CHAPTER 5 – The Man in the Chair Wasn't Her Father
The abandoned warehouse was silent.
Amelia ignored every warning from the police.
If there was even a chance her father was alive...
She had to go.
Rain poured outside as she stepped through the rusted metal doors.
"You're late."
Nathan's voice echoed through the darkness.
Spotlights suddenly switched on.
There he stood, dressed in the same tuxedo from the wedding, as if the ceremony had never ended.
Behind him sat an elderly man tied to a chair.
His face was bruised.
His gray hair covered his eyes.
"Dad..."
Amelia ran forward.
"STOP!"
Nathan shouted.
One more step and several armed men emerged from the shadows.
Amelia froze.
Nathan smiled.
"I promised I'd let you see him."
"But I never promised I'd let you take him."
The old man slowly lifted his head.
His lips trembled.
"Amelia..."
Tears streamed down her face.
She reached into her pocket.
"I brought the documents... the money... everything you wanted."
Nathan laughed.
"You still don't understand."
"I never wanted your fortune."
"I wanted what your father stole."
Amelia looked at the old man in confusion.
"My father stole something?"
Nathan walked toward the prisoner.
Twenty years ago, your father and I worked together.
We found something worth billions.
A list.
A list containing the names of the most powerful people in the country... politicians, billionaires, judges, and crime bosses.
Whoever possessed that list controlled everyone on it.
"But your father disappeared with it."
Nathan grabbed the old man's hair and forced his face upward.
"Tell her."
The old man slowly shook his head.
"I can't..."
Nathan pulled out a pistol.
"I'll ask one last time."
Before anyone could react...
The old man suddenly began laughing.
A strange...
Cold...
Terrifying laugh.
Then he looked directly at Amelia.
"I'm sorry."
"You came to save the wrong man."
Silence.
Amelia's heartbeat stopped.
"What...?"
The old man smiled.
"I'm not your father."
Nathan's confident expression disappeared instantly.
"What did you just say?"
The prisoner laughed again.
"Your people kidnapped the wrong target three months ago."
"I'm just a retired schoolteacher."
Nathan's face turned white.
"Impossible!"
At that exact moment...
Every television inside the warehouse turned on by itself.
A live news broadcast interrupted the silence.
BREAKING NEWS
A distinguished elderly man was shown stepping out of a black armored vehicle surrounded by federal agents.
The reporter shouted,
"Authorities have confirmed that businessman Richard Carter, believed dead for twenty years, has voluntarily surrendered after exposing an international criminal organization."
Amelia collapsed to her knees.
The man on television...
Was unmistakably her father.
Alive.
Healthy.
And staring straight into the cameras.
Then he spoke words that shattered everything Amelia believed.
"I never had a daughter."
The warehouse fell silent.
Nathan stared at the screen.
Amelia stared at the screen.
Even the armed men lowered their weapons.
If Richard Carter wasn't her father...
Then who...
Was Amelia Carter?
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The answer was waiting inside a sealed file that had been locked away for twenty-five years.
And someone had just opened it.
