"I swear this place is like a maze," Ezzie muttered behind her. "You'd think the former mayor was hiding treasure up here."
When they reached the top floor, the hallway changed. The walls became narrower, tighter. The paint here was newer, smoother, the corners less worn. It felt... intentional.
Then they saw it, a steel door and not the kind you slap on a vault or a bunker. This was sleek—clean lines, a digital panel with an embedded biometric scanner, and a smooth steel surface polished to a soft shine. It didn't look like it belonged in a former mayor's house.
Ezzie stopped dead in her tracks. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Okay. Why is there a high-tech security vault in the attic of a house in the middle of nowhere?"
Elias stepped forward, chuckling softly. "You're asking the same thing we did when we found it." He glanced at Aiden and Tommy, both now equally intrigued.
