Chapter 5 - Glass and wood filled the air.I ducked.
Daniel grabbed me and dragged me behind a marble pillar.
Gunfire erupted outside.
Security returned fire.
My father disappeared behind the doorway.
Everything happened at once.
People shouted.
Alarms screamed.
Then silence.
A man in black stepped through the shattered entrance.
He wasn't aiming a weapon.
He was holding a white envelope.
“Michael Carter.”
My father appeared at the end of the hall.
“Who sent you?”
The man smiled.
“Your wife.”
Dad froze.
The stranger placed the envelope on the floor.
“Three days.”
Then he turned.
One of my father's men tackled him.
But before they reached him, the man smiled again.
“Too late.”
A faint beeping came from inside the envelope.
Daniel's face changed.
“Get down!”
We dove.
Nothing happened.
The beeping stopped.
Daniel approached carefully and opened the envelope.
A phone.
Already ringing.
Dad answered.
“Michael.”
Victor Hale.
“Did you enjoy the recording?”
Dad's voice went dangerously low.
“Where is she?”
“Closer than you think.”
“My wife?”
“No.”
A pause.
“Your daughter.”
I looked at my father.
Victor continued.
“You've been guarding the wrong truth.”
“Tell me what you want.”
“I want what belongs to the Hale family.”
Dad laughed once.
“You've already taken enough.”
“No, Michael.”
Victor's voice sharpened.
“You took it.”
“What?”
“My father's empire.”
Silence.
Then Victor said:
“You killed my father eleven years ago.”
Dad's face hardened.
“I didn't.”
Victor laughed.
“That's what he told me too.”
The call ended.
I turned to my father.
“Did you kill him?”
“No.”
“Then why does he think you did?”
Dad stared at the destroyed doorway.
“Because someone wanted a war.”
“Who?”
My father looked at me.
“The same person who took Ethan.”
I remembered the tape.
Lena has never been your daughter.
“Then tell me who I am.”
He didn't answer.
I stepped closer.
“I'm not leaving until you tell me.”
Dad's shoulders dropped.
“You were found.”
I stared.
“What?”
“You were an infant.”
“Found where?”
“A church.”
“When?”
“The night your mother disappeared.”
“So you're not my father?”
He looked at me.
“I raised you.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
He closed his eyes.
“No.”
The word felt like a bullet.
I staggered backward.
Daniel caught my arm.
My whole life had become a lie.
My name.
My family.
My mother.
My father.
Everything.
“Who are my real parents?”
Dad looked at me.
“Your mother was Lillian Carter.”
“That's not an answer.”
“She gave birth to you.”
“Then whose daughter am I?”
He hesitated.
“Victor Hale's.”
I stared.
“No.”
Dad nodded.
“You are Victor Hale's daughter.”
The room spun.
The man who had orchestrated my humiliation at the ballroom was my biological father.
The man trying to destroy my family had spent twenty years believing his daughter was dead.
And I had been raised by his enemy.
“Why?”
My father looked broken.
“Because your mother knew Victor would use you.”
“So you took me.”
“Yes.”
“You stole me.”
“I saved you.”
I laughed through tears.
“Did you?”
Before he could answer, Daniel rushed in.
“Sir.”
Dad turned.
“What?”
“We found the truck driver.”
“Alive?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Dead.”
Then he placed a phone on the table.
“We found this in his pocket.”
A video was already playing.
The image was grainy.
A woman sat in a dark room.
My mother.
Her face was thinner.
Older.
But unmistakable.
She looked directly at the camera.
“Lena.”
I stopped breathing.
“If you're watching this, then Michael finally told you the truth.”
She leaned forward.
“There is one thing he didn't tell you.”
A shadow moved behind her.
She looked over her shoulder.
Then whispered:
“Your biological father isn't Victor.”
I stared at the screen.
My mother swallowed.
“He believes you're his.”
The shadow came closer.
“But he's wrong.”
The screen went black.
A message appeared.
MIDNIGHT. ROOFTOP OF THE CARTER HOTEL. COME ALONE.
May you like
Then another line.
OR YOUR MOTHER DIES.
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