CHAPTER 6 – The Escape That Changed Everything
By the time authorities searched Ethan's mansion, it was already abandoned.
Luxury cars were gone.
Hard drives had been destroyed.
Private accounts had been emptied overnight.
He had planned his escape long before Ryan's trial ever began.
The FBI recovered only one item.
A handwritten note left on the dining table.
It contained seven chilling words.
"The truth dies with the last witness."
Emily stared at the note in silence.
Daniel stood beside her.
"He'll run forever."
Emily slowly shook her head.
"No."
"He left because he's afraid."
Days later, investigators reconstructed Ethan's final twenty-four hours.
Security footage showed him boarding a private helicopter.
Then disappearing over the Atlantic.
The media declared him one of the most wanted fugitives in the country.
But Emily wasn't celebrating.
Something still didn't make sense.
Ryan had said Ethan wasn't acting alone.
Someone else had helped cover up the murder.
Someone still inside Carter Industries.
Late that night, Emily returned to Ryan's old office.
She sat in the darkness, remembering his final words.
Suddenly...
A tiny red light blinked beneath Ryan's desk.
She knelt down.
Hidden behind the wooden panel was another device.
A miniature voice recorder.
Ryan had hidden one last message.
Emily pressed play.
Ryan's tired voice filled the silent office.
"If you're hearing this..."
"Ethan escaped."
Emily's heart stopped.
"I knew he would."
"But there's something I never told anyone."
"You've been searching for the man behind everything."
"You've been looking at the wrong Carter."
Emily frowned.
"What do you mean, Ryan..."
Then came the sentence that made her blood run cold.
"It wasn't my father who gave the order to kill your dad."
"It was my mother."
Emily froze.
Ryan continued.
"She built the empire."
"She controlled Ethan."
"And if Ethan disappears..."
"She'll come for you next."
At that exact moment...
Emily heard slow footsteps echoing outside the office door.
Someone had been listening to the recording.
The doorknob slowly turned.
And a familiar woman's voice whispered through the darkness—
May you like
"Emily..."
"You should have left the past buried."
