Chapter 3 – The Voice From the Grave
The voice on the phone was unmistakable.
Low.
Calm.
Protective.
The same voice that had tucked Ethan into bed every night.
“Dad...?” Ethan whispered, barely able to breathe.
“Don't say my name,” the voice replied immediately. “Listen carefully. You have less than sixty seconds.”
Behind Ethan, Victoria smiled coldly.
“What are you waiting for?” she asked. “Hand me the phone.”
The man in the black suit slowly pulled a pistol from inside his jacket.
Ethan's heart hammered against his ribs.
“Run,” the voice ordered.
“NOW!”
Without thinking, Ethan hurled the phone straight at the suited man's face.
CRACK!
The device exploded against his forehead.
The man staggered backward, cursing.
Ethan sprinted through the kitchen.
Victoria screamed.
“DON'T LET HIM ESCAPE!”
The mansion erupted into chaos.
Security alarms blared.
Doors slammed open.
Footsteps thundered from every direction.
Five armed security guards rushed into the hallway.
An eight-year-old boy had suddenly become the most hunted person inside the Carter estate.
Ethan burst into the underground garage.
Luxury cars stretched in neat rows.
Ferraris.
Rolls-Royces.
Bentleys.
Everything his father had ever collected.
But the mysterious voice wasn't finished.
“Row Seven,” it said.
“Blue Mustang.”
Ethan froze.
His father had sold that old Mustang years ago...
Hadn't he?
At the far end of the garage sat a dusty blue 1968 Mustang hidden beneath a gray cover.
No license plate.
No records.
No one had touched it in years.
Ethan pulled away the cover.
The driver's door unlocked by itself.
Click.
Inside, the dashboard suddenly lit up.
A hidden screen came alive.
WELCOME BACK, ETHAN.
His father's face appeared once again.
“If you're seeing this,” Jonathan said, “they've already taken the mansion.”
Tears rolled down Ethan's cheeks.
“I knew Victoria would betray me eventually.”
“She doesn't want my money.”
“She wants Project Genesis.”
The screen switched to a blueprint.
Far below Carter Tower...
Hidden beneath six underground levels...
Was something enormous.
A secret laboratory.
Jonathan spoke carefully.
“For twenty years, I built technology capable of changing the entire world.”
“Unlimited clean energy.”
“No pollution.”
“No fuel.”
“No wars over oil.”
Ethan stared silently.
“But there were people willing to kill for it.”
“And Victoria became one of them.”
Suddenly...
A loud explosion shook the garage.
BOOM!
The entrance gate collapsed.
Three black SUVs crashed through the security barrier.
Masked men poured out carrying assault rifles.
Victoria looked genuinely shocked.
“These aren't my men,” she whispered.
The suited man turned pale.
“Who are they?”
A sniper laser suddenly appeared on his chest.
One red dot.
Then another.
Then ten more.
Bang!
The suited man collapsed before he could even scream.
Victoria ducked behind a Rolls-Royce.
Gunfire exploded across the garage.
Glass shattered.
Luxury cars erupted into flames.
Ethan curled beneath the Mustang, covering his ears as bullets ripped through the concrete pillars.
The voice on the dashboard remained calm.
“They found us sooner than I expected.”
“They?”
“Yes.”
“The people behind Victoria.”
One of the masked soldiers stepped through the smoke.
Unlike the others, he wore no mask.
Silver hair.
A scar across one eye.
And around his neck...
The exact same family pendant Jonathan Carter had always worn.
The man looked directly at Ethan.
His eyes widened.
“So...”
He smiled.
“The heir is still alive.”
Ethan's blood ran cold.
“How do you know me?”
The stranger slowly removed a faded photograph from his pocket.
It showed two young men standing side by side.
One was Jonathan Carter.
The other...
Was the silver-haired man.
Then the stranger whispered the words that shattered everything Ethan believed.
“I wasn't your father's enemy.”
A long pause.
“I was his brother.”
Ethan stared in disbelief.
“My father... never had a brother.”
The man sighed sadly.
“That's exactly what Jonathan wanted everyone to believe.”
As gunfire echoed through the burning garage, the stranger extended his hand.
“Come with me, Ethan.”
May you like
“Because the man you buried…”
“…was never your real father.”
End of Chapter 3…
