Chapter 15 - The hospital room was silent.Arthur sat beside Ethan's bed.
Chloe stood near the window.
Emily slept in a chair.
Lucy had survived the clock tower explosion with a broken arm and several cuts.
Isabella was under arrest pending investigation.
Thomas and Richard were in custody.
The trust had been frozen.
For the first time in years, Arthur's family seemed safe.
Then Ethan opened his eyes.
“Daddy?”
Arthur leaned closer.
“I'm here.”
Ethan hesitated.
“I remember.”
“Tell me.”
Ethan looked toward the door.
“It wasn't Richard.”
Arthur went still.
“Who was it?”
Ethan's fingers tightened around the blanket.
“The person who put me in the wall.”
“Who?”
Ethan whispered:
“Grandma.”
Arthur stopped breathing.
His mother had been dead for fifteen years.
He stared at Ethan.
“That can't be.”
“I saw her.”
“You're sure?”
Ethan nodded.
“She said Daddy would never find me.”
Arthur stood.
“When?”
“Before she disappeared.”
Arthur looked at Chloe.
She had gone pale.
“Your mother?”
Arthur shook his head.
“She died in a car accident.”
Ethan looked confused.
“No.”
He pointed toward the hallway.
“She came into my room.”
Arthur felt cold.
“Ethan…”
“She looked old.”
Chloe stepped closer.
“Did she say her name?”
Ethan nodded.
“Margaret.”
Arthur's mother.
The official victim of the accident.
Arthur walked out of the room.
The police officer met him.
“Mr. Vale?”
“Open my mother's death file.”
“We already did.”
Arthur looked at him.
“Open it again.”
The officer hesitated.
“There's something strange.”
“What?”
“The original death certificate.”
“What about it?”
“It was signed two days after her funeral.”
Arthur froze.
“That's impossible.”
The officer handed him the document.
Arthur stared at the signature.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
His mother's.
He looked at Chloe.
“This whole time…”
Chloe shook her head.
“Someone wanted you to think everyone was dead.”
Arthur remembered the pattern.
His father.
Lucy.
Emily.
His mother.
Ethan.
All connected by fake deaths.
But why?
Then Emily woke.
“Daddy?”
Arthur turned.
She pointed at the document.
“That lady knows.”
Arthur frowned.
“Who?”
“The woman who brought me here.”
Arthur looked at her.
“What woman?”
Emily's eyes widened.
“She came last night.”
Arthur felt his blood run cold.
“Who?”
Emily whispered:
“She said her name was Margaret.”
The hospital lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then went out.
A phone rang from the dark hallway.
Arthur walked toward it.
The screen showed an unknown number.
He answered.
Nothing.
Then a woman's voice.
Old.
Calm.
Familiar.
“Arthur.”
He couldn't breathe.
“Mom?”
The woman laughed softly.
“You've been looking in the wrong place.”
Arthur gripped the phone.
“Where are you?”
“Closer than you think.”
“Why did you do this?”
A pause.
“Because your father wasn't the man you believed him to be.”
Arthur's heart pounded.
“What does that mean?”
The voice whispered:
“Ask him.”
Arthur froze.
“My father is dead.”
Another pause.
Then:
“No, Arthur.”
The woman spoke slowly.
“He isn't.”
The call ended.
Arthur stared at the phone.
Behind him, Chloe whispered:
“Arthur…”
He turned.
The television in the hospital room had switched on by itself.
A live news broadcast appeared.
Breaking news.
A photograph filled the screen.
An older man.
White hair.
Dark suit.
Alive.
The caption beneath him read:
BILLIONAIRE CHARLES VALE SPEAKS PUBLICLY FOR THE FIRST TIME IN FIFTEEN YEARS.
Arthur's father.
Alive.
Standing behind a podium.
Looking directly into the camera.
And then he smiled.
Not like a loving father.
Not like a dead man returned from the grave.
Like a man who had been waiting.
Arthur slowly stepped closer to the screen.
His father's final words rang through the hospital room.
“Arthur…”
The broadcast cut to black.
Then a message appeared:
COME HOME, SON.
Arthur looked at Ethan.
At Emily.
At Chloe.
At Lucy.
The truth was no longer buried behind a wall.
May you like
It was coming for all of them.
And somewhere across the city, a supposedly dead man had just opened the door to the final secret.
