Chapter 6 - Blood and Ink
Beneath the ballroom, the basement archives were a labyrinth of climate-controlled filing cabinets. Seraphina picked the simple tumbler lock on the door with a bobby pin—another skill she wasn't supposed to have.
She bypassed the financial records and went straight for the personal safes at the back. Using the master override key she had swiped from the head of security's desk, she yanked the heavy steel drawer open.
Inside were thick manila folders. She pulled the one labeled Project Genesis.
As she read the documents, the air in the room seemed to vanish. There were birth certificates. Not for Eleanor Astor, but for a woman named Elena Vance. Eleanor hadn't just stolen Seraphina; she had stolen Arthur's wife's identity to inherit the Astor fortune.
The documents detailed a ruthless scheme. Elena (now Eleanor) had realized the Astor patriarch would only leave his empire to a blood heir. She was barren. So, she paid off a corrupt doctor at a rural clinic. When Arthur’s real wife died in childbirth, delivering twins, Eleanor stole one baby—the healthy one, Seraphina.
She left the sickly twin, Lyra, with a shattered Arthur, threatening to destroy him if he ever spoke the truth. To ensure his silence, she framed him for embezzlement, ruining his reputation and forcing him into the slums.
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"She isn't our mother," Seraphina whispered to the empty room, tears of pure rage spilling down her cheeks. "She's our kidnapper."
Suddenly, her phone vibrated. A text from Lyra: Get out. Now. The scarred man from the docks is here. He recognizes me.
