The morning air at the construction site of the new Everglow Pediatric Hospital was thick with the scent of fresh concrete and turning soil. For Alicia, it was the smell of a new beginning. She looked down at the rose-gold vine ring on her finger, its delicate metal catching the sunlight. It had been one week since Arthur's proposal, and for the first time in her life, the future didn't look like a dark, uncertain hallway.
"The foundation for the north wing is set, Alicia," Arthur said, walking up behind her. He had traded his thousand-dollar Italian suits for a simple button-down and jeans, looking more relaxed than she had ever seen him. He wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder. "In six months, Léo will be able to walk through those doors."
"It still feels like a dream," Alicia whispered, leaning back into his strength. "After everything your father did... I didn't think we'd be allowed to build something so honest."
"My father is a shadow now, Alicia. Shadows can't stop the light," Arthur replied.
But their moment of peace was interrupted by the site foreman, an older man named Silas who had been with the company for decades. He looked pale, holding a weathered, leather-bound tube.
"Miss Mendes? Mr. Carter? We were clearing the old soil for the underground parking," Silas stammered, his eyes darting toward the deep excavation pit. "We hit a concrete vault. It wasn't on any of the city maps. It's... it's ancient."
Arthur frowned. "An old sewer line?"
"No, sir. We opened it thinking it was a time capsule," Silas handed the tube to Alicia. "It has your father's seal on it. But it's dated three days after the plane crash."
The blood drained from Alicia's face. She snatched the tube, her fingers trembling as she pulled out a set of blueprints. These weren't for a building. They were coordinates. A map of a location deep in the mountains, hidden under a shell corporation her parents had never mentioned.
Attached to the map was a handwritten note in her father's elegant script: "Alicia, if you are reading this, the shadows found us. But the foundation of our truth is buried where they can never reach. Find the vault. Protect the key. The Carters aren't the only ones watching."
Alicia looked at Arthur, her heart racing. The man she loved was a Carter, but her father's note implied there was a threat even larger than Henry.
"Arthur," she whispered, showing him the note. "My parents weren't just architects. They were guarding something. Something that everyone—including your family—wanted."
Just as Arthur reached for the note, a black motorcycle roared past the construction gates, the rider pausing just long enough to snap a photo of the blueprints in Alicia's hands before speeding away into the city traffic.
The war for the truth wasn't over. It had only shifted ground.