CHAPTER 3 – The Brother Who Stole Everything
Ethan did not sleep that night.
He replayed the hospital room again and again—the look in Emma’s eyes, the way her hands shook as she held their newborn son, the silence after he accused her of betrayal.
But now he knew the truth.
Emma had never cheated.
Their son was his.
And the man who had planted the poison in his mind was his own brother, Lucas.
The next morning, Ethan stormed into Lucas’s penthouse without knocking.
Lucas was drinking coffee by the window, calm as if he had been waiting.
“You took them,” Ethan said, his voice low and dangerous.
Lucas smiled.
“No, brother. You threw them away.”
Ethan grabbed him by the collar.
“Where is my wife? Where is my son?”
Lucas leaned closer and whispered,
“You still don’t understand, do you? Emma wasn’t running from me. She was running from you.”
Then Lucas dropped the final bomb.
“Before she left, she signed custody protection papers. If anything happens to her, you will never get that child.”
Ethan’s blood ran cold.
“What did you do?”
Lucas laughed softly.
“I did what you were too weak to do. I protected the Carter empire from a woman who knew too much.”
At that moment, Ethan noticed a folder on the table.
Inside were bank transfers, forged messages, fake photos—and a private investigation report.
Lucas had paid people to follow Emma.
He had created the entire scandal.
But the last page made Ethan stop breathing.
Emma had discovered Lucas was stealing millions from the family company.
She was going to expose him.
That was why he destroyed her marriage.
That was why he made Ethan hate her.
And now...
Emma and the baby were not just missing.
They were in danger.
Ethan turned toward Lucas with murder in his eyes.
But before he could speak, his phone rang.
An unknown number.
He answered.
A woman’s trembling voice whispered,
“Ethan... if you want to see your son alive, come alone.”
May you like
Then he heard a baby crying in the background.
And the call ended.
