CHAPTER 5 — "The Sister They Tried to Erase Came Back for Revenge."
Emily couldn't stop staring at the old photograph.
The little girl standing beside her father looked no older than five. She had the same emerald-green eyes. The same smile.
On the back of the photo, the words echoed in her mind:
"Find your sister before we do."
"My father never had another daughter..." Emily whispered.
Victoria gently took the photograph.
"Are you sure?"
Emily hesitated.
She suddenly remembered a childhood nightmare she'd buried for years.
A little girl crying.
A burning house.
Her father carrying someone in his arms.
Then... darkness.
"I thought it was just a dream."
Victoria immediately hired one of the country's best private investigators.
Within twenty-four hours, they uncovered a sealed government adoption record.
One file.
One name.
Sophia Carter.
Date of birth...
Exactly three years younger than Emily.
Status...
Missing for twenty-two years.
Emily's knees weakened.
Her father had kept a daughter secret from everyone.
But why?
Before they could dig deeper, every screen inside Sterling Capital suddenly went black.
Employees froze.
The company's logo disappeared.
A live video replaced it.
Ryan Walker appeared on the screen.
He looked exhausted, unshaven... but he was smiling.
"You think you won?"
He slowly held up an old silver pocket watch.
Emily's heart nearly stopped.
It had belonged to her father.
"I know where Sophia is."
The room fell silent.
Ryan leaned toward the camera.
"But you'll never reach her before Charles Whitmore does."
The video switched to a dark warehouse.
A young woman was tied to a chair.
Her face was bruised.
She looked terrified.
When she slowly lifted her head...
Emily gasped.
It was like looking into a mirror.
The same eyes.
The same face.
The same tiny birthmark beneath her left ear.
Sophia.
Alive.
Then a masked man walked into the frame and pointed a gun at Sophia's head.
Ryan's voice echoed through the speakers.
"You have one hour."
"Come alone..."
"Or you'll lose the only family you have left."
Before the video ended, Sophia looked directly into the camera.
With tears in her eyes, she whispered five words that shattered Emily's heart.
"Dad never stopped looking for me."
The screen went black.
May you like
The countdown began.
59:59... 59:58... 59:57...
