Chapter 10 - The Hidden Vault
Margaret’s smirk flickered. "What are you talking about? Katherine was cremated twenty years ago. The hospital database was the only preserved profile."
"No, it wasn't," Emily said, taking a step forward, her voice growing stronger with every second. She turned directly to Arthur Vance. "When my mother left this house, she left behind a personal vault in the lower archive—a vault sealed with a physical biological lock that hasn't been opened since the day she disappeared."
Arthur frowned, clearly caught off guard. "The lower archives were sealed decades ago after the renovation."
"My mother left a physical lock," Emily continued, looking straight at Margaret, whose face was slowly losing its color. "A lock that doesn't rely on hospital servers, internet databases, or digital records. It relies on a living bloodline sample integrated directly into the vault's mechanical key system."
Daniel looked at Emily, a flash of realization lighting up his eyes. "The Katherine Vance Safe in the lower vault... it uses an analog hair-and-tissue capsule lock, installed by her father."
"That's absurd!" Margaret snapped, her tone rising in desperation. "This is a stalling tactic! Arthur, you can't listen to this nonsense!"
"If such a vault exists, and if it contains a physical biological lock from Katherine Vance, it is completely immune to network corruption," Dr. Aris put in, stepping forward eagerly. "If Emily’s biological profile can unlock that physical vault, it provides absolute, undeniable legal proof of parentage."
Arthur Vance looked between Margaret's visible panic and Emily's calm, unyielding glare.
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"Down to the archives," Arthur ordered sternly. "Now."
Vanessa grabbed her mother's arm, her fingers digging in so hard her knuckles turned white. The victory they had so carefully constructed through digital sabotage was crumbling in real-time, pulling them toward a room buried deep beneath the estate that hadn't seen daylight in twenty years.
