Chapter 6: The Man Who Was Supposed To Be Dead
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Not because there was nothing to say.
Because every possible explanation sounded impossible.
My grandfather.
A man who had been buried twenty years ago.
A man whose name had only existed in old photographs and family stories.
A man who supposedly died before I became an adult.
Yet Vince stood in front of me, terrified, and said the one thing that made the least sense.
"Your grandfather is alive."
I looked at him.
"That's impossible."
Vince shook his head.
"That's exactly what he wanted everyone to believe."
Detective Hayes stepped forward.
"Who is your grandfather?"
I answered automatically.
"William Carter."
The name felt ancient.
Like a chapter of my family history that should have stayed closed.
William Carter was the founder of Carter Financial Group.
The man who built the empire my father inherited.
The man who appeared in business magazines decades ago.
A legend.
A genius.
A ruthless businessman.
The kind of person people admired without knowing what happened behind closed doors.
My father always told me one thing about him.
"Never become like William."
At the time, I thought it was because my father wanted me to be humble.
Now I wondered if it was because he knew something.
Something he was afraid to tell me.
"Where is he?" I asked.
Vince looked away.
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"I'm not."
His voice became frustrated.
"Do you think I ever met him directly?"
That surprised me.
"What?"
"Mom handled everything."
He looked around the hidden laboratory.
"Adrian handled the science."
"Mom handled the family."
"And your grandfather..."
He swallowed.
"He handled the people who made problems disappear."
A chill moved through me.
"You're saying he was behind Novacore?"
Vince nodded.
"Not officially."
"Never on paper."
"That's how people like him survive."
Detective Hayes immediately took notes.
"How do you know this?"
Vince laughed quietly.
"Because I spent my entire life trying to impress him."
The words carried something I had never heard from Vince before.
Regret.
"When Dad died, I thought I would finally become important."
"But Mom already had a plan."
He looked at me.
"She chose you."
I frowned.
"What?"
"She always chose you."
His voice became bitter.
"Even when we were children."
I remembered.
The old memories.
My mother sitting beside my bed when I was sick.
My father teaching me numbers.
Family dinners.
Vince sitting quietly.
Always quiet.
Always watching.
I had forgotten.
The small signs.
The way he looked at me.
Not hatred.
Something more complicated.
A mixture of jealousy and pain.
"I was eight years old when I realized I would never be you."
I looked at him.
"What happened?"
Vince smiled sadly.
"Grandfather visited our house."
That surprised me.
"I don't remember."
"Of course not."
His eyes became darker.
"He only came when you weren't around."
My stomach tightened.
"What did he tell you?"
Vince looked down.
"He told me the truth."
"What truth?"
"That families were businesses."
"That children were investments."
"That some people were born to lead..."
He looked at me.
"And some were born to support the leader."
I felt anger rising.
"That's what he taught you?"
"Yes."
"And you believed him?"
Vince's expression changed.
"I was twelve years old, Ethan."
The anger disappeared for a moment.
Leaving only a wounded child.
"Do you know what it's like to spend your entire childhood feeling invisible?"
I didn't answer.
Because I didn't know.
I had spent years believing Vince was simply cruel.
Maybe he was.
But maybe he was also another person damaged by the same machine.
The difference was...
I chose to fight it.
He chose to become part of it.
The investigators spent the next several hours searching the hidden laboratory.
They found years of records.
Medical files.
Financial transfers.
Private communications.
But one thing was missing.
The person at the top.
William Carter.
No photograph after his supposed death.
No official documents.
No recent records.
Like he had erased himself from existence.
Then Rachel found something.
A hidden drive inside the laboratory computer.
She called me over.
"Ethan."
Her voice sounded different.
Not afraid.
Shocked.
I moved closer.
The screen showed a file.
PROJECT PHOENIX.
But this file was different from the others.
It was labeled:
"PRIMARY SUBJECT."
My name was underneath.
I opened it.
The first page was a message.
Not from Adrian.
Not from Vince.
From my grandfather.
The recording started automatically.
An old man's voice filled the room.
"Ethan Carter."
My body froze.
I had never heard his voice before.
But somehow, I recognized it.
A cold voice.
A powerful voice.
"You will not remember this message."
I frowned.
"What?"
The recording continued.
"That is intentional."
My blood ran cold.
"I have spent decades studying human behavior."
"Fear."
"Ambition."
"Loss."
"Pain."
A pause.
"And memory."
Rachel looked at me.
The recording continued.
"People believe memories make us who we are."
"They are wrong."
"Memories are weaknesses."
I felt sick.
"He altered my memory?"
Rachel whispered.
The recording continued.
"Your father became emotional."
"Your mother became obsessed."
"Adrian became ambitious."
"Vince became desperate."
"But you..."
A pause.
"You were different."
I stared at the screen.
"Different?"
The voice continued.
"You always questioned authority."
"You always searched for the truth."
"You were the only one who could destroy everything I built."
My hands tightened.
"So I created a situation where you would destroy yourself."
The room became silent.
"The accident."
The word echoed.
The recording continued.
"Your injury was unfortunate."
"Not because you were harmed."
"But because you survived."
I felt rage burning inside me.
My grandfather had planned everything.
Not because he hated me.
Because I was a threat.
The recording continued.
"Your recovery will be the final test."
"The human mind can be broken."
"The human body can be rebuilt."
"The question is..."
A pause.
"Can the human spirit be controlled?"
The recording ended.
Nobody spoke.
Because now we knew.
The crash wasn't about money.
It wasn't about identity.
It wasn't even about Novacore.
It was about proving a theory.
My entire life had become an experiment.
A test.
A game.
Detective Hayes finally broke the silence.
"Ethan..."
I looked at him.
"We need to find this man."
I nodded.
But before we could leave, another file appeared on the computer.
A file that had been hidden.
A file that activated after the recording ended.
Rachel opened it.
Inside was a video.
The date was three weeks after my accident.
My heart stopped.
Because the person in the video was me.
I was lying in a hospital bed.
Unable to move.
Unable to speak.
But someone was standing beside me.
Someone holding a folder.
Someone talking to the camera.
My grandfather.
William Carter.
He looked older.
But alive.
And then he said something that made my blood freeze.
"Ethan will forget everything."
"He will believe he is broken."
"But one day..."
He leaned closer to the camera.
"One day, he will remember."
A pause.
"And when he does..."
He smiled.
"That will be the moment we finally learn if he is a Carter..."
"...or just another failure."
The video ended.
Nobody moved.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
Silence.
Then an old man's voice.
The same voice from the recording.
"Hello, Ethan."
My hand went numb.
"Grandfather."
A quiet laugh.
"So..."
"You finally found me."
I looked around the room.
Everyone was frozen.
Then he said:
"I've been waiting twenty years for this conversation."
I swallowed.
"Why?"
His answer was simple.
"Because I need to know something."
"What?"
His voice became colder.
"After everything I did to break you..."
A pause.
"Why are you still trying to save the people who betrayed you?"
I said nothing.
Because I didn't know the answer.
Then William Carter said the words that changed my mission completely.
"Ethan..."
"You think you are hunting me."
Another pause.
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"But the truth is..."
"I am the only person who can tell you who you really are."
