Chapter 8 - The Secret Vault
Camille pulled an antique brass key from round her neck—a key she had worn hidden beneath her shirt for eight years. She inserted it into the rusted iron lock of the crypt door and turned it.
The heavy door groaned open, revealing the dry stone interior lined with marble plaques bearing the names of her ancestors.
Preston lunged forward, aiming his gun at Camille's back. "Give me those files!"
BANG.
A shot rang out through the cemetery.
Preston shrieked as a bullet from Marco's sniper rifle shattered the gravel at his feet, sending sharp stone fragments into his leg. Preston collapsed into the mud, dropping his pistol, howling in pain.
Lorenzo walked up calmly, kicking Preston's gun into a puddle. "I told you once tonight, Whitfield. You do not touch her."
Camille paid no attention to the violence outside. She reached inside the crypt, pressing a hidden stone lever behind her great-grandfather's plaque. A small steel compartment slid open in the rear wall.
Inside lay a heavy, oilskin-wrapped package tied with thick twine.
Camille pulled the package out, cradling it against her chest. She stepped back into the rain, unrolling the oilskin to reveal two hundred pages of original financial ledgers, bank transfer records, and signed affidavits detailing thirty years of systemic corruption by the Whitfield family and city officials.
Attached to the front page was a handwritten note from her father:
May you like
To my beloved Camille—If you are reading this, I am gone. Use the truth to rebuild what they tried to tear down. Love, Papa.
Tears mixed with the rain on Camille's face, but her eyes shone with fierce triumph.
