Chapter 4: The Man Who Took the Bullet
The basement door exploded inward.
BOOM!
Splinters of wood flew through the air.
Masked men in black tactical gear flooded the narrow staircase, rifles raised.
"TARGETS LOCATED!"
Emily instinctively threw herself over Lily.
"Close your eyes!" she screamed.
The orphanage director stepped in front of them.
His old revolver looked laughably small against a dozen assault rifles.
The leader lowered his weapon.
"We only want the girl."
He pointed directly at Lily.
"Move aside."
The director smiled sadly.
"I've heard those words before."
Twenty years ago.
Right before her parents were murdered.
Emily stared at him.
"You knew my mother..."
"I loved your mother."
The confession stunned everyone.
The old woman gasped.
"You were Michael Carter..."
"The Whitmore family's head of security."
The director nodded.
"I failed them once."
His eyes settled on Lily.
"I won't fail her again."
The masked leader grew impatient.
"Last warning."
Instead of answering...
Michael raised his revolver.
One shot echoed through the basement.
BANG!
Not at the attackers...
At the hanging oil lamp.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Gunfire erupted instantly.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Bullets ricocheted off the stone walls.
Lily screamed.
Emily crawled blindly, dragging her little sister through the darkness.
Then...
A warm hand grabbed Emily's wrist.
"Follow me."
It was the old woman.
She led them toward a hidden tunnel behind the shelves.
Behind them...
Michael's voice thundered through the darkness.
"RUN!"
More gunfire.
Then...
Silence.
Emily wanted to turn back.
The old woman held her tightly.
"If you stop now..."
"He died for nothing."
Tears streamed down Emily's face as they escaped through the narrow tunnel.
After several minutes of crawling, they emerged inside an abandoned chapel hidden deep in the woods.
Moonlight poured through broken stained-glass windows.
Lily collapsed into Emily's arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
"We're safe..."
Emily whispered.
But she no longer believed those words.
The old woman walked to the altar.
She pressed a loose stone.
Another hidden compartment opened.
Inside rested a leather folder sealed with the Whitmore family crest.
She handed it to Emily.
"Everything your mother died protecting..."
"...is inside."
Emily broke the seal.
Instead of legal documents...
There were photographs.
Hundreds of them.
The first showed Lily as a baby.
The second showed Emily holding Lily in the orphanage.
The third...
Made Emily's blood run cold.
It had been taken only three days ago.
It showed Emily asleep in her tiny room.
Someone had been watching her.
Recently.
Every page revealed another secret photograph.
School.
Work.
The grocery store.
The cemetery where she visited her mother's grave.
Whoever had taken them...
Had followed Emily for years.
Then the final photograph slipped onto the floor.
It showed Emily and Lily standing exactly where they were now...
Inside the abandoned chapel.
The picture had today's date printed in the corner.
Emily's hands began to shake.
"That's impossible..."
"We just got here."
A slow clap echoed through the church.
Clap...
Clap...
Clap...
A familiar voice emerged from the shadows.
"You're right."
"It should be impossible."
The gray-suited man stepped into the moonlight.
Without a scratch.
Without a speck of dust.
Smiling.
"I knew you'd choose the chapel."
Emily's eyes widened.
"You followed us?"
He laughed.
"No..."
"I built this place."
Before anyone could react...
The old woman quietly whispered two terrifying words.
"He's family."
The man smiled even wider.
Then he removed his leather gloves...
Revealing the exact same crescent-shaped birthmark...
That Emily had carried on her left wrist since birth.
Emily stared at him in horror.
"No..."
The man nodded.
"Yes."
"I've been looking for my little sister..."
May you like
"...for nineteen years."
To Be Continued...
