CHAPTER 7 – The House of Secrets
Ethan ran faster than he ever had before.
Police sirens screamed behind him as dozens of FBI vehicles struggled to keep up.
Everyone thought he was running blindly.
He wasn't.
He knew exactly where his mother was.
Thirty minutes later, the convoy stopped in front of an old lakeside cabin hidden deep inside the forest.
Grace gasped.
"This place..."
"It belonged to your father."
The cabin had been abandoned for over twelve years.
Or at least, that's what everyone believed.
The front door was already open.
A cold wind drifted through the empty hallway.
Dust covered the furniture.
Family photos still hung on the walls as if time had frozen the day Ethan's father disappeared.
But something wasn't right.
Everything was too clean.
Someone had been living there.
Ethan slowly walked into his father's old study.
His heart nearly stopped.
The desk lamp was on.
A cup of coffee was still warm.
Whoever had been there had left only minutes earlier.
Then...
Click.
The cabin door slammed shut behind them.
Heavy steel shutters crashed over every window.
Darkness swallowed the house.
Emergency lights flickered to life.
Nathan's voice echoed through hidden speakers.
"Welcome home, Ethan."
"You finally found the place your father built..."
"...and the prison he designed for me."
The walls suddenly began to move.
Bookshelves slid aside.
A massive underground elevator emerged beneath the floor.
The FBI agents aimed their rifles.
Before anyone could react, the elevator doors slowly opened.
Inside sat Ethan's mother.
She wasn't tied up anymore.
She stood calmly and stepped out.
"Ethan..."
She smiled through tears.
"I'm so sorry."
Everyone stared in disbelief.
The lead FBI agent lowered his weapon.
"Ma'am... are you alright?"
She looked directly at Ethan.
Then reached into her pocket.
She pulled out a silver key engraved with the Carter family crest.
"I've lied to you your entire life."
Grace shook her head.
"No..."
"Please don't say it..."
Ethan's mother closed her eyes.
"Your father never hid the evidence from me."
"We hid it together."
Silence filled the cabin.
"The night everyone believed your father died..."
"...he gave me one final mission."
She inserted the silver key into a hidden lock inside the fireplace.
A deep rumble echoed beneath the cabin.
The floor split apart.
An enormous underground vault slowly rose from below.
Its steel door carried a single warning engraved in black letters:
'IF THIS VAULT IS OPEN... THE TRUTH CAN NEVER BE BURIED AGAIN.'
As the vault door unlocked...
Everyone expected to find stacks of evidence.
Instead...
A lone man stepped out of the darkness.
His beard was gray.
His face was scarred.
But Ethan recognized those eyes instantly.
The world had mourned him for twelve years.
Yet there he stood...
Alive.
"Dad?" Ethan whispered.
The man smiled sadly.
"I've missed you, son."
Behind him, Nathan's laughter suddenly echoed through the cabin.
"You found him..."
"But you're already too late."
A deafening alarm erupted from inside the vault.
On a nearby monitor, a countdown appeared.
SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE ACTIVATED
May you like
05:00... 04:59... 04:58...
The final battle for the Carter family's truth had officially begun.
