CHAPTER 3 — The Dead Man Who Was Supposed to Be a Hero
The pilot’s smile was not human.
It was calm.
Too calm for a man standing in a private jet with blood soaking through his uniform.
Ethan Crawford slowly rose from his seat.
“Who are you?” he demanded.
The pilot laughed softly.
“You really don’t remember me?”
Amelia stepped in front of Ethan before the guards could move.
“Don’t trust him,” she whispered. “He’s not the real pilot.”
The man’s smile faded.
Then he pulled something from his pocket.
A photograph.
Ethan froze.
In the picture stood his father… younger, smiling, with one arm around a little boy Ethan had never seen before.
On the back were three words:
“My first son.”
The cabin erupted in whispers.
Ethan’s knees nearly gave out.
His father had another child.
A secret child.
And that child was now standing in front of him, wearing a dead pilot’s uniform.
“My name is Adrian,” the man said coldly. “And everything you own was stolen from me.”
Ethan shook his head. “That’s impossible.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“No. What’s impossible is watching your mother die poor while your father built an empire with her money.”
Then he pointed at the dead CFO on the floor.
“He helped cover it up.”
Suddenly, Ethan understood.
This wasn’t a hijacking.
This was revenge.
But before Adrian could say another word, Amelia gasped.
She had found something hidden inside the dead CFO’s jacket.
A second note.
This one was not written by Ethan’s father.
It was written by Ethan’s mother.
And the first line made everyone stop breathing:
“Ethan is not my real son.”
Ethan stared at the paper, shaking.
His whole life collapsed in one sentence.
Then the jet dropped violently through the clouds.
The cockpit alarm screamed.
Adrian turned pale.
Because now even he looked afraid.
Someone else was controlling the plane.
May you like
And whoever it was…
wanted every secret buried in the sky.
