CHAPTER 7 – The Child Who Remembered the Song
Emma collapsed to the hospital floor.
"My baby!"
Doctors, nurses, and security guards flooded the hallway.
Every exit was locked.
Every security camera was checked.
But Lucas had vanished.
It was as if he had disappeared into thin air.
Detective Harper turned to Ethan.
"We have helicopters searching the city."
"But if Lucas reaches the private airport..."
"He'll be gone forever."
Ethan refused to believe it.
He remembered something Lucas had written in his journal.
"When I was scared... Dad always sang the same lullaby."
Their father.
The only person Lucas had ever truly loved.
Ethan's eyes widened.
"The lake house."
Emma looked at him.
"What?"
"The place Dad used to take us every summer."
"It was the only place Lucas ever called home."
Without waiting for backup, Ethan raced there.
Rain poured across the empty roads.
Thunder shook the sky.
When he finally reached the old wooden cabin beside the lake...
A faint melody drifted through the open window.
Someone was singing.
The same lullaby their father had sung decades earlier.
Ethan slowly stepped inside.
Lucas sat in an old rocking chair.
The baby rested peacefully in his arms.
He wasn't crying.
He was asleep.
Lucas gently rocked him back and forth.
Tears rolled down his face.
"I never wanted to hurt him."
"I just wanted..."
"...one person to need me."
Ethan slowly lowered his weapon.
"You already had that."
Lucas looked up.
"No."
"I lost everything."
"You lost it because you chose hate."
Lucas stared at the baby.
"You know what's strange?"
"He smiled at me."
"After everything I've done..."
"He smiled."
Ethan's voice cracked.
"Because babies don't know revenge."
"They only know love."
For a long moment...
Neither man moved.
Then Lucas carefully stood.
He kissed the baby's forehead.
"I'm sorry..."
He handed the child back to Ethan.
Emma rushed into the cabin seconds later, wrapping both Ethan and their son in her arms.
The nightmare was finally over.
Or so they believed.
Outside...
Police sirens surrounded the cabin.
Lucas slowly walked toward the officers with his hands raised.
But before anyone could place him in handcuffs...
A black SUV smashed through the police barricade.
Masked gunmen opened fire.
"GET DOWN!"
Bullets shattered every window in the cabin.
One of the attackers shouted,
"Take the child!"
Lucas spun around instinctively.
Without hesitation...
He threw himself in front of Ethan, Emma, and the baby.
Three bullets struck his back.
As he collapsed, he gasped one final sentence.
"They're not after the Carter fortune..."
"They're after..."
Before he could finish...
May you like
His eyes slowly closed.
And the identity of the real mastermind died with him.
