No one spoke.
The empty safe seemed to steal every sound from the room.
Julian Blackwood stared into it as though he refused to believe his own eyes.
“No…”
His voice cracked.
“It should be here.”
Lucien stepped between Julian and me.
“What was inside?”
Julian laughed bitterly.
“You think I’d tell you?”
His confidence was gone.
For the first time since we’d met him…
He looked afraid.
Not of us.
Of whoever had reached the safe first.
⸻
Damien picked up the brass compass from the floor.
“So…”
He turned it over in his hands.
“We all nearly died over an empty safe?”
“It’s not empty.”
Thomas said quietly.
Everyone looked at him.
He pointed toward the back panel.
“There.”
A folded piece of paper had been wedged into the corner.
So small…
None of us had noticed it.
Luci
