Chapter 66: The Woman Inside Raven

"Search every wall," Colette ordered.

"Nathaniel always hid one layer deeper."

Her footsteps echoed through the hidden study above.

Victor immediately switched off Arthur's tablet.

Darkness swallowed the vault.

No one dared breathe.

Dust drifted from the ceiling as furniture scraped across the floor overhead.

"They're opening the cabinets," Arthur whispered.

"How long before they find the hatch?"

"If they're lucky," Victor replied quietly.

"Two minutes."

"If they're thorough... thirty seconds."

Damien looked toward the narrow staircase.

"We can't stay trapped down here."

"No," Victor agreed.

"Richard wouldn't have built a vault with only one exit."

Arthur swept his flashlight along the stone walls.

"Help me look."

The four of us searched silently.

Solid stone.

Old brick.

Nothing.

Then I noticed something carved beside the lowest step.

A tiny raven.

Its missing eye matched the signet ring.

"Victor," I whispered.

"Here."

He knelt beside the carving.

"Good catch."

He pressed the stone eye.

Nothing happened.

"The ring," Damien said.

Victor inserted the raven signet into the hollow.

A section of the wall slid inward with a low rumble.

Cold air rushed through a narrow tunnel.

"Richard built an escape route," Arthur breathed.

"Go," Victor ordered.

"I'll cover the rear."

Before anyone moved, Colette's voice rang out above us.

"Found it!"

Metal crashed against metal.

The hatch had been discovered.

"Move!" Victor shouted.

We rushed into the tunnel.

Arthur pulled the hidden lever from the inside.

The stone wall sealed behind us just as the vault door burst open.

Muffled voices echoed through the rock.

"Split up!"

"Find them!"

The tunnel sloped gently upward.

After nearly a hundred metres it ended behind an abandoned greenhouse on the western edge of the estate.

The first rays of morning light broke across the gardens.

"We're outside the security perimeter," Arthur said.

"Richard thought of everything."

Victor looked back toward Ashford Manor.

"Not everything."

"They've got the study."

"But not the journal," I said, holding the leather binder tightly.

"That's what they came for."

Arthur's phone vibrated.

"Unknown number."

"Answer it," Victor said.

Arthur switched to speaker.

A calm female voice filled the silence.

"Congratulations."

"You found Richard's archive."

Victor recognised the voice immediately.

"Colette."

"No," the woman replied.

"Colette is simply one of my names."

Nobody spoke.

"Who are you?" Damien demanded.

A soft laugh came through the speaker.

"That's a better question."

"Nathaniel knew me by another name."

"Inside Raven..."

"I was called Sparrow."

Victor frowned.

"You're admitting you're Raven?"

"Part of it."

"Not all of it."

"Then why call us?" I asked.

Silence lingered for a moment.

"Because Nathaniel deserved better."

"He trusted the wrong people..."

"Except once."

"He trusted me."

Arthur looked stunned.

"You're the insider who delayed the kill order," he whispered.

"Yes."

"The journal told us someone bought Nathaniel a year," Victor said.

"That was you."

"I gave him eleven months," Sparrow answered quietly.

"The twelfth month wasn't mine to control."

My grip tightened around the phone.

"Why help him if you belonged to Raven?"

For the first time, emotion entered her voice.

"Because he saved my daughter."

Nobody expected that answer.

"Years ago," she continued,

"Raven wanted to recruit her."

"Nathaniel hid her instead."

"He never asked for anything in return."

"He simply said..."

"No child should inherit someone else's crimes."

I closed my eyes.

That sounded exactly like my brother.

"Then help us finish this," I said.

"Tell us who the Founder is."

"I can't."

"Why not?" Damien asked.

"Because I've never seen his face."

"Only heard his voice."

"Everyone inside Raven reports through layers."

"No one reaches the top."

"Not even you?" Victor asked.

"Especially not me."

"Then why risk calling?"

"Because they're about to erase me too."

A sharp bang echoed through the phone.

Someone shouted in the background.

"They've found me," Sparrow whispered.

"Listen carefully."

"The Founder isn't hiding in another country."

"He isn't hiding inside Raven Capital."

"He's hiding inside a family."

"Which family?" Victor demanded.

"Ashford?"

"No."

"The Carters?"

"No."

"Then who?"

Another gunshot echoed through the line.

Sparrow gasped.

"Look..."

"At Nathaniel's university records."

"Find the student who disappeared before graduation."

"He became..."

The call dissolved into static.

"Sparrow?" I shouted.

No answer.

The line went dead.

Arthur slowly lowered the phone.

"Can we trace it?" Damien asked.

Arthur shook his head.

"Disposable satellite connection."

"Already destroyed."

Victor looked toward the journal in my hands.

"Nathaniel left us one trail after another."

"Now we have a new one."

"His university."

"Not just that," I said quietly.

"Someone disappeared before graduation."

"Nathaniel kept records of everyone he trusted."

"If he noticed one student vanish..."

"He would've written it down."

Rose came running across the gardens from the manor.

She was breathless.

"Madam!"

"Police just searched Colette's bedroom."

"They found a hidden safe."

"Was anything inside?" Victor asked.

Rose nodded slowly.

"Only one photograph."

"Of who?"

Rose handed it to me.

The faded university photograph showed a group of graduating students.

Nathaniel stood in the centre.

Beside him was Victor Hayes.

And standing on the far left... smiling directly at the camera... was a young woman.

I recognised her immediately.

"Colette," Damien whispered.

"No," Victor corrected quietly.

"That isn't Colette."

"It's Sparrow."