PART 2: The Truth My Father Buried
I kept my voice low enough that only Elena could hear.
“If it isn’t about my empire… then what is it?”
Her eyes never left the crack in the closet door.
“They’re looking for a person.”
My heartbeat slowed instead of racing.
“What person?”
“You.”
I frowned.
“They already found me.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“They’re looking for the man your father erased thirty years ago.”
The words made no sense.
Outside, Marcus ripped open another drawer.
“Search the office,” he barked.
“He kept everything.”
Elena slipped a folded photograph into my hand.
I stared at it in the darkness.
A younger version of my father stood beside a woman I had never seen.
Between them was a little boy.
The boy wasn’t me.
“Who is this?” I whispered.
“You were never your father’s only heir.”
Every certainty I had carried for decades shifted beneath my feet.
“My father buried that secret,” she continued.
“Marcus found part of the truth.”
“And you?”
“I found the rest.”
Footsteps stopped outside the closet.
Marcus’s shadow stretched across the door.
“Elena,” he called softly.
“I know you’re hiding him.”
She raised the pistol without hesitation.
“There’s another way out,” she whispered.
“I built it.”
I stared at her.
“You built a secret passage in my house?”
“I’ve had three years.”
The closet floor clicked quietly beneath her foot.
A hidden panel slid open, revealing a narrow staircase descending into darkness.
Before we moved, Marcus placed his hand on the closet door.
“Uncle,” he said calmly.
“I know you’re in there.”
Silence answered him.
Then he smiled.
“You always taught me to prepare for betrayal.”
He paused.
“I just learned it from someone better.”
My blood ran cold.
“What does he mean?” I whispered.
Elena’s face turned pale.
“He doesn’t work for your enemies anymore.”
“Then who?”
She looked directly into my eyes.
“The woman who ordered your death.”
“My wife?”
“No.”
May you like
She swallowed hard.
“Your mother.”
