CHAPTER 12 Five Minutes to Choose
The countdown appeared on every screen in the hospital.
05:00
Five minutes.
Five minutes until someone decided whether Cole Carter would lose his children...
or lose the truth about his family forever.
The hallway erupted.
Doctors shouted.
Nurses ran.
Police officers tried forcing open locked doors.
But the security system had taken control of everything.
The Carter family empire had built thousands of defenses against enemies outside.
Nobody had ever imagined the enemy would be inside the walls.
"Cole!"
Dr. Harper's voice came through the operating room speaker.
"The oxygen pressure is dropping!"
Cole grabbed the locked door.
"Open it!"
A security officer tried overriding the system.
"No response!"
Hayes looked at the screens.
"The hacker has control of the entire floor."
Samuel Boone looked toward Richard.
"This is what Michael wanted."
Richard's face was filled with horror.
"He always believed people only reveal their true nature under impossible choices."
Cole turned.
"What does that mean?"
Richard looked at him.
"He's testing you."
The countdown continued.
04:21
Michael's voice echoed again.
"You spent your whole life trying to become a better man than your father."
A pause.
"But now you have the same choice he had."
Richard stepped forward.
"Michael!"
The speakers crackled.
"Brother."
"You still sound afraid."
Richard clenched his fists.
"You hurt innocent people."
Michael laughed.
"Innocent?"
"You protected a lie for thirty years."
"You created a fake daughter."
"You erased history."
"Tell me, Richard..."
"Who is the real villain?"
Cole ignored the voice.
He focused on the door.
"My wife and children are in there."
Hayes grabbed his shoulder.
"We need a plan."
"No."
Cole looked at him.
"We need a way inside."
The detective shook his head.
"The system won't open."
Cole looked around.
The hospital.
The security guards.
The cameras.
Then his eyes stopped on the old emergency access panel.
"How do we bypass it?"
The security officer answered:
"Only hospital administration can."
Cole looked toward the hospital director.
The same man who had helped Victoria earlier.
The director immediately looked away.
Cole walked toward him.
"You."
The director swallowed.
"I..."
"You have access."
"I can't."
Cole stared.
"My children are dying."
The director trembled.
"Victoria owns this hospital."
Cole stepped closer.
"No."
His voice became cold.
"Victoria owns people."
"She doesn't own me."
The director finally broke.
He pulled a key card from his pocket.
"I never wanted any of this."
Cole grabbed it.
"You should have stopped it."
"I know."
The card was inserted.
Nothing happened.
The screen flashed:
ACCESS DENIED
Michael's voice laughed.
"Nice try."
The countdown continued.
03:10
Suddenly, Emily's voice came through the operating room speaker.
Weak.
But clear.
"Cole."
Everyone froze.
"Emily?"
The microphone inside the room had activated.
"Cole..."
"Listen to me."
He stepped closer.
"I'm here."
Her breathing was uneven.
"Don't choose."
"What?"
"Don't let him make you choose."
Cole closed his eyes.
"Emily..."
"Our children need you."
"My wife needs me."
"No."
She whispered.
"Our family needs you to be better than them."
Richard looked away.
Because he knew exactly what she meant.
Michael's entire plan was built on one thing.
Forcing Cole to become like him.
A man who sacrificed everything for power.
A man who believed love was weakness.
02:30
Michael's voice returned.
"Beautiful speech."
"Really."
"But let's see if you believe it."
A new image appeared on the screen.
A live camera feed.
Cole's ranch.
The underground room beneath the burned barn.
Inside...
Someone was standing there.
A child.
No.
Not a child.
A teenager.
Holding an old photograph.
Hayes stepped closer.
"Who is that?"
Richard stared at the screen.
His face changed.
"Impossible."
Cole looked at him.
"Who?"
Richard whispered:
"Grace."
The teenager looked into the camera.
She held up the photograph.
It showed Richard.
Eleanor.
And a little girl.
But beside the girl...
Was another child.
A baby.
Michael's voice returned.
"Your father spent years searching for one missing child."
"But he never discovered the second secret."
Richard whispered:
"No..."
Michael continued.
"The Carter family wasn't hiding one heir."
"It was hiding two."
The teenager on the screen spoke.
"My name is Lily."
Everyone stared.
She continued:
"My mother told me never to reveal who I was."
"But she died three days ago."
"I found the documents."
"I found the room."
"And I found out..."
She looked directly at the camera.
"...that I am also a Carter."
Cole felt dizzy.
Another heir.
Another secret.
Another person erased from history.
Michael laughed.
"Do you understand now, nephew?"
"Your family has been lying for generations."
"The question isn't who deserves the fortune."
"The question is..."
"Who deserves to survive?"
01:15
The operating room alarms became louder.
Dr. Harper shouted:
"We need oxygen now!"
Cole looked at the locked door.
Then the screen.
Then Richard.
Then the teenager claiming to be family.
Every direction led to another impossible choice.
Richard suddenly stepped forward.
"I know how to stop him."
Everyone turned.
"What?"
Richard looked at Cole.
"I know Michael."
"I know where he would hide the main control system."
Hayes frowned.
"Where?"
Richard answered:
"Under the old Carter mansion."
"The original house."
Cole stared.
"But that's abandoned."
Richard nodded.
"That's what everyone thinks."
Michael's voice suddenly interrupted.
"You always were predictable, brother."
Richard froze.
The speakers crackled.
"Tell them the truth."
"Tell them why you really disappeared."
Richard's face changed.
"No."
Michael laughed.
"Go ahead."
"Tell your son why you chose survival over your own family."
Cole looked at his father.
"What does he mean?"
Richard said nothing.
Michael continued:
"Your father wasn't hiding from me."
"He was hiding because he knew..."
A pause.
"He caused the accident that killed my family."
The hallway went silent.
Richard looked down.
Cole whispered:
"Father?"
Michael's voice became colder.
"Ask him."
"Ask your father why my wife and children died."
The countdown reached:
00:30
Everything stopped.
The past.
The present.
The future.
Cole looked at Richard.
The man he had spent his life admiring.
The man who had returned from the dead.
The man who might have saved them...
or destroyed everything.
"Is it true?"
Richard closed his eyes.
A tear fell.
And then...
He whispered:
"Yes."
The countdown continued.
00:20
Cole stepped back.
"No..."
Richard looked at his son.
"I did something unforgivable."
00:15
Michael laughed.
"Now you understand."
00:10
The operating room alarm became a continuous scream.
00:05
Cole looked at the locked door.
His children.
His wife.
His father.
His uncle.
The entire Carter legacy collapsing around him.
Then...
At the final second...
The lights went out.
Everything went black.
And a voice whispered from directly behind Cole:
May you like
"Looking for me?"
End of Chapter 12...
