Chapter 2: The Letter That Should Have Never Existed
Richard Hawthorne's trembling fingers tightened around Emily's letter.
The room remained frozen.
No one dared to breathe.
For thirty years, Richard had built an empire by never showing weakness.
Yet now...
A single handwritten page had reduced him to tears.
"What does it say?"
One of the directors finally whispered.
Richard couldn't answer.
Instead, he read the letter again.
Richard,
If you're reading this, it means I failed.
It means I couldn't stay alive long enough to bring Ethan to you myself.
First...
No, I never lied.
Ethan is your son.
I left because someone wanted him dead before he was even born.
You once believed your enemies only wanted your money.
You were wrong.
They wanted your bloodline erased.
I stayed away because I believed distance would protect him.
But they found us anyway.
If anything happens to me...
Never trust anyone sitting beside you.
Especially the man who convinced you that I disappeared twelve years ago.
He's been lying to you from the very beginning.
Richard...
He's sitting in the boardroom right now.
Richard's heartbeat nearly stopped.
His eyes slowly lifted from the page.
Across the table...
Executive Vice President Daniel Mercer smiled nervously.
For the first time in twenty years...
Richard noticed Daniel wasn't smiling with his eyes.
He looked...
Afraid.
Very afraid.
Daniel forced a laugh.
"Richard... what is this?"
"A prank?"
"A forgery?"
Richard stood without saying a word.
The room became deathly silent.
He walked toward Daniel.
One slow step.
Then another.
Daniel swallowed.
"Richard..."
Before anyone could react...
Richard slammed the letter onto the conference table.
"Read it."
Daniel glanced down.
The color instantly drained from his face.
"I..."
"I don't know what this is."
Richard's voice turned ice cold.
"You told me Emily left the country."
"Yes."
"You told me she married another man."
"...Yes."
"You told me she wanted nothing to do with me."
Daniel's lips trembled.
"That's... that's what I believed."
Richard leaned closer.
"So explain something."
"How did Emily know your name twelve years before writing this letter?"
Daniel froze.
He had no answer.
Every executive in the room slowly turned toward him.
Something was terribly wrong.
Then Ethan quietly reached into his backpack again.
"I think Mom knew you wouldn't believe the letter."
Richard looked down.
"What else did she leave?"
The boy carefully placed a tiny silver key on the table.
Attached to it was an old paper tag.
Safe Deposit Box 317.
Richard frowned.
"I've never seen this before."
Ethan nodded.
"Mom said the box contains everything."
"What does 'everything' mean?"
"I asked her that once."
The boy lowered his eyes.
"She said..."
"...'The truth powerful enough to destroy billionaires.'"
The room exploded into whispers.
Daniel suddenly stood up.
"This has gone far enough!"
"We're discussing the future of the company—not fairy tales!"
He grabbed his briefcase.
"I'm leaving."
"No."
Richard's voice echoed through the room.
Security guards immediately blocked both exits.
Daniel's breathing became faster.
"You can't keep me here."
"I just did."
Richard turned toward the head of security.
"Nobody leaves this building."
"Not until we know what's inside Box 317."
Daniel's forehead glistened with sweat.
He slowly loosened his tie.
His hands were shaking.
Ethan noticed.
"So..."
The boy asked softly.
"Why are you scared?"
Daniel forced another smile.
"I'm not."
But inside his jacket pocket...
His phone vibrated.
A single encrypted message flashed across the screen.
MISSION FAILED.
THE BOY REACHED HAWTHORNE.
PLAN B BEGINS NOW.
Daniel secretly deleted the message before anyone could see it.
But he wasn't fast enough.
Ethan had already noticed.
Not the message...
But the tattoo peeking out beneath Daniel's shirt cuff.
A small black raven.
The exact same tattoo Ethan had seen on the man who followed his mother the night before she died.
The same tattoo.
The same symbol.
The same murderer.
Ethan's blood ran cold.
He pointed directly at Daniel.
His voice cracked.
"It was you..."
"You were outside our apartment."
"You killed my mom."
The entire boardroom erupted into chaos.
Daniel's terrified expression answered the accusation before he could speak.
And at that exact moment...
Every light in the skyscraper suddenly went black.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Then—
May you like
A single gunshot echoed through the building.
To be continued...
