Chapter 8: The Father Who Never Died
The police station fell into chaos.
Officers rushed between desks.
Computers flickered.
Phones rang.
But Ryan heard none of it.
He only saw one thing.
The name on the screen.
THOMAS CARTER.
His father.
A man who had been dead for eight years.
A man whose funeral Ryan still remembered.
A man whose empty chair at family dinners had become a permanent reminder of everything he lost.
But now his name was staring back at him.
Alive.
Impossible.
Ryan stepped closer to the screen.
“No.”
His voice was barely audible.
“No, this isn’t real.”
Derek looked at him.
“Ryan…”
“My father is dead.”
No one answered.
Because everyone in the room knew the same terrifying possibility.
Maybe he wasn’t.
Detective Hale immediately ordered the station to disconnect all systems.
But it was too late.
The message disappeared.
Every screen returned to normal.
As if nothing had happened.
Except Ryan knew.
Someone wanted him to see it.
Someone wanted him to remember.
Three hours later, Ryan sat in a private interrogation room.
Not as a suspect.
Not as a witness.
But as someone who had become the center of a mystery much bigger than himself.
Detective Hale placed an old photograph on the table.
Ryan looked at it.
His father.
Thomas Carter.
Standing beside a group of people.
Ryan recognized one.
Lucas Reed.
Another.
Adrian Vale.
And another.
A younger version of Emily.
Ryan stared.
“They all knew each other.”
Hale nodded.
“Years ago.”
Ryan pointed at his father.
“What was Project Mirror?”
Detective Hale hesitated.
Then answered:
“Your father created it.”
Ryan felt anger rise.
“Why?”
“Officially?”
Hale paused.
“A psychological research program.”
“And unofficially?”
The detective looked at him.
“A system designed to predict human behavior.”
Ryan frowned.
“Predict?”
“Yes.”
Hale opened another file.
“Your father believed people could be controlled if you understood their fears, desires, and weaknesses.”
Ryan looked disgusted.
“That’s insane.”
“Yes.”
The detective nodded.
“But powerful people funded him.”
Ryan looked at the picture again.
“Emily’s father?”
“No.”
Hale pointed.
“Someone else.”
Ryan followed his finger.
A name.
Victor Reed.
Lucas Reed’s father.
Ryan felt a chill.
“So Lucas was involved because of his father.”
“Yes.”
“And Emily?”
Hale looked serious.
“Her father discovered what Project Mirror was really being used for.”
Ryan waited.
“He tried to expose it.”
“What happened?”
“He disappeared.”
Ryan already knew the answer.
“Because of my father.”
Hale said nothing.
That silence confirmed everything.
That night, Ryan met Adrian again.
This time, he did not see an enemy.
He saw someone who carried the same scars.
They met at an empty train station.
Adrian stood beneath a flickering light.
“You know now.”
Ryan looked at him.
“My father.”
Adrian nodded.
“He wasn’t just a scientist.”
“What was he?”
Adrian’s face became cold.
“He was a manipulator.”
Ryan looked away.
“I spent years believing he was a good man.”
“Most people do.”
Ryan looked at him.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you weren’t ready.”
Ryan laughed bitterly.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
He stepped closer.
“You all decided what I could handle.”
Adrian accepted the anger.
“Because the last time you remembered, you almost died.”
Ryan froze.
“What?”
Adrian continued.
“Three years ago, after you saved Emily, your father found out.”
Ryan’s breathing slowed.
“He tried to remove the problem.”
Ryan looked at him.
“Me.”
“Yes.”
Adrian looked down.
“He arranged the memory procedure.”
Ryan clenched his fists.
“But Emily approved it.”
“She did.”
Ryan looked hurt.
“Why?”
Adrian answered quietly:
“Because the alternative was watching you get killed.”
Silence.
Ryan wanted to be angry.
But he couldn’t.
Because somewhere deep inside, he remembered something.
A feeling.
Emily crying.
A voice saying:
“I’m sorry.”
Meanwhile, in a hidden location…
Emily sat across from a man.
A man Ryan had never seen.
Older.
Calm.
Dangerous.
Thomas Carter.
Ryan’s father.
Alive.
“You should have stayed away from him.”
Emily looked at him.
“I tried.”
Thomas smiled.
“But you failed.”
Emily’s eyes hardened.
“He is not your experiment anymore.”
Thomas laughed.
“You still don’t understand.”
He placed a file on the table.
Inside was Ryan’s entire life.
Every job.
Every relationship.
Every mistake.
Every fear.
“I created Ryan.”
Emily stared.
“No.”
“Yes.”
Thomas tapped the file.
“I studied him before he was born.”
Emily’s expression changed.
“That’s impossible.”
Thomas leaned back.
“Is it?”
A pause.
“His personality.”
“His decisions.”
“His weaknesses.”
“All predictable.”
Emily looked disgusted.
“He’s a person.”
Thomas smiled.
“Everyone is predictable.”
Emily stood.
“Where is the flash drive?”
Thomas’s expression changed.
“There it is.”
The question.
The reason everything happened.
The thing everyone wanted.
The secret Emily had hidden.
Thomas leaned forward.
“You still believe Ryan can destroy me.”
Emily said nothing.
Thomas smiled.
“But you forgot one thing.”
“What?”
“He doesn’t remember the most important part.”
Emily’s face became pale.
Thomas whispered:
“The night Ryan saved you…”
A pause.
“He didn’t just see the truth.”
“He helped create it.”
Back at the station, Ryan received another message.
This time from Emily.
Only three words.
“Remember the bridge.”
Ryan stared.
The bridge.
The night he forgot.
The night everything began.
A new memory suddenly appeared.
A scream.
Rain.
Emily’s hand holding his.
And his father standing nearby.
Not trying to hurt them.
Trying to stop something else.
Ryan closed his eyes.
Because the memory was returning.
But with it came a terrifying realization.
Maybe his father wasn’t the only person hiding the truth.
Maybe Emily had hidden something too.
May you like
Something about that night.
Something that could change everything.
