Chapter 4 - THE CALL FROM THE DEAD
Lena couldn't move.
Ethan looked at the phone.
“Answer it.”
“No.”
“Lena.”
She shook her head.
“You don't understand.”
“Answer it.”
Her finger finally touched the screen.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then a man's voice.
“You should never have gone to the park.”
Lena closed her eyes.
Ethan recognized the voice immediately.
His father.
“Where is my granddaughter?”
Lena said nothing.
“Lena.”
Ethan took the phone.
“You're looking for me.”
A pause.
Then a quiet laugh.
“Ethan.”
His father's voice sounded almost relieved.
“You're alive.”
“You knew.”
“Of course.”
“Why?”
“Because I watched you survive.”
Ethan's blood ran cold.
“Where are you?”
“Home.”
“Which home?”
“Your childhood home.”
The call ended.
Ethan immediately turned to Lena.
“We're going.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“It's a trap.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“Because he's holding something we need.”
“What?”
“My mother's killer.”
Lena stared at him.
“You're thinking emotionally.”
“My whole life was stolen.”
He looked at his daughter.
“I won't let them steal hers.”
They drove to the Mercer estate.
The gates opened automatically.
No guards.
No lights.
No cameras.
Nothing.
It was worse than an ambush.
They entered.
Inside, Ethan found his father sitting in the library.
Older.
Calm.
Waiting.
“Hello, son.”
Ethan pointed a gun.
“You ordered my death.”
His father smiled.
“I protected the family.”
“You killed my mother.”
“She chose her side.”
“You tried to kill my daughter.”
“No.”
His father's expression hardened.
“I tried to control what belongs to this family.”
Lena stepped forward.
“She belongs to herself.”
His father laughed.
“You still think this is about money.”
“What is it about?”
“Power.”
He stood.
“Five years ago, Ethan discovered the Mercer Foundation wasn't a charity.”
Ethan stared.
“What was it?”
“A private intelligence network.”
“Working for whom?”
His father smiled.
“Governments.”
“Which governments?”
“All of them.”
Silence.
Lena looked horrified.
“You sold information.”
“We traded information.”
“You destroyed lives.”
“We prevented wars.”
Ethan shook his head.
“You killed my mother.”
His father sighed.
“She knew too much.”
Then he looked toward the little girl.
“She knows enough too.”
Ethan stepped between them.
“Touch her and I'll destroy everything you own.”
His father laughed.
“You still don't understand.”
He pressed a button.
A screen appeared.
It showed the little girl's birth records.
Then a second file.
MOTHER: LENA MERCER.
FATHER: UNKNOWN.
Ethan froze.
“What?”
His father smiled.
“You assumed she was your daughter.”
Lena's face went white.
Ethan turned toward her.
“Lena?”
She couldn't answer.
His father whispered:
“The child isn't Ethan's.”
The room became silent.
Then the little girl asked:
“Mommy, what does Daddy mean?”
Lena's eyes filled with tears.
Ethan stared at her.
“Tell me the truth.”
She whispered:
“She is yours.”
His father laughed.
“But that's not the secret.”
He opened another file.
A DNA report.
Ethan read it.
Then his face went completely blank.
The child was genetically related to the Mercer family.
But not through him.
Through someone else.
May you like
Someone Ethan had buried five years ago.
His brother.
