Chapter 10 - The Unexpected KnockThe afternoon sun began to dip below the horizon, painting the Chicago skyline in brilliant shades of violet and gold visible in the distance across the lake.
Inside the grand foyer of the Carter Estate, the heavy mahogany front doors echoed with a sharp, crisp knock.
Ethan, who was walking inside to check on Leo, paused. Visitors were rare out here, especially unannounced ones. Security at the gates usually screened everyone miles down the private drive.
He walked over to the heavy oak door and pulled it open.
Standing on the porch was a young woman in her early twenties. She wore a simple black coat, her hair tied back in a messy ponytail, and her eyes were red-rimmed and exhausted. In her arms, she clutched a small, worn leather journal.
Ethan frowned, stepping back slightly. "Can I help you?"
The woman looked up, and Ethan felt a strange, cold shock ripple down his spine. Her eyes—deep, dark, and piercing—were an exact match for the reflection he saw every morning in the mirror.
"I'm looking for... for William Carter," she whispered, her voice trembling. "Or... or anyone who can help."
"Who are you?" Ethan asked, his heart suddenly beginning to hammer against his ribs for a reason he couldn't quite explain.
The woman took a deep, shuddering breath, stepping into the warm light of the foyer.
"My name is Sarah," she said, her voice breaking. "And... I think the man you call William Carter is my father. But that's not why I'm here."
She reached into her coat pocket, pulled out a folded piece of yellowed hospital stationery, and handed it to Ethan with shaking fingers.
"Thirty-two years ago," Sarah whispered, tears spilling over her eyelashes, "the hospital told my mother that her newborn twin boy didn't survive the night. But today... I found a document in my late mother's safety deposit box proving the hospital lied. She didn't have a twin boy that night..."
She paused, staring directly into Ethan's wide, stunned eyes.
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"...She had identical twin boys. And one of them was stolen."
Ethan stood frozen in the grand doorway of the billionaire's mansion as the sun vanished entirely beneath the horizon, leaving the sprawling estate bathed in the quiet, shocking dawn of a brand-new secret.
