Unbroken Legacy

CHAPTER 28: CRACKS IN THE SHIELD

Three days passed with no further sign from Valerius or the Crown. The silence was heavier than any alarm, stretching thin our patience and fraying our nerves. Drake doubled all perimeter patrols; Nate ran security diagnostics every four hours instead of once a day; Duncan spent long hours poring over old notes, piecing together every tactic, every weakness, every cruelty he could recall about Valerius.

I sat beside Ward on the main hall’s steps one afternoon, watching Isabella stack firewood nearby. My hands rested on my belly, where the baby had been restless all morning. “He won’t wait forever,” I said quietly. “Dad said he likes to make us anxious first. Wear us down.”

Ward wrapped an arm tight around me. “Let him try. We’ve got nothing worth doubting here. Not each other.”

But even as he said it, I saw the way his eyes darted to the gate, to the tree line, to anyone who lingered too long. And I knew we were all waiting for the first sign that Valerius had found his opening.

It came at dusk. Not with sirens, not with gunfire, but with a patrol runner, breathless and pale, bursting through the doors.

“Drake—we found something. Taped to the outer fence. No prints, no trace of who left it.”

He handed over a single folded sheet of paper. Drake unfolded it, his jaw setting hard as stone. Duncan stepped up beside him, and I saw his shoulders slump just a fraction before he stiffened again.

“What is it?” Isabella asked, hurrying over.

Drake turned the paper so we could see. Written in elegant, looping ink, were four lines:

The walls you build will never be high enough.

The secrets you hide will never be buried deep enough.

I know what you lost.

I know what you refuse to lose.

At the bottom, there was no signature—only a single, tiny crown.

“It’s him,” Duncan said, his voice rough. “He’s telling us he’s already inside our heads. That he’s closer than we think.”

Before anyone could reply, Nate’s voice blared from the command center intercom: “Drake—get down here. Now. We’ve got blind spots. Three of the west-facing cameras went dark two minutes ago. Not hacked—physically disabled.”

Drake was already moving, drawing his weapon. “Nate, lock all exterior gates. Seal the hall. Ward, you stay with Casey and Isabella—get them to the safe room. Duncan, with me—we’re checking the perimeter.”

“I’m not hiding while you go after him,” Duncan said, his tone unyielding. “He came for my family. I go with you.”

Ward guided me and Isabella toward the back corridor, but the sense of dread was rising fast, choking me. Valerius hadn’t just come to test us. He’d come to remind us that he knew every scar we carried—my father’s losses, my own escape, the baby we were fighting to protect. He knew exactly where to strike.

As Ward pushed open the safe room door, Mel hurried out, her medical bag in hand. “I heard—Casey, sit. Your pulse is racing, you need to stay calm—”

“I can’t just sit,” I said, my voice cracking. “He knows we’re here. He knows about all of it.”

Isabella squeezed my hand, her own fingers trembling. “We’re together. That’s what he wants to break. If we hold fast, he’s got nothing.”

Outside, shouts echoed. Then a sharp, short whistle—the signal that the patrol had spotted someone moving in the tree line. Ward pressed me gently onto the bench, his face grim. “I have to help secure the perimeter. I won’t let anything get past me. But you stay here. Lock the door. Only open for me, or Drake, or your father.”

I nodded, and he kissed my forehead hard, like he was anchoring himself to me, before drawing his weapon and slipping out.

The door clicked shut. Isabella wedged a chair under the handle. Mel sat beside me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders, but even her steady presence couldn’t stop the cold thought creeping in: Valerius didn’t want to storm the clubhouse. He wanted to make us look over our shoulders every second. He wanted to make us turn on each other, just like my father had warned.

And for the first time since we’d defeated the Crown, I wondered—how long before he found the first crack in our shield?