Chapter 2 - The House of Secrets
Adrian’s childhood home sat on the edge of the woods, a skeleton of the mansion he remembered. The paint was peeling, and the grand oak doors were sealed with rusted iron chains. He didn't care about the risk. He pushed through the overgrowth, his hand instinctively going to the sidearm he still carried despite the peace treaty.
His mother, Elara, followed him, her gait surprisingly swift. She produced a key from her apron, one that looked like it had been filed down from a piece of scrap metal.
As the door groaned open, the smell hit him: dust, damp wood, and something metallic. Adrian walked into the foyer. The staircase he had once slid down was now collapsed.
"Why did you stay here?" Adrian asked, his shadow stretching long across the floor.
"Because you were coming back," she said, lighting a lantern she’d brought from the cart. The glow revealed walls covered in charcoal drawings—not of landscapes, but of maps, dates, and names. Names of the men who had orchestrated his father’s rise to power and his subsequent "disappearance" of his wife.
Adrian stopped in front of a wall labeled The Ledger of Betrayal. His father’s name was at the top, underlined in crimson. Beside it was a signature he recognized—the current Minister of Defense.
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"This isn't just a home, Mom," Adrian said, his heart pounding. "This is a dossier."
"It’s a hit list," she corrected, her eyes reflecting the lantern light with a predator’s sharpness. "Your father didn't just betray me. He betrayed the country. And he used you to do it."
