Chapter 2 - THE CHILD HE NEVER KNEW
Ethan didn't answer.
He couldn't.
The little girl stared at him with wide eyes.
“Are you?”
Lena crouched beside her.
“Sweetheart, we need to go.”
“But Mommy…”
“Now.”
The little girl nodded reluctantly.
Ethan watched them.
Then one of the men across the street shouted:
“Lena!”
She flinched.
Ethan immediately recognized the voice.
He had heard it before.
Five years earlier.
The night of the explosion.
His security chief.
Marcus Hale.
Ethan's face hardened.
“Marcus?”
The man stopped.
For one second, recognition flashed across his face.
Then he turned and ran.
Ethan chased him.
“Ethan!”
Lena screamed after him.
He ignored her.
Marcus disappeared between two parked cars.
Ethan reached the alley and found only an abandoned phone lying on the pavement.
He picked it up.
A message was displayed.
THE GIRL CANNOT REACH HER FATHER.
Ethan stared.
His blood went cold.
He turned back toward the park.
Lena and the child were gone.
He immediately called his private security team.
“Find them.”
“Sir, who?”
“My wife.”
A pause.
“Your wife is deceased.”
Ethan's voice became ice.
“She isn't.”
“Sir?”
“Find Lena Mercer.”
He hung up.
Ten minutes later, his phone rang.
“We found the woman.”
“Where?”
“Her apartment.”
Ethan drove there himself.
The apartment was small.
Cheap.
Nothing like the luxury life he had once provided Lena.
On the wall were photographs.
Lena.
The little girl.
And a framed newspaper clipping.
BILLIONAIRE ETHAN MERCER KILLED IN EXPLOSION.
Ethan stared at the headline.
He had spent five years believing someone had killed him.
He had spent those same years investigating his own supposed death.
But Lena had known he survived.
Why?
A bedroom door creaked.
Ethan turned.
The little girl stood there.
She held a stuffed rabbit.
“You're really my daddy?”
Ethan crouched.
“What makes you think that?”
“Mommy keeps your picture.”
His heart broke.
“Does she talk about me?”
The girl nodded.
“She says you were kind.”
Ethan smiled sadly.
“What else?”
“She says you died.”
He looked away.
“Did she tell you my name?”
“Ethan.”
The little girl smiled.
“I like it.”
He almost laughed.
Then he noticed something on her wrist.
A small scar.
Circular.
He recognized it.
The same scar Lena had.
A medical identification implant.
His expression changed.
“Where did you get that?”
The girl looked confused.
“Mommy said I was born with it.”
Ethan stood.
His phone rang.
His security chief spoke urgently.
“Sir, we found something.”
“What?”
“The girl's medical records.”
“Send them.”
A file appeared.
Ethan opened it.
His hands began shaking.
PATERNITY: ETHAN MERCER.
He stared.
Then another line appeared.
STATUS: RESTRICTED BY FEDERAL ORDER.
Ethan whispered:
“Why would the government hide my daughter?”
Behind him, Lena appeared in the doorway.
“Because she's the reason I had to let you believe I was dead.”
Ethan turned.
“What did you do?”
Lena looked at their daughter.
“I saved her.”
“From whom?”
May you like
She hesitated.
“Your family.”
