CHAPTER 8 — The Man Who Refused to Die
The armed men surrounded Emily.
"Give us the journal," their leader demanded.
Emily hugged the black leather book against her chest.
"If I refuse?"
"You'll never leave this building."
One of the men reached for his gun.
Before he could draw it—
The lights went out.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Then came the sound of breaking glass.
A scream.
Another.
A body crashed into a desk.
The attackers panicked.
"Who's there?"
No answer.
Only footsteps.
Calm.
Steady.
Getting closer.
One by one, the armed men hit the floor.
In less than thirty seconds...
The room was silent.
Emergency lights flickered back on.
Emily looked toward the doorway.
A tall man stood there wearing a dark coat, his face hidden beneath a hood.
He slowly removed it.
Emily dropped the journal.
"No..."
Tears flooded her eyes.
"It can't be..."
The man looked older.
A long scar crossed one side of his face.
His beard had turned rough.
But there was no mistaking those eyes.
"Ethan..."
Her husband.
The man everyone believed had died.
Lily suddenly ran into the room after escaping the waiting car outside.
"Daddy!"
She threw herself into his arms.
He held her tightly, tears silently falling down his face.
Emily could barely speak.
"You... died."
Ethan looked into her eyes.
"No."
"I disappeared."
"Because someone inside our own family ordered my murder."
Emily's breath caught.
"Who?"
Ethan slowly turned the journal toward the final page.
Written across it in bold red ink was a single name.
VICTORIA CARTER.
Emily stared at it in horror.
"My... mother?"
Ethan nodded slowly.
"No."
"Your adoptive mother."
He took a deep breath before delivering the truth that changed everything.
"The woman you met in the black SUV..."
May you like
"...is your real mother."
"And she's been trying to save you since the day you were born."
