Chapter 4 - Betrayal
The silence inside Richard Harrison's office lasted only a few seconds after the phone call ended.
But those few seconds felt like an eternity.
Richard slowly lowered his phone onto the desk, his face completely drained of color.
Daniel stared at him.
"Dad... who was that?"
Richard didn't answer.
Instead, he walked toward the window overlooking downtown.
His reflection looked like that of an old man carrying a burden too heavy to bear.
Finally, he whispered one name.
"Victor."
Daniel frowned.
"The lawyer?"
Richard nodded.
"He's alive."
Daniel laughed nervously.
"That's impossible."
"I wish it were."
Across town, Detective Ross's phone rang.
He answered.
"What?"
His expression immediately changed.
"When?"
Emily noticed.
"What happened?"
Ross looked at everyone inside the storage unit.
"Richard Harrison just received a phone call."
"So?"
Ross hesitated.
"It came from a number registered to Victor Lang."
Thomas slowly stood up.
"No..."
Ross nodded.
"The problem is..."
He closed the file.
"...that phone number hasn't been used in twelve years."
Meanwhile...
Nearly twenty miles outside the city...
A black SUV disappeared through the gates of an abandoned paper mill.
Hidden beneath the crumbling factory was something no one expected.
A fully renovated underground headquarters.
Security cameras.
Computer servers.
Private offices.
Luxury furniture.
The place looked more like a billionaire's secret bunker than an abandoned warehouse.
Inside one office...
Victor Lang poured himself a glass of whiskey.
He looked remarkably healthy for a man officially declared dead.
His hair was completely white.
His movements were slow but deliberate.
Across from him stood four men dressed in black tactical clothing.
One of them removed his mask.
"The storage unit was empty."
Victor smiled.
"Not completely."
"We searched everything."
"No."
Victor looked toward one of the security monitors.
"They found the blueprint."
The masked man looked confused.
"You wanted them to?"
Victor nodded.
"Exactly."
One of the younger men spoke.
"Sir..."
"If they know about the lake house..."
Victor interrupted.
"They're supposed to."
Another man frowned.
"But why?"
Victor slowly walked toward the massive wall map hanging behind his desk.
A single property had been circled in red.
Lakeview Manor.
"The game has finally begun."
Emily, Ethan, and Thomas drove directly to Richard's mansion.
This time...
They weren't coming as enemies.
They were coming for answers.
Richard was already waiting.
For the first time, he didn't argue when Ethan entered his home.
Instead...
He simply looked at him.
"I owe you the truth."
Ethan folded his arms.
"You owe my mother much more than that."
Richard nodded.
"I know."
Everyone gathered inside the library.
Rain hammered against the windows.
The atmosphere was heavy.
Richard opened an old wooden cabinet.
Hidden behind dozens of books...
Was another locked compartment.
He entered a six-digit code.
The safe door slowly opened.
Emily stared.
Inside were stacks of documents.
Old photographs.
Newspaper clippings.
Cassette tapes.
And one leather journal.
Richard carefully picked it up.
"I wrote this twenty-five years ago."
He handed it to Ethan.
"It contains everything I remember."
Ethan opened the first page.
The handwriting was shaky.
April 12, 2001
"Today Sarah told me she might be pregnant."
Emily covered her mouth.
Richard continued quietly.
"I wanted to marry her."
Margaret closed her eyes.
Although hearing those words hurt...
She now understood they belonged to a different life.
A different time.
Richard turned another page.
"Three days later..."
"I never saw her again."
Thomas leaned forward.
"What happened?"
Richard sighed.
"I received a letter."
"What letter?"
He pulled a yellow envelope from the journal.
The paper had become brittle with age.
Across the front were only four words.
Forget Sarah Carter.
Nothing else.
No signature.
No address.
Inside...
Only one sentence.
If you keep looking for her... she dies.
The room fell silent.
Ethan stared at Richard.
"You believed that?"
Richard looked directly into his eyes.
"I was twenty-eight."
"I had no money."
"No influence."
"And suddenly..."
He swallowed.
"...someone began following me."
Emily frowned.
"You never told the police?"
"I did."
"What happened?"
"They found nothing."
Thomas suddenly spoke.
"Victor."
Richard nodded.
"He was the officer's attorney."
Everything suddenly fit together.
Every dead end.
Every missing document.
Every unanswered question.
Victor had controlled the investigation from the very beginning.
Detective Ross interrupted.
"We searched the old police archives."
He placed several files on the table.
"Half the evidence disappeared."
Emily looked shocked.
"Disappeared?"
Ross nodded.
"The original witness statements."
"The photographs."
"The forensic reports."
"Everything."
Thomas muttered,
"He erased history."
Just then...
The mansion lights went out.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Emily gasped.
"What happened?"
Outside...
The security alarms began screaming.
Daniel ran toward the window.
"There are people outside!"
Flashlights moved across the lawn.
Black SUVs surrounded the estate.
At least twelve armed men stepped out.
All wearing black masks.
Ethan immediately stood.
"They found us."
May you like
Richard whispered,
"Victor."
