CHAPTER 3: "YOUR REAL FAMILY HAS BEEN HUNTING YOU FOR 27 YEARS..."
Ethan slowly turned toward the voice.
A woman in her early sixties stepped out of the shadows.
Rain dripped from her black coat, but her eyes never left his.
She looked strangely familiar.
Not because Ethan had met her before...
But because she had his eyes.
His jaw.
Even the small scar above his left eyebrow.
She smiled through tears.
"Hello, Ethan."
"I've waited twenty-seven years to say those words."
Ethan backed away.
"No... You're lying."
"My father is dead."
The woman shook her head.
"The man who raised you loved you more than his own life."
"But he wasn't the man who brought you into this world."
She handed Ethan a faded photograph.
A young couple stood beside a newborn baby wrapped in a blue blanket.
The baby wore a tiny silver bracelet.
Exactly like the one Ethan had kept since childhood.
His hands began to tremble.
"This... this can't be real."
"It is," the woman whispered.
"My name is Eleanor."
"I'm your mother."
Before Ethan could speak, headlights flooded the storage unit.
Three black SUVs screeched to a halt outside.
Doors slammed.
Men dressed in black tactical gear rushed toward the building.
"They found us!" Eleanor shouted.
"Run!"
Gunshots echoed through the empty warehouse.
Bullets shattered the windows.
Max leaped in front of Ethan, barking furiously as one of the attackers charged inside.
Ethan grabbed a metal pipe and swung with every ounce of strength he had.
The man collapsed.
But there were more.
Much more.
As they escaped through a hidden tunnel beneath the storage unit, Eleanor finally revealed the truth.
Twenty-seven years earlier, Ethan's biological family had built one of the largest private security corporations in America.
Behind the company...
They secretly controlled politicians...
Judges...
Police officers...
Even billionaires.
When Ethan was born, his grandfather announced that the entire empire would someday belong to him.
That decision started a war inside the family.
His own uncle wanted the fortune.
So he ordered everyone standing between him and the inheritance to disappear.
Ethan's biological father was murdered.
Eleanor barely escaped.
And the man Ethan called Dad...
Risked everything to hide him.
"He wasn't just protecting you," Eleanor said through tears.
"He sacrificed his own life so yours could continue."
Ethan's eyes filled with tears.
For years he believed his father had simply lost a battle to cancer.
Now he understood...
His father had been fighting enemies no one could see.
Suddenly Max stopped running.
He stood frozen in the tunnel, growling.
A red laser dot appeared on Ethan's chest.
Then another.
Then five more.
Snipers.
The tunnel lights switched on.
Standing at the other end was a tall man in an expensive suit.
Gray hair.
Cold smile.
Slow applause echoed through the tunnel.
"Very impressive," he said.
"You survived longer than your father did."
Eleanor's face turned pale.
"No..."
"It can't be..."
The man removed his leather gloves.
"I've been looking forward to meeting my nephew."
Ethan stared at him in disbelief.
"You..."
The man smiled.
"Yes."
"I'm Victor."
"The man who ordered your father's murder..."
"...and the man who legally owns everything that should have been yours."
Victor slowly pulled a gold watch from his pocket.
It was the same watch Ethan had buried with his father.
"So tell me, Ethan..."
"If your father is truly dead..."
"...who put this watch in my hand yesterday?"
Ethan's heart stopped.
His father's grave.
The funeral.
The death certificate.
May you like
Had they all been a lie?
To Be Continued...
