PART 3: THE DOCUMENTS THAT SHOULD NOT EXIST
I kept my voice low.
“If this isn’t about my empire… then what is it?”
Elena didn’t look at me.
“They’re looking for a person.”
My heartbeat slowed.
“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.”
Outside the closet, Marcus was tearing through my office.
“Search everything,” he ordered.
“He hid the truth somewhere in here.”
Elena slipped a folded photograph into my hand.
I opened it.
A younger version of my father stood beside a woman I didn’t recognize.
Between them was a boy.
But not me.
My throat tightened.
“Who is this?”
Elena’s voice was steady, but quiet.
“You were never your father’s only son.”
The world shifted under me.
She continued.
“Your father didn’t just build an empire. He built a replacement system. One heir in public. One hidden in silence.”
Marcus’s voice cut through the room.
“Elena.”
“I know you’re hiding him.”
She didn’t respond.
Instead, she whispered to me:
“There’s a passage. Under the floor.”
I stared at her.
“You installed a secret exit in my house?”
“I had three years,” she said.
Before I could answer, the floor clicked open.
A narrow staircase descended into darkness.
Then Marcus spoke again, closer now.
“Uncle.”
“I know you’re here.”
Silence.
Then his voice lowered.
“You always told me to prepare for betrayal.”
A pause.
“I just didn’t expect it would come from someone you trusted.”
Elena went pale.
“He’s not working alone,” she whispered.
My chest tightened.
“Then who is he working for?”
May you like
Elena looked at me directly.
“The person who signed your father’s last will.”
