Chapter 3 - THE FAMILY THAT BURIED HER
Lena closed the door.
Ethan stared at her.
“My family?”
“Yes.”
“Which one?”
“All of them.”
He laughed bitterly.
“My father is dead.”
“No.”
Lena's answer was immediate.
“Your father is alive.”
Ethan's face changed.
“That isn't possible.”
“I watched him sign the order.”
“What order?”
“The order declaring you dead.”
Ethan stared.
“My father ordered my death?”
“He ordered the world to believe you were dead.”
“Why?”
Lena walked toward the kitchen.
“Because you discovered something.”
“What?”
She opened a cabinet.
Behind a row of dishes was a metal box.
She removed it.
Inside were documents.
Bank transfers.
Photographs.
Medical records.
Death certificates.
Ethan picked up one photograph.
His father stood beside Marcus Hale.
Another showed his mother.
Then a third showed Lena.
All three were taken in the same room.
Five years earlier.
Ethan stared.
“This was the night of the explosion.”
Lena nodded.
“You weren't supposed to survive.”
“Neither were you.”
“No.”
She looked at their daughter.
“Neither was she.”
Ethan's expression darkened.
“Why would they want our daughter dead?”
“Because she inherited something.”
“What?”
Lena pulled out another document.
It was a genetic report.
Ethan read the first line.
Then stopped.
“That's impossible.”
“What?”
“Our daughter isn't just my heir.”
Lena nodded.
“She carries a genetic marker.”
“For what?”
“The Mercer family trust.”
Ethan stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
“It means whoever controls her controls the largest private trust in the country.”
His stomach turned.
“How much?”
“Over six billion dollars.”
Silence.
Ethan looked at his daughter.
She was sitting on the floor, coloring.
Completely unaware.
“They wanted to kill a five-year-old for money.”
“They wanted to make it look like an accident.”
“And you?”
“I found out.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“Then why didn't you come to me?”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“Three days before the explosion.”
She looked down.
“I called you.”
“I never received it.”
“Because your father intercepted it.”
Ethan's breathing changed.
“Who else knew?”
“Your mother.”
“She helped?”
Lena shook her head.
“She warned me.”
“Then why did she disappear?”
Lena's eyes filled with tears.
“She didn't disappear.”
Ethan froze.
“What?”
“She was killed.”
His face went white.
“By whom?”
Lena looked at the metal box.
“There is a recording.”
She pressed a button.
A woman's voice filled the room.
Ethan's mother.
“If Ethan ever learns the truth, they will kill him too.”
Then another voice answered.
His father's.
“He won't learn.”
Ethan stepped backward.
The recording continued.
“You promised me our son would be safe.”
“He will be.”
“And Lena?”
A pause.
“Lena will disappear.”
Ethan stopped the recording.
His hands were shaking.
“Where did you get this?”
“Your mother gave it to me.”
“She knew she was going to die.”
“Yes.”
The little girl looked up.
“Mommy?”
Lena immediately smiled.
“It's okay, sweetheart.”
But Ethan wasn't looking at the child anymore.
He was looking at the final document.
A list of names.
At the bottom was one name circled in red.
ETHAN MERCER.
Beside it:
SECONDARY TARGET.
Ethan whispered:
“They weren't trying to kill me five years ago.”
Lena shook her head.
“They were trying to erase everyone who knew the truth.”
Then her phone rang.
She looked at the screen.
Her face went pale.
May you like
The caller ID displayed:
DAD.
