The Vault of Saint Aurelia (The Provenance Files Series, #6)

The cathedral sealed its vault against war. Someone has found another way inside.

At dawn in Malta, heritage architect Sofia Bellini places her hand against a cathedral wall that has not moved since a wartime vault was sealed. The limestone is warm. A new crack cuts through old plaster, hidden hinges show fresh wear, and a sabotaged scaffold nearly sends a worker into the nave.

Civilian security designer Marcus Reed is brought in to protect the site, its people, and whatever waits behind the wall. He trusts layered controls; Sofia trusts the judgment of the person willing to carry responsibility. Their clash is immediate, professional-and increasingly personal.

Then paired brass tokens surface, restoration drawings contradict the building itself, and a rival recovery team presses for access before the cathedral's custodians can agree on a lawful opening. The missing register could restore names and claims fractured by war-or validate histories someone has already polished for profit. With worship continuing around sealed work zones and danger reaching into the cisterns below, Sofia and Marcus must follow a fair trail of physical, documentary, and financial clues without mistaking suspicion for proof.

The closer they come to the truth, the more they must decide whether two guarded experts can share authority, desire, and a future-without asking either one to surrender the work that defines them.