CHAPTER 5 — THE TRUTH HIS MOTHER HAD HIDDEN FOR THIRTY YEARS
Margaret collapsed onto the cold marble floor.
Tears streamed down her face.
"No..."
"I begged him never to tell you."
Ethan stood motionless.
His hands trembled.
His heart pounded louder than the helicopters circling above Blackwood Tower.
"Tell me."
Margaret couldn't.
She buried her face in her hands.
"I was trying to protect you."
Ethan's voice hardened.
"Protect me from what?"
Before Margaret could answer...
The emergency lights inside the command center suddenly went out.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Then...
Backup generators roared to life.
The monitors flashed again.
Every screen displayed the same image.
A digital countdown.
02:59:59
Three hours.
Below it appeared a single sentence.
COME ALONE... OR THEY DIE.
Ethan's security chief, Mason Reed, stepped forward.
"It's a trap."
Ethan didn't take his eyes off the screen.
"I know."
"We can track the signal."
"No."
"We can send a tactical team."
"No."
"We can notify the FBI."
Still...
"No."
Mason stared at him.
"You can't seriously go alone."
Ethan slowly looked up.
"If those children are alive because Victor wants me there..."
"...then they'll die the second he sees an army."
The room fell silent.
Everyone knew he was right.
Margaret suddenly grabbed Ethan's arm.
"You mustn't go."
"He wants exactly that."
Ethan looked at her.
"You still haven't answered my question."
She closed her eyes.
Then whispered...
"The night you were born..."
"...there were two babies."
Silence.
"What?"
"Both boys."
"Both born only minutes apart."
Ethan frowned.
"I don't understand."
Margaret's breathing became uneven.
"One was mine."
"The other..."
"...belonged to the Blackwood family."
Every person in the room stared at her.
"You mean..."
Margaret nodded.
"The hospital caught fire before sunrise."
"There was smoke."
"There was panic."
"Babies disappeared."
"Nurses died."
"Medical records vanished."
Ethan's blood ran cold.
"What are you saying?"
Margaret finally looked directly into his eyes.
"I don't know which baby you really are."
The words hit harder than a bullet.
Everything inside Ethan shattered.
His name.
His family.
His inheritance.
His entire identity.
Could all be a lie.
Before anyone could speak...
An analyst shouted.
"Sir!"
"I found Victor!"
Satellite imagery appeared on the main screen.
An abandoned psychiatric hospital deep in the mountains.
Officially condemned twenty years ago.
Unofficially...
Still receiving electricity.
Still receiving weekly food deliveries.
Its forgotten name appeared beneath the image.
THE SANCTUARY.
Without hesitation, Ethan picked up his jacket.
Mason blocked the elevator.
"I'm coming."
"No."
"I'm your security chief."
"And I'm your friend."
Ethan placed a hand on Mason's shoulder.
"If I don't come back..."
"Protect Margaret."
"And Sophia."
Mason clenched his fists.
"You sound like you're saying goodbye."
Ethan smiled sadly.
"Maybe I am."
Thirty minutes later...
A black armored SUV climbed the winding mountain road alone.
Rain poured from the night sky.
Lightning illuminated the massive abandoned hospital standing on the cliff like a forgotten castle.
Every window was dark.
Every entrance was chained.
Except one.
The front door...
Slowly creaked open by itself.
No guards.
No cameras.
Only silence.
Ethan stepped inside.
The heavy steel door slammed shut behind him.
BANG!
The building echoed like a prison.
A voice filled the hallway through hidden speakers.
"Welcome home... Ethan."
He froze.
That voice...
It wasn't Victor Kane.
It was older.
Calmer.
More familiar.
A voice Ethan had heard every day during his childhood.
Impossible.
Absolutely impossible.
Then the lights flickered on.
At the end of the corridor stood an elderly man in a tailored black suit.
His hair had turned silver.
But his eyes...
Were unmistakable.
Ethan whispered in disbelief,
"Father...?"
The old man smiled.
"I've waited thirty years for you to find me."
The door behind Ethan locked automatically.
Every exit disappeared behind steel barriers.
He wasn't entering a rescue mission anymore.
He had walked willingly...
May you like
Into the place where his entire life had begun.
END OF CHAPTER 5...
