They reached the old Voss property after midnight.
The house itself had been abandoned for years. Ivy covered the stone walls, and several windows had been boarded shut.
Mara had never visited the place.
Her mother had always refused to discuss it.
Now she understood why.
The railway key opened a narrow gate behind the property.
Beyond it was a stone staircase descending beneath the hillside.
Daniel switched on his flashlight.
Richard went first.
Helena followed.
Mara stayed between them.
The air grew colder as they descended.
At the bottom stood a metal door.
The key fit.
The lock opened with a heavy click.
Inside was a long archive room.
Shelves filled every wall.
Boxes were stacked to the ceiling.
Some had dates from before Mara's birth.
Others were older than Richard.
Mara slowly turned in place.
“This is everything.”
Helena nodded.
“Almost.”
“What was kept here?”
“Records people wanted forgotten.”
Daniel opened a box.
Bank statements.
Contracts.
Photographs.
Letters.
He lifted one document.
“This is from 1974.”
Richard took it.
His face changed.
“What?”
Mara asked.
Richard handed it to her.
It was a transfer agreement.
A large amount of money had been moved from a Voss account into an overseas trust.
The beneficiary was not Victor.
Not Richard.
Not Helena.
It was Michael Whitmore.
Mara looked at the date.
Michael had been sixteen.
“That doesn't make sense.”
Richard shook his head.
“He wasn't the beneficiary.”
“Then why his name?”
“Because someone was using him.”
Daniel opened another box.
Inside were medical records.
Mara found Michael's name.
Then she saw something unexpected.
Cause of death: undetermined.
She looked at Richard.
“You said he died.”
“I was told he did.”
“By whom?”
“My father.”
Mara turned another page.
There was no death certificate.
Only a missing-person report.
She looked at Helena.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“Why didn't you tell us?”
“Because by the time I discovered the truth, I had Sophie to protect.”
Mara closed the file.
They continued searching.
After nearly an hour, Sophie found a ledger hidden inside a false-bottom box.
The cover was black.
No title.
She opened it.
The first page contained one sentence.
THE CHILDREN ARE NOT THE ASSET. THE BLOODLINE IS.
Mara felt a chill.
Daniel read it.
“What does that mean?”
Richard looked disturbed.
“I don't know.”
Mara turned the page.
There were family names.
Voss.
Whitmore.
Hart.
Several others.
Beside them were dates of marriages and births.
Then she saw her own name.
Mara Voss.
Beside it was a symbol.
A circle.
Daniel's name appeared below hers.
Same symbol.
Sophie's name followed.
Same symbol.
Mara stared.
“Why are we marked?”
Helena took the book.
She read the page.
Her face went pale.
“What?”
She pointed to a paragraph.
“The family was tracking bloodlines.”
“For what?”
Helena hesitated.
Richard answered.
“To control inheritance.”
Mara frowned.
“That's all?”
“No.”
He looked toward the oldest boxes.
“There was an old trust.”
Daniel asked, “How old?”
“Almost a century.”
“And?”
Richard swallowed.
“The trust could only pass through descendants of a specific bloodline.”
Mara understood.
“That is why Victor wanted Sophie.”
“Yes.”
“And why he wanted Daniel.”
“Yes.”
“And why he wanted me.”
Richard looked at her.
“Yes.”
Mara turned the page.
There was a list of names.
One had been crossed out.
Michael Whitmore.
Another had been circled.
Samuel Voss.
Mara stopped.
“What did my father have to do with the trust?”
Helena answered.
“He discovered it.”
“Then why didn't he tell me?”
“Because he believed the trust was what started the violence.”
Daniel looked at the records.
“Who controlled it?”
Richard shook his head.
“No one.”
Mara frowned.
“No one?”
“It was dormant.”
“Then why fight over it?”
“Because Victor believed controlling the descendants meant controlling the trust.”
Sophie looked up.
“Maybe he was wrong.”
Everyone turned toward her.
