Is this destiny?

~ Austin, the White Mansion ~

1:58 PM

After lunch, Sophia and Felix headed to Los Angeles. As much as they wanted to witness the event scheduled at 2 PM, they didn't want to delay reuniting with their baby daughter.

"Just summarize to us when you get a chance. If we stay for this, something else will come up, and we will never leave. We need to stop somewhere…", Sophia told Sarah and JoAnna before leaving the mansion with Felix.

Back to present…

In the basement of the White Mansion...

Jeff and Aiden are standing in front of the massive two-panel doors with letter 'W' engraved on each panel.

Each of them is holding a key. The keys are almost identical.

JoAnna and Sarah are by their sides, and Oscar and Elanor are there as well. Mason and Ryder are observing from further in the back.

It is time for Jeff and Aiden to use those keys and to see what they will open. Well, they know now what they open, but they want to know what is behind those doors.

When James Hill gave his key to Jeffrey, he said how that key is the reason why people fear Whites. Jeff and Aiden are eager to see what those words mean, and so are two Hill sisters.

Oscar is observing his two sons, and he is struggling to control a storm of emotions as his memories are surging forth.

Oscar remembers that when he took over as the Master from Donald (his father), he gave him one key. At that time, Donald told Oscar that there is a second key which is in the hands of James Hill.

"You should give that key to someone you trust…", his father advised him.

Oscar decided that he will give the second key to his brother.

Marcus is his older brother, and Oscar always admired him. If there is a person with whom he wanted to share authority, responsibility, resources and everything else that comes with the title of the Master of the White family, that would be his brother.

Oscar approached Marcus with and intention to discuss division of power and once that is settled, the two of them would go to James Hill to get the second key. That was the plan.

Oscar didn't expect that Marcus will be livid, displeased by the fact that he is not the Master. It seems that until the last moment Marcus believed that the position of the Master will be handed to him, because he is the elder son, and it is his birthright. Or so he thought.

Marcus said a lot of hurtful things to Donald and even physically attacked Oscar before storming out of the mansion.

For many years, Oscar hoped that Marcus will come around, change his mind, and that the two of them can work side by side, so he didn't look for anyone else who could have that second key. But that day didn't come. Three decades later, Jeff ended up getting the key from James Hill.

Now that he sees Jeff and Aiden side by side, putting their keys into the keyholes with expectant expressions, he is proud and at the same time a bit jealous because three decades ago he was unable to share this with his brother.

Oscar also never saw what is behind those doors, he never opened them. The last one to see what is behind those doors was his father and by his side was his best friend, James Hill.

Jeff and Aiden turned their keys at the same time. After a second of silence, clanking and grating sounded, like when a mechanism is awakened after a long slumber.

'Clink-clink-clank-trrrr-clank… CREAK!', The doors cracked open.

Aiden and Jeff exchanged glances and pushed the doors open at the same time.

Inside it looked like a bank vault with two sections. First section has a large wooden table in the middle and walls are filled with filing cabinets. It appears that the room is sealed because even after all this time, there is not a spec of dust visible. Second section is separated by thick metallic bars and it contains large crates, on the side, there is a door which provides access to the second section.

Jeff walked along the left wall with JoAnna and Aiden along the right one with Sarah. They observed filling cabinets. They had tags with letters and last names.

Sarah stopped by the label 'Th – Thomason, Thompson, Thorwart, Thou, Thouvenin'. She pulled the door open and saw documents: deeds for land, mines, right to excavation, stock certificates. Besides that, she observed birth certificates, photos, health records.

"What is all this?", JoAnna asked. She was going through a cabinet marked with a label: 'Go – Goble, Goch, Gocke, Goda, Gomez, Gora'.

"This is similar to the stuff we found in the bunker of Mr. Morgan, doesn't it?", Sarah noticed.

"Jeff is the fifth generation Master of the White family.", Oscar said from the door. "From the first generation, custom is that who pledges their loyalty, to give tokens of sincerity. The documents here are originals."

Oscar walked to the file cabinet which JoAnna opened and got a document which is property deed for fifty acres of land in Colorado on name Brett Gocke. "This is in use by the Gocke family. In case they betray us, we can use this and claim their land as ours. Each of these has a transfer document which is signed by the original owner."

Oscar returned the document in the cabinet and continued explanation. "In addition to this, we also helped number of people to deal with tricky situations. Evidence of their wrongdoings are here. We also collect information which is damaging. These people are rich and powerful, some are lowkey, while others are highly visible celebrities, politicians."

"This ensures that they stay loyal.", Mason added while wheeling in a two level cart full of boxes.

"What is that?", Jeff asked Mason.

"Documents are stored here. Oscar didn't open the vault since he took over, so everything that we collected during last three decades needs to be added.", Mason explained while patting one box.

Ryder entered with another two level cart behind him.

Aiden went to the second section where crates are stacked. He was not surprised to find gold and diamonds, everything is similar to what they found with Mr. Morgan with a difference that Mr. Morgan had wine and artwork.

"How come Mr. Morgan had these? Is he collecting followers?", Aiden asked.

"Maybe he was storing it for Marcus?", Sarah guessed.

They agreed to track the origin of documents they found in the underground bunker on the property owned by Mr. Morgan.

"This is not efficient.", Sarah said while trying to guess how much paperwork is in the files. "We should create electronic copies so then it will be easy to see what all is here."

Jeff, JoAnna and Aiden agreed.

Mason had a bad feeling when four youngsters looked his way.

"We will count on you to scan the files.", Jeff told Mason.

Mason looked around and thought how that will be a BIG project. Months!

"Don't worry…", Sarah comforted him. "We will talk to Felix to come up with something to ease your work."

…

After returning from the basement-vault, Jeff, JoAnna, Sarah and Aiden sat in the living room.

Each of them was in their own thoughts, mostly about what they found behind those doors and how they can use it.

"Are those things really useful?", JoAnna asked. When she saw that the other three are looking at her, she elaborated. "Oscar did just fine without them…"

"True.", Jeff confirmed. "However, families who made their contributions were not aware that he didn't have access to those documents."

"You think that without those as a leverage, people will go against us?", Aiden asked Jeff.

Jeff shrugged, indicating that he is not sure. "Maybe. But it is always better that we have those as a security measure."

"We will have a better grasp on what we can accomplish with those documents and how useful they are once Eve is done analyzing them.", Sarah said.

"OK. I guess that topic is done.", JoAnna stood up and looked at Sarah. "We have a bed climber waiting."

"Let's not keep her waiting…"

---

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