CHAPTER 7 – The Siege of Walter Home
The helicopter disappeared into the storm.
Ethan's blood ran cold.
Richard wasn't escaping.
He was hunting.
Within seconds, Ethan grabbed the emergency phone.
"Call every police unit! Evacuate Walter Home immediately!"
But Eleanor's face turned pale as she stared at her tablet.
"It's too late..."
"What do you mean?"
She turned the screen toward him.
Every phone line connected to Walter Home had gone dead.
The security cameras were offline.
The backup generators had been disabled.
Someone had planned this for weeks.
Richard hadn't just targeted the company.
He had targeted Walter's legacy.
Fifteen minutes later...
Ethan's convoy raced through the pouring rain.
The closer they got, the quieter everything became.
No ambulance.
No police sirens.
No residents outside.
Only silence.
When Ethan jumped from the car, his heart nearly stopped.
The front gate stood wide open.
Wheelchairs were scattered across the entrance.
Medical files covered the ground, soaked by the rain.
Inside...
Every hallway was empty.
Rooms had been turned upside down.
Family photographs lay shattered across the floor.
But there wasn't a single resident in sight.
"They're gone..." one officer whispered.
"No..." Ethan replied.
"They've been taken."
Then they heard it.
A slow...
Steady...
Clapping sound.
Ethan turned toward the dining hall.
Richard stood there alone.
Perfectly dressed.
Perfectly calm.
Behind him hung a giant portrait of Walter.
Richard smiled.
"I knew you'd come."
Ethan stepped forward.
"Where are they?"
Richard ignored the question.
Instead, he looked at Walter's portrait.
"Your grandfather always believed love was stronger than fear."
He laughed softly.
"Let's test that."
He pressed a small remote.
A massive television screen flickered to life.
More than two hundred elderly residents appeared on the screen.
They were alive...
But locked inside an abandoned warehouse somewhere outside the city.
Each person wore a tracking bracelet.
Each bracelet displayed the same countdown.
00:59:42
One hour.
Richard looked directly into Ethan's eyes.
"I planted enough explosives to level the entire building."
Gasps echoed through the room.
Ethan's fists clenched.
"You monster..."
Richard shook his head.
"No."
"I'm a businessman."
"I believe every empire has a price."
He placed two folders on the table.
"In this folder..."
"...is the document transferring Aurelius to me."
"In the other..."
"...are the warehouse coordinates."
"You only have time to choose one."
"If you save the company..."
"The residents die."
"If you save the residents..."
"I become the richest man on Earth."
The room fell silent.
Every officer looked at Ethan.
Every second mattered.
Richard checked his watch.
"Fifty-eight minutes."
"So..."
"What matters more?"
"Your grandfather's empire..."
"...or the people he loved?"
Without saying a word...
Ethan reached for one of the folders.
Richard smiled.
"You chose exactly as I expected."
But before Ethan could open it...
A weak voice echoed from the doorway.
"You still don't understand my brother..."
Everyone turned.
An elderly man, leaning on a wooden cane, slowly walked into the room.
His white hair was neatly combed.
His face was scarred.
Yet his eyes...
His eyes were identical to Walter's.
Richard's smile disappeared instantly.
His lips trembled.
"No..."
"That's impossible."
The old man smiled gently.
"You attended my funeral twenty years ago..."
"So tell me, Richard..."
"Which one of us is really supposed to be dead?"
The cane struck the floor once.
The entire room froze.
Because standing in front of them...
Was Walter.
May you like
Alive.
To Be Continued...
