Chapter 10 - Nobody moved.Alexander’s face drained of color.
“Mia,” he said carefully, “what man?”
She pointed toward the staircase.
“The man downstairs.”
I grabbed her.
Alexander ran.
We followed him.
The hallway was empty.
A door swung slowly at the end.
Alexander rushed inside.
Nothing.
Only a window left open.
Daniel examined the floor.
Footprints.
Fresh.
He looked at Alexander.
“Someone came through the basement.”
We ran downstairs.
The basement door was unlocked.
Security searched every corner.
Nothing.
Then Mia spoke.
“Mommy.”
I turned.
She held up the silver key.
“He told me not to give it to anyone.”
“Who?”
“He said Daddy would know.”
Alexander knelt in front of her.
“Mia, did he look like me?”
She nodded.
“Exactly.”
Alexander closed his eyes.
Lucas.
For the first time, I wondered whether Daniel had been right.
Maybe there were two impossible ghosts walking through this story.
One alive.
One supposedly dead.
We returned to the study.
The key fit the box.
A small mechanism clicked.
The bottom compartment opened.
Inside was a tiny memory card.
Alexander inserted it.
A video appeared.
Lucas.
Holding a newborn baby.
His voice shook.
“If you are seeing this, my daughter is alive.”
I covered my mouth.
He continued.
“My son was taken.”
The video made me feel cold.
“They told me he died.”
Lucas looked exhausted.
“But I never believed it.”
He lifted the baby slightly.
“I named him Ethan.”
Alexander stiffened.
Ethan.
The same name as Alexander’s cousin.
“No,” Alexander whispered.
The video continued.
“The people who took my son were working for Marcus’s father.”
I stared.
Lucas looked directly into the camera.
“They replaced his birth record.”
My heart stopped.
“His new identity is…”
The video glitched.
Then returned.
The name appeared on-screen.
ETHAN STERLING.
I looked at Alexander.
His face was white.
“Your cousin.”
Daniel slowly nodded.
“That’s why he was inside the company.”
I felt dizzy.
The betrayal wasn’t just financial.
Ethan wasn’t simply Alexander’s cousin.
He was Lucas’s stolen son.
And he had spent years inside the very family he had been taken from.
The door opened.
Marcus was standing there.
Security had brought him in.
He looked at the screen.
The moment he saw Ethan’s name, his face collapsed.
“You found it.”
Alexander turned.
“You knew.”
Marcus shook his head.
“I knew there was a child.”
“Who?”
“I never knew where he went.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Chloe threatened me.”
I stepped toward him.
“You keep blaming everyone.”
“I’m not.”
He looked at me.
“I’m telling you the truth.”
Then he pulled a folded document from his pocket.
“I found this in my father’s safe.”
Alexander took it.
The document contained a single photograph.
Ethan.
As a child.
Standing beside my father.
My father’s hand rested on his shoulder.
On the back was a note.
THE BOY IS SAFE.
THE GIRL MUST NEVER LEARN WHY.
My stomach dropped.
“What does that mean?”
Marcus shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Alexander looked at Daniel.
“Then we find out.”
Daniel pointed toward the photograph.
“Look at the date.”
I did.
The photograph had been taken four years ago.
My father had been standing beside Ethan.
Which meant Ethan wasn’t missing.
He wasn’t dead.
He had been hidden in plain sight.
And maybe he had known exactly who he was all along.
Then my phone rang.
This time, it was not an unknown number.
It was Ethan.
I answered.
His voice was calm.
“Hello, Claire.”
I froze.
He laughed softly.
“You finally opened the box.”
May you like
Then he said:
“Now I need you to decide which child you want to save.”
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