She pointed to another document.
“It says the trust can only be activated if all three surviving descendants agree.”
Mara read it.
Her name.
Daniel's.
Sophie's.
Three signatures.
One decision.
She looked at Daniel.
“We never knew.”
“No.”
Sophie closed the file.
“Maybe that's why they kept us apart.”
A sound came from the corridor.
Everyone froze.
Richard extinguished the flashlight.
Footsteps approached.
Slowly.
Mara held her breath.
The door opened.
Thomas Reed stood there.
Daniel whispered, “You followed us.”
Thomas looked at the records.
“I was trying to stop you.”
“Why?”
“Because Samuel wasn't the only person who disappeared.”
Mara stepped forward.
“Who else?”
Thomas looked at Richard.
“Michael.”
Richard stared.
“You found him?”
Thomas nodded.
“He contacted Samuel.”
“Where is he?”
Thomas's expression tightened.
“Dead.”
Silence.
“How?”
“He was killed two days ago.”
Mara felt sick.
“By whom?”
“We don't know.”
Daniel looked at the ledger.
“Does this have something to do with the trust?”
Thomas nodded.
“Yes.”
Mara looked at the names.
“Who is trying to activate it?”
Thomas hesitated.
Then he said, “Victor.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Victor is imprisoned.”
“He doesn't need to be free.”
Mara looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
“Someone is acting for him.”
“Who?”
Thomas looked toward the doorway.
“Adrian.”
Mara's heart sank.
“But Adrian helped the investigators.”
“He gave them enough information to appear cooperative.”
Richard stepped forward.
“You're lying.”
Thomas shook his head.
“No.”
He reached into his coat.
He removed a recording.
“Listen.”
He pressed play.
Adrian's voice filled the archive room.
“The trust belongs to the Whitmore line. If I can prove Daniel is not legitimate, Sophie becomes the sole heir.”
Mara stared.
Another voice answered.
Victor.
“You will bring me the ledger.”
Adrian said, “And Mara?”
Victor replied.
“She knows too much.”
The recording stopped.
Daniel looked furious.
“We trusted him.”
Mara looked at the archive.
“He wanted the ledger.”
Sophie whispered, “And the trust.”
Thomas nodded.
“Now he knows where the archive is.”
A crash came from upstairs.
Someone had entered the house.
Thomas looked toward the ceiling.
“They're here.”
Richard grabbed the ledger.
“Move.”
They hurried toward the rear corridor.
Mara held the bloodline book.
Helena carried the oldest documents.
Daniel stayed beside Sophie.
The footsteps above multiplied.
Someone shouted.
“Find them!”
Mara recognized the voice.
Adrian.
She stopped.
Daniel grabbed her arm.
“Keep moving.”
She looked back.
The archive room contained decades of evidence.
If they escaped with nothing, Adrian could destroy it.
Mara turned toward the shelves.
Then she made a choice.
She took the oldest box.
“We're not leaving this.”
Daniel stared.
“Mara, we don't have time.”
“We've spent our whole lives running from these records.”
She looked at Helena.
“Not anymore.”
Helena nodded.
Together, they carried the evidence toward the tunnel.
Behind them, flames appeared in the archive room.
Adrian had set the records on fire.
Mara watched the first shelves begin to burn.
For a moment, she thought of every secret that had survived inside those boxes.
Then she looked at the bloodline book.
One page remained untouched.
A handwritten note.
The trust was never intended for the strongest heir.
It was intended for the person who would refuse to use it.
Mara read the sentence aloud.
Daniel looked at her.
“Who does that mean?”
Mara closed the book.
“I think we already know.”
Click Here to continue read next: PART15: Adrian Came for the Bloodline Trust, but Mara Refused to Fight Him for It and Discovered the Choice Her Mother Had Been Waiting For
She Left the Wedding With Blood on Her Lip, but the Stain on Her Dress Was the Least Dangerous Thing Behind Her
Part 14 of 16
