CHAPTER 4 – The Warehouse Where Truth Came to Die
Ethan followed the GPS location sent to his phone without calling the police.
The abandoned warehouse stood on the edge of the harbor, hidden beneath rusted cranes and thick sea fog.
Every instinct screamed that it was a trap.
He walked inside anyway.
"Emma!" he shouted.
Only silence answered.
Then...
A baby's cry echoed through the darkness.
Ethan sprinted toward the sound.
He burst into an old storage room and found a stroller.
Inside lay his son.
Alone.
Crying.
The moment Ethan picked him up, the warehouse lights exploded on.
Applause echoed from the shadows.
Lucas stepped forward.
"So predictable."
More than a dozen armed men surrounded Ethan.
Lucas smiled as if this were nothing more than a business meeting.
"I knew you'd come."
Ethan held his son tightly.
"You wanted me. Leave my family out of this."
Lucas laughed.
"You still think this was about Emma?"
He slowly pulled out a thick envelope.
Inside were documents bearing the Carter family seal.
"Father never planned to leave the company to you."
Ethan frowned.
"What are you talking about?"
Lucas tossed the papers onto the floor.
"Emma discovered the real will."
"The company was never supposed to belong to either of us."
"It was left in trust..."
"...for your first biological child."
Ethan's heart stopped.
"My son?"
Lucas nodded.
"The day he was born, he became the legal owner of everything."
"The entire Carter empire."
"The private islands."
"The hotels."
"The technology patents."
"Everything."
Ethan looked down at the tiny baby sleeping against his chest.
His innocent son...
Had unknowingly become the richest heir in the country.
Lucas's face twisted with hatred.
"As long as that child exists..."
"I own nothing."
Suddenly...
Emma's voice rang through the warehouse.
"Ethan!"
He turned.
Emma stumbled from a side room, her hands tied, her face bruised—but alive.
The second she saw Ethan holding their son, tears flooded her eyes.
"I knew you'd come."
Lucas slowly raised a pistol.
His smile disappeared.
"If I can't have the Carter empire..."
"No one will."
He aimed directly at the baby.
A deafening gunshot shattered the warehouse...
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But the person who fell to the ground...
Wasn't the one anyone expected.
