selina looked away briefly.
Part of her wanted to refuse immediately.
Because the idea of returning there felt suffocating now.
The mansion no longer felt familiar.
It felt hostile.
Every hallway would feel different knowing the truth.
Every smile.
Every conversation.
Every moment of false belonging.
Lucian watched her quietly.
"You're afraid."
Selina let out a soft breath.
"That obvious?"
"Yes."
Oddly—
he didn't sound judgmental.
Just honest.
Selina folded her arms tighter.
"I spent twenty years believing that place was my home."
Her voice lowered slightly.
"And now I find out there were secrets buried underneath it the entire time."
Lucian's gaze softened almost invisibly.
"The estate was never your home."
The words should have hurt.
Instead—
they felt freeing.
Painfully freeing.
Because deep down—
she had always known.
Lucian stepped closer slowly.
"But what's hidden beneath it belongs to your family."
Silence filled the room again.
Selina looked directly into his silver eyes.
And suddenly she understood something important.
This wasn't only about survival anymore.
It wasn't only about revenge either.
This was about reclaiming something stolen long before she understood what she lost.
Her breathing steadied slightly.
"When do we leave?"
Lucian answered immediately.
"Tonight."
The room grew quiet once more.
Then suddenly—
Selina's phone rang again.
This time—
Elara.
Selina stared at the screen silently.
Lucian's expression darkened instantly.
"She wouldn't call unless something changed."
Selina hesitated briefly before answering.
"…What?"
Elara's breathing sounded uneven immediately.
Panicked.
Real panic.
That alone made Selina straighten slightly.
"Selina," Elara whispered urgently.
"You need to listen carefully."
The tone in her voice felt wrong.
Not manipulative.
Afraid.
Selina frowned.
"What happened?"
A shaky breath came through the phone.
Then quietly—
"They found the hidden door."
The blood drained from Selina's face instantly.
On the other end of the call, Elara sounded close to breaking.
And then she whispered the words that made the entire room go still.
"There's blood downstairs."