CHAPTER 3 – The Bullet Meant for the Truth
The first gunshot shattered the silence.
Glass rained across the lighthouse floor as Emma instinctively dropped to her knees.
Michael grabbed her arm.
"Run!"
The armed men charged through the broken entrance.
"There!" one shouted. "Don't let him escape!"
Michael limped toward an old metal door hidden behind a bookshelf.
Emma stared in disbelief.
"You knew they'd come?"
Michael's expression turned grim.
"I've been hiding from them for thirty years."
He pulled a rusted lever.
The bookshelf slowly slid aside, revealing a narrow stone tunnel beneath the lighthouse.
"Hurry!"
The two disappeared underground just as another bullet ripped through the wall.
The tunnel was dark and flooded with seawater.
Emma could barely breathe.
"Who are those men?"
Michael hesitated.
"They're not after me."
"They're after you."
Emma stopped walking.
"What?"
Michael turned slowly.
"The day you were born..."
"...someone paid millions to make sure you would never grow up."
Emma's blood ran cold.
"My father?"
Michael lowered his eyes.
"No."
"Someone much more powerful."
Before Emma could ask another question...
A deafening explosion shook the tunnel.
The entrance collapsed behind them.
Dust filled the air.
"They found us!" Michael shouted.
The old man reached inside his jacket and pulled out a small waterproof envelope.
"If anything happens to me..."
"...take this."
Emma opened it.
Inside was another photograph.
This one showed three people.
Michael.
Her mother.
And a third man standing beside them.
Emma almost dropped it.
The third man was Richard Carter.
They looked...
Like brothers.
"What is this?"
Michael whispered,
"Richard isn't your father..."
"...he's my younger brother."
Emma froze.
The lie wasn't about fatherhood.
It was something far bigger.
Hours later...
The attackers gave up searching the collapsed tunnel.
Emma and Michael finally escaped through an old drainage exit near the cliffs.
As they reached Michael's cabin hidden deep in the forest...
Emma noticed dozens of newspaper clippings covering the walls.
Every article had one thing in common.
Children disappearing.
Families dying in mysterious accidents.
Witnesses vanishing.
Each article had one word circled in red.
Project Genesis.
Emma looked at Michael.
"What is Project Genesis?"
The old man's face became pale.
"The reason your mother was murdered."
Silence.
Emma whispered,
"My mother died in a car accident."
Michael slowly shook his head.
May you like
"No."
"That was the second lie."
