The vault room was silent.
Too silent.
The phone call had already ended, but the echo of those words still hung in the air like poison.
"I just want my daughter back."
Elara's mind refused to accept it.
Her father?
The same man who used to hold her hand when crossing the street…
The same man who told her bedtime stories…
The same man who disappeared years ago.
He was behind this?
Her chest felt tight.
Adrian was still holding her wrist.
Firm.
Like he was afraid she might disappear if he let go.
Finally, Elara pulled her hand away.
Her voice trembled.
"You knew."
Adrian didn't answer immediately.
Which meant the answer was yes.
Her eyes widened with disbelief.
"You knew my father was alive."
Adrian's jaw tightened.
"I suspected."
"You suspected?" Elara snapped.
Her voice echoed through the vault chamber.
"People just attacked your house and blamed my father and you suspected?"
Adrian finally looked at her.
His expression was calm.
But something darker hid beneath it.
"I didn't have proof."
Elara laughed bitterly.
"You always have proof."
That was true.
Adrian Valentino was the kind of man who knew everything before anyone else did.
Which meant he had been hiding this from her.
For a long moment, neither of them spoke.
Then Adrian stepped closer.
"Elara… listen carefully."
She didn't want to.
But she did.
"Your father didn't attack this house because he wants you back."
Elara's eyes hardened.
"Then why?"
Adrian's answer came quietly.
"Because he wants me."
The words felt heavier than the silence.
"Elara," Adrian continued, "your father and I have history."
"What kind of history?"
Adrian looked at the bodies of the attackers on the floor.
Then back at her.
"The dangerous kind."
Elara's heart sank.
"How dangerous?"
Adrian didn't answer directly.
Instead he said something that made her stomach twist.
"Your father used to be my partner."
The world seemed to tilt.
"What?"
Adrian's voice stayed calm.
"Years ago… before my empire existed… before Valentino became powerful…"
He paused.
"There were two men building it."
Elara whispered the obvious.
"You and my father."
Adrian nodded.
The truth settled heavily between them.
Elara felt dizzy.
"My father helped you build all this?"
"Yes."
"Then what happened?"
Adrian's expression darkened.
"He betrayed me."
The word echoed like thunder.
Elara shook her head slowly.
"No… my father isn't like that."
Adrian didn't argue.
Instead he said quietly:
"That's what I used to believe too."
Elara turned away, trying to process everything.
Her father.
Adrian.
Partners.
Enemies.
It didn't make sense.
"If my father hates you so much," she asked slowly, "why wait until now?"
Adrian's eyes narrowed slightly.
"That's the question I'm asking too."
Then suddenly—
The emergency lights flickered again.
One of the guards rushed into the vault room.
"Sir!"
Adrian turned.
"What is it?"
The guard looked nervous.
"Security just found something outside the main gate."
"What?"
"A car."
Adrian frowned.
"So?"
The guard swallowed.
"There's a body inside."
The room went cold.
Adrian's voice dropped.
"Whose body?"
The guard hesitated.
Then said the words.
"It's one of Suryavanshi's men."
Elara's breath caught.
The guard continued.
"And there's a message."
Adrian's eyes darkened.
"What message?"
The guard handed him a small black envelope.
Adrian opened it slowly.
Inside was a single photograph.
The moment he saw it, his expression changed.
For the first time that night…
Adrian looked shocked.
Elara immediately stepped closer.
"What is it?"
Adrian didn't answer.
Instead he handed her the photo.
Her hands trembled as she looked at it.
And her heart nearly stopped.
The photo showed a man.
Tall.
Sharp features.
Cold eyes.
Standing in front of a burning building.
Elara knew that face.
She had seen it in childhood photos.
Family pictures.
Memories.
Her father.
But that wasn't what made the blood drain from her face.
It was the words written on the back of the photo.
In dark ink.
A message.
Elara read it slowly.
"The past is returning."
Her hands shook.
Adrian spoke quietly beside her.
"He's declaring war."
Elara whispered:
"No…"
But Adrian's voice was colder.
"Yes."
He looked at the burning building in the photograph.
"That building burned down fifteen years ago."
Elara looked at him.
"Why is that important?"
Adrian's answer came like a blade.
"Because that was the night your father disappeared."
The silence that followed felt endless.
Then Elara whispered something she wasn't sure she wanted the answer to.
"What really happened that night?"
Adrian stared at the photograph for a long time.
Then he said quietly:
"The same thing that's about to happen again."
Elara's stomach twisted.
"What does that mean?"
Adrian looked directly into her eyes.
His voice was calm.
But the words were terrifying.
"It means the war we buried fifteen years ago…"
He paused.
"…has just begun again."
And this time—
There would be no survivors.