Chapter 10 - The Infiltration of Vault 7
The corrupt lead agent stepped forward, sweating profusely under Dante’s predatory glare. "Moretti, this is an official federal seizure. You're interfering with a lawful investigation."
"There is nothing lawful about Arthur Kensington paying you two hundred thousand dollars into an account in Zurich yesterday," Dante said smoothly, holding up a black tablet displaying the exact wire transaction records.
The agent's face turned white as paper.
Alex stepped past them, her heels clicking authoritatively on the marble floor. She walked straight to the secure vault door behind the main gallery. "They're not here for the paper files. They're here for Vault 7."
"What is in Vault 7?" Dante asked, following her closely.
"The physical ledger my mother kept twenty years ago," Alex explained, her fingers rapidly typing the security code into the biometric keypad. "When Kensington first started moving illicit antiquities through Sabbes. Preston didn't just use me; he used my mother's legacy to cover Kensington's tracks from two decades ago."
The heavy vault door clicked open with a deep mechanical hiss.
Inside the climate-controlled chamber sat rows of steel deposit boxes. Alex rushed to the private safe labeled Sterling Provenance 1998–2005. She pulled out a heavy, leather-bound volume containing original carbon receipts, wax seals, and notarized transfer deeds.
She opened the yellowed pages, her eyes widening as she read the names.
"Dante... look," she whispered, her hands trembling.
Dante stepped beside her, looking over her shoulder at the faded ink.
"Arthur Kensington didn't just bankrupt your father's shipping line," Alex said, looking up at Dante with tears of shock in her eyes. "He used Sabbes to launder the stolen assets from your family's estate. And my mother... my mother tried to report it, but Kensington had her blacklisted and bankrupted."
Dante stared at the page. The final piece of the puzzle had clicked into place. The two families had been linked in this war long before Alex and Dante ever met.
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"Your mother was a woman of honor," Dante murmured, his voice thick with profound respect. He placed a gentle hand over hers on the open ledger. "And together, we are going to finish the battle she started."
Before they could close the vault, the sound of gunfire echoed from the main gallery above.
