The Thorne Heiress Unveiling Shadow novel Chapter 109

The air in the vault was cold and dead. Evelyn looked at the lead-lined box in her hands, her heart pounding a slow, heavy rhythm against her ribs. This was it. The black box at the center of her entire life.

In her ear, the voice of Kaelen's security chief was a low, urgent whisper. "Miss Thorne, Volkov is getting impatient. Mr. Blackwood can't hold her for much longer. You have less than two minutes."

Time was running out.

Evelyn worked with a speed and a focus that was almost inhuman. She pulled a slim, silver device from her pocket, a portable, high-speed scanner of her own design. She opened the leather-bound diary.

The pages were filled with a looping, elegant handwriting, slightly faded with age. It was her aunt's hand. She began to scan the pages, the device capturing the text in a blur of motion.

At the same time, she took out the tiny micro-cassette tapes. They were an ancient technology, but for the most sensitive secrets, sometimes the old ways were the safest. She inserted the first one into a second, smaller device, a portable digital audio converter.

She didn't have time to read or listen. She just had to capture the data.

"One minute, Miss Thorne."

She finished scanning the last page of the diary and slotted the last cassette into the converter. The data was being uploaded to a secure, encrypted cloud server, accessible only to her.

She had it. All of it.

She carefully placed the diary and the tapes back in the lead-lined box and closed the lid. She put the box back in the "DESTROYED" cabinet, closed the door, and re-engaged the simple lock.

She left everything exactly as she had found it.

"Thirty seconds."

She slipped out of the archive, the heavy steel door hissing shut behind her. It locked with a solid, final click. She was gone.

She made it back to the main levels just as the cocktail party was beginning to wind down. No one had noticed she was gone.

Later that night, in the quiet of their hotel suite, far away from the clinic, she finally looked at what she had found.

Kaelen sat beside her, a silent, supportive presence, as she projected the contents of the diary onto a screen.

And then, she pressed play on the first audio file.

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