CHAPTER 9 — The Man Everyone Thought Was Dead
For three days...
America believed Adrian Blackwood had died.
News channels replayed the explosion endlessly.
Flowers covered the gates of Blackwood Technologies.
Emma couldn't sleep.
She blamed herself.
"If I hadn't gone..."
Mr. Hayes placed a hand on her shoulder.
"He made his own choice."
But something didn't feel right.
No body had ever been found.
Only Adrian's watch.
Then, at exactly 2:14 a.m., Emma's phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
Silence.
Then a weak voice.
"Emma..."
Her heart stopped.
"Adrian?"
"I'm alive."
The call ended.
Using emergency tracing, the FBI tracked the signal to an abandoned military bunker hidden beneath an old shipyard.
Emma, Mr. Hayes, and a tactical team rushed there.
Deep underground...
They found Adrian.
Bruised.
Handcuffed.
Barely conscious.
But alive.
Emma ran to him.
"You idiot..."
She hugged him tightly.
"You were supposed to be dead," Adrian whispered with a bitter smile.
Emma frowned.
"What?"
Adrian looked toward the agents.
"The explosion..."
"It wasn't meant to kill me."
"It was meant to erase me."
He explained everything.
Vincent had staged the blast so the world would believe Adrian was dead.
With Adrian gone...
No one would question the transfer of billions of dollars hidden through Blackwood's international accounts.
Emma stared in disbelief.
"So the money..."
"Was never the real prize."
Adrian nodded.
"No."
"You were."
Before anyone could ask another question...
The bunker lights suddenly shut off.
Every monitor turned on at once.
A familiar face appeared on every screen.
Emma's mother.
She was crying.
"If you're seeing this..."
"I'm already gone."
Emma froze.
"No..."
Her mother continued.
"I couldn't protect you from the real enemy."
"It was never Vincent."
"It was someone much closer."
The screen flickered.
Another figure slowly stepped into view.
An elderly man wearing an expensive tailored suit.
His eyes were calm.
His smile terrifying.
Emma whispered...
"Grandfather?"
The man nodded.
"Hello, Eleanor."
"I've waited twenty-two years for this meeting."
Mr. Hayes turned pale.
"It can't be..."
Emma's grandfather had been declared dead decades earlier.
But he wasn't dead.
He had been hiding...
Watching...
And controlling everything from the shadows.
Then the transmission ended.
May you like
Only one sentence remained on the screen.
"Come home."
