The name continued to spin through Elara's mind even after the dismissal bell rang. Silas Vane. Ever since she found Theodore's handwriting inside that old folder, the name had been the only thing that continued to hold her attention. Who was he? Why was his name recorded in a document belonging to her father? And most importantly— why was his status written differently from that of the other members of Dominion? Elara closed the textbook that had been open in front of her all this time. She didn't even know what her teacher had explained during the past hour. Her mind had been too busy piecing together fragments of information that had no clear connection. Theodore Vincent Ashbourne. Dominion. Silas Vane. Adrian. And a note deliberately written by her father. Never let Adrian find this. Elara put the book in her bag. She couldn't wait any longer. If she wanted to find the answers, she had to search on her own. --- That afternoon, Elara didn't go straight home. Instead, her car turned toward Dominion headquarters. As soon as she arrived, she headed straight for the administrative section without seeing Adrian. The place was much quieter than the night before. A few members merely walked through the corridors carrying documents or talking on the phone. Elara stopped in front of a door bearing the words: ARCHIVE ROOM. She opened the door. The room was much larger than she had imagined. Metal shelves filled almost the entire walls. Old files were arranged by year and division. Some of them even had a fairly thick layer of dust on them. Elara turned on the lights. Then she began searching. She didn't know where to start. Finally, she headed for the old Dominion member archives. Her hand moved past several folders. One by one. Until at last, she found a black folder labeled with the same year Theodore had still been leading Dominion. Elara pulled it out. She opened the first page. A list of members. Old names. She already knew some of them from her father's documents. But Silas Vane wasn't there. Elara frowned. She turned to the next page. Still nothing. The third page. Nothing. The fourth. Nothing. Elara began to feel increasingly uneasy. If Silas had really once worked for Dominion, why was there no record of him? She opened the folder she'd found the night before again. The name was still clearly written there. Silas Vane. Elara then examined the information beneath his name. There was a short designation. Intelligence Division. Elara fell silent. Intelligence? That meant he hadn't been an ordinary member. Elara opened the old archives again. This time, she searched by division. Several names appeared. Head of Security. Operations. Logistics. Finance. Intelligence. But Silas Vane still wasn't there. Elara stared at the computer screen on the archive desk. She typed the name into the system. SEARCH: SILAS VANE The search results appeared. One document. Elara opened it immediately. But it contained only a few details. SILAS VANE Position: Intelligence Division Status: Removed Access Level: Restricted Elara narrowed her eyes. "Removed?" She tried to open more information. ACCESS DENIED. Elara tried again. The result was the same. Access denied. She let out a slow breath. "Interesting." If Silas was merely a former member of Dominion, information about him shouldn't have been locked down like this. Elara stared at the screen for several seconds. Then she tried searching for another name. THEODORE VINCENT ASHBOURNE. Far more search results appeared. Operation reports. Leadership documents. Transaction records. Several historical Dominion archives. Elara opened one of them. It contained a list of Dominion's core members during Theodore's leadership. She read through them one by one. Then she found something. Silas Vane. His name appeared only once. There was no full position, no photograph, no history. Only a brief note. Confidential Intelligence Personnel. Elara leaned back in her chair. So Silas really had worked for her father. But why had all the information about him been erased? She opened the document again. At the very bottom was a date. The last date Silas had been officially recorded in Dominion. Three months before Theodore's death. Elara froze. Three months. That meant Silas had disappeared before her father died. Not afterward. New questions immediately surfaced in her mind. What happened three months before her father's death? What had Silas discovered? And why had his existence been erased afterward? Elara closed her eyes for a moment. Her thoughts returned to Theodore's handwriting. Never let Adrian find this. If Silas was connected to her father's investigation, he might know something. Something Adrian had never told her. Elara quickly copied Silas's archive number into her phone. She was about to close the system when the sound of the door opening made her body tense instantly. Elara turned. Someone stood in the doorway.