**Chapter 33** As the sun dipped low in the sky, Shaun sat transfixed, his gaze locked on the safe, the sight of which had become an obsession. He had sent the photograph to Wanda, hoping against hope that she might pull off a miracle and surprise him. If Wanda could unravel the mystery of the safe's code, then he could quietly orchestrate Avery's exit from their lives, leaving her with nothing. About half an hour later, his phone buzzed, a welcome distraction from his anxious thoughts. It was Wanda's voice, sharp and clear, cutting through the air. “I can't think of anything else aside from those combinations you’ve already tried,” she said. “But wait—look at Laura Jensen's birthdate here. It's the one from her ID, not the real one. We need to use the real date!” “Okay!” Shaun replied, his heart racing with renewed hope. Two hours later, with a mixture of trepidation and excitement, they finally heard the satisfying click of the safe opening. Wanda had been right all along; Jack had crafted the passcode using Laura's authentic birthdate, not the one on the identification document. It was a cunning combination of both Laura's and Avery's birthdays—an intricate puzzle designed by Jack as a tribute to the two women he had loved. On the video call, Wanda's emotions erupted when the safe door finally creaked open. “That bastard! After all those years, he chose such critical codes based on Laura and Avery’s birthdays? Damn it! If he were alive, I'd give him a piece of my mind!” Shaun didn’t even register Wanda's diatribe; his muscles were taut with anticipation, his eyes gleaming with the thrill of discovery. But behind the thrill lurked a sense of dread; the safe wasn’t finished with its secrets just yet. As he approached the safe, he recalled its two layers of security. The first was merely the passcode—a riddle solved. The second demanded either a key or facial recognition. They all knew the key was hidden somewhere in the room, an insider secret shared among only a few. With a determined twist, Shaun turned the key in the lock and pulled the heavy door open. But what he was met with was not the treasure trove he imagined. Instead, the safe stood like a gaping maw—completely empty. Shock washed over him, morphing quickly into an eruption of fury. "What the hell? Where is it?!" His fist smashed down onto the top of the safe, the violent impact reverberating through his bones as his vision clouded with rage. “It's Avery!” Wanda shouted through the phone, her voice laced with a sense of vindication. “Who else could it be but her? She handed you that paper on purpose! That little schemer must have used her mother's real birthdate to empty it before you got there!” “Was this all a part of her grand plan to keep everything for herself?” Shaun spat through clenched teeth, the tension rising in the air like a charged storm cloud. “Damn it! I never thought she’d have the guts to do something like this! You can’t let her get away with it, Mr. Locklyn!” Wanda urged, barely suppressing the glee in her tone at the thought of discord between Shaun and Avery. Shaun abruptly hung up the call. Avery was trouble, but so was Wanda! Frustration bubbled within him—he had wasted too much time entangled in their schemes when it was clear no good would come of it. Slamming the safe door shut with a sense of finality, he began to sift through the murky waters of his mind. When had the contents vanished? Had Jack hidden them before his death, or had someone taken advantage after? The elusive Avery Tate lingered in his thoughts, her image now twisted with suspicion. Did she really believe she could swindle everything for herself? Did she think the game was that easy? As the shadows danced across the room, he felt the keen bite of possibility—one that would soon ignite into an explosive confrontation.