Chapter 2 – The Key Behind the Dead Man’s Portrait

Ethan didn’t breathe.

The library door opened inch by inch.

Victoria stepped into the hallway, her diamond earrings glittering in the dark.

“Ethan?” she called softly.

Too softly.

“Sweetheart… are you awake?”

Ethan pressed himself behind the velvet curtain beside the staircase, one hand clamped over his mouth.

Victoria stood only a few feet away.

Then the man in the black suit whispered, “If the boy heard us, this becomes a problem.”

Victoria’s face hardened.

“He is already a problem.”

Ethan’s eyes filled with terror.

The woman who had hugged him at the funeral…

The woman everyone trusted…

Wanted him gone.

When Victoria finally returned to the library, Ethan ran upstairs as quietly as he could. He locked his bedroom door and pulled the silver key from under his pillow.

For the first time, he noticed tiny letters carved into the side.

J.C. – Behind the eyes

Ethan’s heart pounded.

Behind the eyes?

Then he remembered.

In the main hallway hung a giant portrait of his father.

Jonathan Carter’s painted eyes always seemed to follow him.

At 3:07 a.m., Ethan crept downstairs again.

The mansion was silent.

He stood before the portrait.

“Dad…” he whispered, “what were you trying to tell me?”

He touched the painting’s right eye.

Click.

The frame loosened.

Behind the portrait was a hidden metal door.

And in the center of it…

A tiny keyhole.

Ethan inserted the silver key.

The lock turned.

Inside was a small black box.

His hands shook as he opened it.

There was a flash drive.

A bloodstained letter.

And a phone with one recorded video.

Ethan pressed play.

His father’s face appeared on the screen.

Alive.

Terrified.

“Ethan, if you’re watching this… then everyone believes I’m dead.”

Ethan dropped to his knees.

His father continued.

“But I am not dead.”

A sob escaped Ethan’s throat.

Jonathan leaned closer to the camera.

“Victoria betrayed me. She arranged the crash. She wants the company, the fortune, and the secret project hidden beneath Carter Tower.”

Then his father said the sentence that changed everything.

“Trust no one in that house.”

Suddenly—

The bedroom lights upstairs switched on.

Footsteps thundered down the hall.

Victoria’s voice screamed from above.

“FIND HIM!”

Ethan grabbed the box and ran toward the back door.

But when he opened it…

The man in the black suit was already waiting outside.

Smiling.

“Going somewhere, little prince?”

Ethan stepped backward.

Victoria appeared behind him, holding the silver key.

Her face was no longer kind.

It was pure ice.

“Your father should have died quietly,” she whispered.

“And now…”

She bent down to Ethan’s level.

“…so should you.”

Then the phone in Ethan’s hand suddenly rang.

One unknown number.

He answered with trembling fingers.

A familiar voice whispered:

“Run to the garage, son.”

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Ethan stopped breathing.

“Dad?”