Chapter 1: The Discovery

Victoria Kane stepped off the private helicopter onto the sprawling estate lawn, the late-summer sun glinting off the marble fountains her great-grandfather had imported from Italy a century ago. At twenty-five, she was home for what her father had called a “family strategy retreat”—a month-long stay to “learn the ropes” before taking her official seat on the board.

She already knew the ropes. She had graduated summa cum laude, crushed her MBA at Wharton in eighteen months, and quietly tripled the return on the small fund Daddy had given her to “play with.” The retreat was just an excuse to get her under the same roof again.

The house was quiet when she arrived—staff dismissed for the evening at her quiet request. She had always known where the real secrets were kept: the restricted west wing, the one with the biometric locks only three men in the world could open.

Daddy’s print. Paternal Grandpa Edward’s print. Maternal Grandpa Victor’s print.

She had stolen all three months ago, during separate holiday visits, pressing their thumbs to her phone screen while they slept off too much cognac.

Now the heavy oak door to the archive room clicked open for her like it had been waiting.

The air inside was cool, dry, scented faintly with leather and old paper. Floor-to-ceiling shelves, locked glass cases, rows of encrypted hard drives labeled by year.

She started with the physical.

Behind a false panel in Grandpa Edward’s antique desk she found the first chest—rosewood, combination lock. The date of her birth opened it.