CHAPTER 7 – The Mother Who Never Forgot
Exactly twenty-four hours later...
A black SUV rolled through the rusted gates of an abandoned steel factory on the edge of the city.
Ethan came alone.
Just as Evan had demanded.
No bodyguards.
No police.
No weapons.
The massive warehouse doors slowly opened.
Inside, hundreds of old machines stood like silent giants, covered in dust.
Then a familiar voice echoed through the darkness.
"You actually came."
Ethan looked up.
Evan stood on a steel platform above him, surrounded by armed men.
For the first time, the brothers faced each other.
They looked like mirror images...
Except for the scar across Evan's face and the hatred burning in his eyes.
"You wanted me," Ethan said calmly.
"I'm here."
Evan smiled.
"No..."
"I wanted you to understand what it feels like to lose everything."
He snapped his fingers.
A spotlight illuminated an elderly woman tied to a chair.
Her silver hair hid part of her face.
She slowly lifted her head.
The moment her eyes met Ethan's...
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
"My son..."
She whispered those two words before breaking into uncontrollable sobs.
Ethan froze.
Every instinct told him she was telling the truth.
His mother.
Alive.
After twenty-five years.
He rushed forward, but dozens of rifles instantly aimed at his chest.
"One more step," Evan warned, "and she dies."
Jonathan Carter emerged from the shadows behind Ethan.
"I came instead."
Evan laughed.
"I knew you would."
Jonathan stepped toward his second son.
"I searched for you every day."
"You searched for your empire," Evan replied coldly.
"Not for me."
Jonathan's voice cracked.
"I didn't even know you were alive."
Evan's smile vanished.
"The people who kidnapped me didn't want money."
"They wanted revenge."
He slowly rolled up his sleeve.
A faded tattoo appeared on his arm.
The symbol matched the one burned into an old file recovered from the fake priest.
The same secret organization.
The same men who had destroyed the Carter family decades ago.
"They raised me," Evan said quietly.
"They taught me one lesson."
"Family is the easiest weapon to destroy a man."
Then he raised a pistol...
And pointed it directly at Jonathan.
"Today...
...your lesson is complete."
A deafening gunshot echoed through the warehouse.
But Jonathan never fell.
Because someone else had stepped in front of him.
Ethan.
Blood spread across Ethan's shoulder as he collapsed to one knee.
The warehouse fell silent.
Even Evan looked shocked.
"You..."
"You took the bullet for him?"
Ethan looked up through the pain.
May you like
"No..."
"I took it for my brother."
