“This suit… protects me from a rare skin condition that could eat me alive.”
Clara stared into space, the horror of discovery mingling with a flicker of pity.
“And my rivals,” Baste continued hoarsely, “would kill me for what I have.”
He raised his hand and the synthetic layer fell away like withered bark.
“I wear them to survive,” she said, the pain of her confession echoing in the silence.
Clara’s thoughts raced, the image of the fallen billionaire pig replaced by the image of the wounded man.
Revelations and Escape
Baste led her through a hidden corridor, its walls filled with the hum of hidden mechanisms.
They stopped in front of a huge steel door, the surface of which was covered with old scratches.
“Within you,” he said, “lies the truths you deserve.”
The door creaked open, revealing rows of filing cabinets and stacks of folders.
Clara leafed through the papers, each page a blow to her family’s past.
“Your father’s debt… was fabricated,” Baste said, pointing to an account book with the union seal.
It took her breath away, and the weight of betrayal settled on her shoulders like dust.
“They faked the numbers to control you,” he added in a barely audible voice.
He felt the floor shake as alarms began to blare and red lights flashed.
“We have to go now!” Baste shouted, his voice full of urgency.
He grabbed a hidden lever and a section of the wall slid open, revealing a narrow passage.
Clara hesitated, staring at the crumpled photo on the floor.
The photo shows a smiling young Klara, with her arms around a radiant, maskless Baste.
Before she could speak, Baste slipped into the dark tunnel, and the door closed behind him.
The alarms grew louder, echoing through the mansion’s corridors, and darkness enveloped the secret vaults.
Clara follows the hidden trail of photographs.
The crumpled photograph lay in Baste’s palm like a compass.
His gaze drifted to the faint graffiti on the wall behind the portrait: a stylized bull, the same symbol that appeared on crates in union warehouses.
“It is the sign of the Red Raven,” she whispered, her heart pounding.
