A Woman Worth Billions Dated the Wrong Brother novel Chapter 386

Amber POV

Two hours after Franklin found Jason's watch, the search team reached something that wasn't on any of the maps.

By then, they'd traveled so far through the underground passages that they were no longer beneath Sum's capital city. The tunnels continued deeper into the country, branching through old mines and natural cave systems that, according to the Ember Association's records, shouldn't have been accessible at all.

Apparently, the Vincents had spent centuries making sure our records were wrong.

I remained in my hospital bed with Marcus's camera feed open on the largest screen Pamela could find. Mrs. Sun sat beside me, Grandpa stood near the window speaking quietly with someone from the Ember Association, and Jasmine hadn't moved farther than a few feet from me. The children were in another secured room with Mr. Sun's people, protected from the details of what we were finding.

I was grateful for that.

Because the deeper Marcus went, the worse everything became.

The passage ahead suddenly widened.

Marcus slowed.

"There's something here."

His flashlight swept across a stone wall.

Then metal.

I leaned forward.

"What is that?"

"Door."

It wasn't ancient.

The tunnels surrounding it might have been centuries old, but someone had installed a reinforced metal door inside the rock. Cables ran along one side, and what appeared to be an old electronic access panel had been mounted beside it.

One of the military officers examined it.

"Recently used."

"How recently?" Marcus asked.

"Can't tell yet."

The door wasn't completely closed.

That immediately put everyone on alert.

Marcus's camera moved as the officers took positions. Weapons came up. Someone signaled for Franklin to remain behind them, and for once he didn't argue.

The team pushed through.

The camera feed shook briefly.

Then stopped.

"Oh my God," Pamela whispered.

It wasn't another mine.

It was a camp.

An entire underground camp.

Rooms had been carved into the stone. Electrical lines ran across the ceiling. There were generators, storage areas, tables, chairs, old computers, communication equipment and boxes stacked against walls. Some of the equipment looked abandoned.

Other parts didn't.

"This wasn't temporary," I said.

"No," Marcus answered.

His voice echoed through the cavern.

Someone had lived here.

Worked here.

Operated here.

For years.

Maybe decades.

The military teams spread out carefully, checking every section.

Then one of the officers called out.

"Two down!"

My heart jumped.

Marcus ran.

His camera swung toward another passage where two men lay unconscious on the ground.

Guards.

At least, that's what they appeared to be.

Both were dressed in dark clothing. Weapons lay nearby, and one had a communication device clipped to his belt.

"Alive?" Marcus asked.

A medic crouched beside them.

"Both breathing."

"What happened?"

"Don't know yet."

One had bruising along the side of his face.

The other appeared to have been struck hard enough to leave him unconscious.

Then Marcus's flashlight moved.

Red.

Across the ground.

I stopped breathing.

"Marcus."

"I see it."

Blood.

Not much.

But enough.

A trail of droplets crossed the stone before disappearing farther into the cavern.

Mrs. Sun stood beside me.

"Jason?"

Nobody answered.

There was no way to know.

It could belong to the guards.

Mr. White.

Someone else.

Jason.

"Test it," I said.

"We will."

"Now."

Marcus looked directly toward his camera.

"Amber, the forensic team is behind us. They'll test everything."

I forced myself to breathe.

The twins moved beneath my hand.

Right.

Stay calm.

I hated those words more every hour.

The search continued.

And then they found the cells.

At first, I didn't understand what I was looking at.

Marcus entered another section of the underground camp, and his camera moved across what appeared to be a narrow corridor. Metal doors lined both sides.

Each had a small reinforced window.

I stared at the screen.

"No."

Nobody in my hospital room spoke.

Marcus approached the first door.

Unlocked.

He pushed it open.

The room inside was small.

A narrow bed.

A toilet.

A sink.

Nothing else.

The next room was almost identical.

Then another.

And another.

Holding cells.

"This is where they kept them," Grandpa said quietly.

I looked at him.

His face had gone pale.

The Vincents had spent generations kidnapping children from powerful families. Heirs. Daughters. Sons. People whose disappearances could alter entire bloodlines and transfer control of fortunes.

And they'd hidden them here.

Beneath the land of the family that had once defeated them.

Practically beneath the nose of their greatest enemies.

The Ember family had driven the Vincents out of Sum centuries ago, believing we'd taken their power away.

Meanwhile, they'd apparently found a way back underneath us.

Literally.

Marcus entered another cell.

There were scratches on the wall.

I couldn't look away.

Lines.

Names.

Dates.

Some had been carved deeply enough into the stone that whoever made them must have spent hours doing it.

One name appeared repeatedly.

Another was followed by what looked like a child's attempt to count days.

Mrs. Sun covered her mouth.

"Turn it off," Jasmine said quietly.

I shook my head.

"Amber."

"No."

Some being escorted.

Some crying.

Others frighteningly quiet.

There were photographs documenting arrivals.

Transfers.

Injuries.

Even failed escape attempts.

Logs recorded when children were moved from the camp and where they were supposedly going next.

Some destinations were coded.

Others weren't.

Families.

Properties.

Countries.

The operation was bigger than we'd understood.

And this wasn't even the entire network.

It was one facility.

One.

I stared at the screen as Marcus moved through the abandoned camp.

"This is where Jason was kept."

Mrs. Sun looked at me.

"We don't know that."

"Not now."

My voice sounded strange even to me.

"When he was a child."

She went completely still.

I looked at the cells.

Maybe not this exact location.

Maybe another one like it.

But Jason had described being isolated. Losing his identity. Forgetting his own name.

These places had been designed to do exactly that.

Take a child.

Remove their family.

Remove their name.

Control everything around them until whatever identity they'd arrived with began to disappear.

Then move them wherever the network needed them.

I suddenly understood why Mr. White had chosen the mines.

This wasn't merely somewhere he knew how to hide.

This was familiar territory.

His family's territory.

"Anything on Jason?" I asked.

"Not yet."

"Mr. White?"

"Nothing."

My chest tightened.

The guards were unconscious.

There was blood.

Jason's watch had been found two hours behind them.

Someone had passed through this camp recently.

"Check the guards' communications."

"We are."

"Find out who knocked them out."

"We will."

"Follow the blood."

"Amber."

"Marcus."

He sighed.

"We're not stopping."

Good.

Because neither was I.

The camera turned as another officer called Marcus from farther inside the facility.

There was another tunnel.

Not one of the entrances they'd used.

An exit.

It continued deeper into the country.