Chapter 1 - The Ghost in the SystemThe air in my penthouse office grew dangerously thin. Walter Briggs stepped out of the private elevator, his expensive suit rumpled, carrying a heavy leather briefcase that looked like it had survived a warzone. Behind him stood Dr. Simon Hale, whose exhausted expression confirmed my worst fears before he even spoke a word.
"Nathan," Walter began, his voice low and gravelly, ignoring the two boys resting on the sofa. "I checked the Portland address. The apartment is empty. Worse than empty—it’s been scrubbed. The landlord claims he hasn't seen Julia Brooks in six months, and the neighbors think she moved to Chicago."
"She didn't move," I said coldly, my eyes locked on Walter. "Her sons are sitting right behind you. Someone pushed them out, Walter. Someone sent them to me."
Dr. Hale stepped forward, holding a secure encrypted tablet. "I checked the medical records you requested using the boys' names and dental profiles. Nathan... there's something you need to see. Julia didn't just disappear. Her medical profile shows she was admitted to St. Jude’s Memorial Hospital three days ago under an alias. And the attending physician listed on her chart..." Hale swallowed hard. "...was your father’s personal physician."
My heart hammered against my ribs.
My father? Arthur Whitmore had died five years ago. Or at least, that’s what his lavish state funeral, the closed-casket viewing, and the weeping board members had led me to believe. I had watched them lower the mahogany casket into the ground myself.
"That's impossible," I whispered, the room spinning. "My father is dead."
"He was," Walter said, slamming the briefcase onto my mahogany desk and flipping the brass latches open. He pulled out a thick, yellowed dossier stamped with a red classified seal—a seal belonging to my own company’s internal security archives. "Or at least, the man in that grave was a convenient proxy. Arthur Whitmore faked his death to shield a massive corporate embezzlement scheme. But he didn't stop there. He discovered Julia was pregnant with your children five years ago. He knew an heir would threaten his offshore shadow empire."
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Owen suddenly slid off the sofa, stepping in front of his younger brother. His pale green eyes burned with an icy fury that mirrored my own.
"The bad man with the silver hair," Owen said, his voice trembling but defiant. "He’s the one who locked Mom in the white room. He said if we told anyone his name, you would die too."
