CHAPTER 5 – The Memory They Tried to Erase
Emily grabbed Ethan's wrist before he could say another word.
"We have to leave. Now."
Confused, Ethan followed her through the bookstore's back exit just seconds before armed men stormed through the front door.
Books crashed to the floor.
Customers screamed.
One gunman shouted, "Search every room! The boss wants them alive!"
Emily led Ethan into a narrow alley where an old pickup truck was waiting.
She threw him the keys.
"Drive!"
As they sped away, two black SUVs roared after them.
Bullets shattered the truck's rear window.
Ethan swerved onto a winding coastal highway, barely avoiding a head-on collision with a delivery truck.
"Who are those people?" he shouted.
Emily stared silently out the window.
Finally, she whispered,
"They raised me to forget."
Ethan looked at her in disbelief.
"What do you mean?"
"When I was six... they gave me a new name... a new family... and years of therapy."
"They told me my parents abandoned me."
She reached into her pocket and pulled out an old silver necklace.
Half of a broken heart.
Ethan froze.
He reached beneath his shirt and pulled out the necklace his grandmother had made him wear since childhood.
The other half.
The two pieces fit together perfectly.
Before either of them could speak, Emily suddenly gasped.
A flood of memories rushed back.
Their mother's voice...
Their father's smile...
The night of the fire...
And one terrifying face.
She covered her mouth as tears streamed down her cheeks.
"Oh my God..."
"I remember him."
"Who?" Ethan asked.
Emily looked directly into his eyes.
"The man who ordered our parents to be killed..."
"He wasn't a stranger."
"He was sitting at our dinner table."
Ethan's blood ran cold.
"Who was he?"
Emily's voice barely escaped her lips.
"Our uncle..."
"The current CEO of Harper Industries."
At that exact moment, Ethan's phone buzzed.
A live news alert appeared on the screen.
BREAKING NEWS
Harper Industries CEO Richard Harper announces a $20 million reward for information leading to the capture of two 'dangerous fugitives' accused of murdering their own grandmother.
Ethan stared at the screen in horror.
Richard hadn't just stolen their family...
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He had turned the entire country against them.
To be continued...
