Chapter 10 - EDWARD WHITMOREThe footsteps stopped outside the door.
Nobody breathed.
Marcus raised his weapon.
The lock turned.
The door opened.
A man stepped inside.
Older.
Gray-haired.
Scar across his cheek.
Alexander stared.
His father.
Edward Whitmore.
Alive.
“Dad?”
Edward looked at his son.
For a moment, he didn't speak.
Then he said:
“I was beginning to wonder whether you would ever find us.”
Alexander's face twisted with rage and disbelief.
“You let me believe you were dead.”
Edward nodded.
“I had to.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor wasn't alone.”
He looked at Amelia.
“She found the second network.”
Alexander stared.
“What second network?”
Edward explained that Whitmore Holdings was not the only company Victor controlled.
There was another network hidden beneath it.
Private clinics.
Security firms.
Political consulting companies.
Investment accounts.
The company existed to move money and identities.
People disappeared.
Documents vanished.
Entire businesses were bought through shell owners.
“Victor wasn't stealing from Whitmore Holdings,” Edward said.
“He was building something underneath it.”
Amelia interrupted.
“A private empire.”
Edward nodded.
“For years, we tried to expose it.”
Alexander looked at his father.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because your phone was monitored.”
“What?”
“Your house. Your office. Your car.”
Alexander looked at me.
Everything suddenly made sense.
The hidden cameras.
The manipulated security footage.
The intercepted messages.
Someone had been watching Alexander for years.
Edward looked at Lily.
“Your daughter noticed things too.”
I stiffened.
“What do you mean?”
Edward smiled faintly.
“She has her mother's eyes.”
I frowned.
“I have never met you.”
“No.”
He looked toward the ceiling.
“But someone has.”
Then the basement door slammed.
Victor's voice echoed through the walls.
“You should have stayed dead, Edward.”
Alexander turned.
His father looked almost tired.
“That's the problem with Victor.”
He smiled.
“He always thinks dead things stay buried.”
The walls shook.
A muffled explosion thundered above us.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Marcus shouted:
“They're coming through the upper floors!”
Edward grabbed a folder.
“We don't have time.”
“For what?” Alexander asked.
“To find your child.”
Alexander froze.
“Nora?”
Edward nodded.
“Victor took her.”
Amelia stepped forward.
“Where?”
Edward looked at her.
“Somewhere you would never think to search.”
“Where?”
May you like
Edward whispered:
“The old Whitmore family cemetery.”
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