Chapter 1105 - First day of the new White Foundation (4) (1/2)

~ 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.