Chapter 5 – The Stolen File
770 Words
The room fell into complete silence.
Damien stared at the photographs spread across the coffee table.
Sophia…
The woman he had trusted for years.
The woman who had convinced him that divorcing Aria was the best decision for Kingsley Group.
She was the same woman who had hired an assassin.
His hands tightened into fists.
“I’ll make her pay.”
Ethan crossed his arms.
“If you confront her now, she’ll destroy every piece of evidence before you get there.”
Damien’s sharp gaze met Ethan’s.
“You seem to know a lot about this.”
“I know enough to realize we’re already behind.”
Before Damien could question him further, his phone rang.
It was his grandfather.
Damien answered immediately.
“Grandfather?”
The old man’s voice trembled.
“Come home… now.”
“What happened?”
“The family vault has been broken into.”
Damien’s expression hardened.
“What was stolen?”
There was a long pause.
Then his grandfather spoke four words that changed everything.
“Aria’s birth file.”
Kingsley Mansion
Within twenty minutes, Damien, Aria, Ethan, and Liam arrived at the mansion.
Police officers surrounded the estate.
Detectives dusted every surface for fingerprints.
The steel door to the underground vault had been cut open with industrial equipment.
Damien’s grandfather, Arthur Kingsley, stood quietly beside the shattered safe.
Despite being in his late seventies, he still carried himself with authority.
His eyes stopped on Aria.
“So… you’ve finally come back.”
Aria looked confused.
“We’ve never met.”
Arthur smiled sadly.
“No…”
“We met once.”
“You were only a baby.”
Everyone froze.
“What?” Damien asked.
Arthur closed his eyes.
“I’ve kept this secret for twenty-six years.”
Twenty-Six Years Ago…
Arthur slowly began to speak.
“One rainy night…”
“A close friend begged me to protect his newborn daughter.”
“He said powerful people were hunting his family.”
“He gave me a sealed file containing the child’s true identity.”
“I hid the file inside the Kingsley family vault.”
Aria’s heartbeat quickened.
Arthur looked directly at her.
“That child…”
“…was you.”
The room spun.
Aria stepped backward.
“No…”
“That’s impossible.”
“My parents are Grace and Michael Bennett.”
Arthur shook his head.
“They raised you.”
“They didn’t give birth to you.”
Tears filled Aria’s eyes.
“My whole life…”
“…has been a lie?”
Before anyone could respond…
The mansion lights suddenly went out.
Darkness swallowed the room.
A security guard shouted from outside.
“Sir!”
“We’ve lost power!”
Then—
Bang!
A window shattered.
Another followed.
Masked men flooded into the mansion from every direction.
“Protect Mr. Kingsley!”
“Protect Miss Bennett!”
Gunfire erupted.
Bodyguards returned fire as guests screamed and scattered.
Damien immediately pulled Aria behind a marble pillar.
“Stay down!”
A bullet struck the pillar inches from her face.
Stone fragments flew through the air.
Meanwhile, Ethan calmly removed a compact handgun from inside his jacket.
His movements were precise.
Almost military.
One by one, the attackers were disarmed without fatal shots.
Damien noticed.
His eyes narrowed.
“Who are you… really?”
Ethan didn’t answer.
Instead, he looked toward the staircase.
Three masked men had slipped away from the battle.
They weren’t after money.
They weren’t after Arthur.
They were heading straight for the second floor.
Toward the nursery wing…
Where the old family archives were kept.
“They’re after something else,” Ethan said.
He sprinted upstairs.
Damien followed.
At the end of the hallway…
The leader of the attackers stood before a hidden room.
He entered a six-digit code into a concealed keypad.
The heavy steel door slowly opened.
Inside…
There was only one item.
A small silver box.
The masked leader smiled.
“I finally found it.”
Just as he reached for the box—
A voice echoed behind him.
“I wouldn’t touch that.”
The man turned.
Ethan Hayes stood in the doorway, his gun aimed steadily.
“You’ve caused enough trouble tonight.”
The masked man laughed.
“You still don’t recognize me, do you?”
Slowly…
He removed his mask.
Ethan’s face lost all color.
“It can’t be…”
The man smiled coldly.
“Hello, brother.”
Cliffhanger: Who is Ethan Hayes’ mysterious brother, and what connection does he have to Aria’s true identity? Why was Aria’s birth file hidden in the Kingsley family’s vault for over two decades?
- Writer
