CHAPTER 5 — The Brother Who Attended His Own Funeral
Michael couldn't breathe.
His eyes remained fixed on the photograph.
Standing beside Daniel was a man he had buried with his own hands ten years earlier.
His younger brother...
Ryan Carter.
"No..." Michael whispered.
"That's impossible."
Victoria Hale slid another file across the table.
"The body found after the explosion was never identified through DNA."
"Your family accepted it because the body was too badly burned."
Michael remembered that day.
The closed casket.
His mother's endless tears.
The funeral where hundreds mourned Ryan as a hero.
No one had ever questioned the official report.
Until now.
Victoria opened the file.
"Ryan didn't die."
"He disappeared."
"And during the last decade..."
"...he quietly built one of the largest financial crime networks in the country."
Michael felt his heart pounding.
"Why would my own brother destroy me?"
Victoria's expression darkened.
"Because your father left something far more valuable than Carter Technologies."
Michael frowned.
"What?"
"A list."
"The names of politicians, judges, CEOs, and criminals who secretly laundered billions through shell companies."
Michael stared at her.
"My father was an honest man."
Victoria shook her head.
"No."
"He became honest."
"But before that..."
"...he worked for them."
The room fell silent.
Everything Michael believed about his family began to crumble.
Just then, Lily quietly spoke from the hospital bed.
"Daddy..."
"I've seen Uncle Ryan before."
Michael spun around.
"What did you say?"
Lily nodded nervously.
"The night before I got sick..."
"He came into our house."
"He told me not to tell anyone."
"He said..."
"'Soon your daddy will lose everything.'"
Victoria immediately ordered the hospital's security footage from the previous week.
Minutes later, every monitor displayed the same image.
A man wearing a black hoodie entered Michael's mansion at 2:17 a.m.
He looked directly at one of the security cameras.
Then...
he slowly pulled back his hood.
Ryan Carter.
Alive.
Smiling.
As if he wanted Michael to know the truth.
Suddenly every light inside the hospital went out.
Darkness swallowed the entire floor.
Emergency alarms screamed.
Doctors shouted.
Patients panicked.
Then one of the backup generators switched on.
The television mounted on the hospital wall flickered to life by itself.
Ryan appeared on the screen.
He smiled calmly.
"Hello, brother."
"If you're watching this..."
"...you've already lost."
Behind him...
Michael saw something that froze the blood in his veins.
A frightened elderly woman sat tied to a chair.
It was their mother.
Ryan leaned close to the camera.
"You have twenty-four hours."
"Bring me Father's hidden ledger..."
"...or the next funeral will be hers."
The screen went black.
Michael clenched his fists.
For years, he thought he had lost his brother.
Now he realized...
May you like
he had been hunting him all along.
To Be Continued...
