CHAPTER 2
The room went silent.
No one moved.
No one breathed.
Margaret stared at Richard as if she had seen a ghost.
“That’s impossible…” she whispered. “You’re dead.”
Richard’s expression didn’t change.
“You wanted me dead,” he said coldly. “That’s not the same thing.”
Ethan’s knees nearly gave out.
His father.
Alive.
Standing right in front of him.
For ten years, he had believed Richard abandoned them without a word. He had hated him, mourned him, and eventually forced himself to stop asking questions.
But now, every memory felt poisoned.
“You left us,” Ethan said, voice shaking. “Mom said you ran away… with another woman.”
Richard laughed bitterly.
“Your mother always was good at rewriting stories.”
Margaret snapped.
“Don’t listen to him! He’s lying!”
“No,” Richard said. “I stayed silent long enough.”
He reached into his coat and pulled out a worn brown envelope.
The same color as old paper left buried for years.
“I kept everything.”
Margaret’s face drained of blood.
Richard turned to Ethan.
“Before you open this… there’s something you need to understand.”
He looked at Lena.
Then back at his son.
“Your mother built this family on blood.”
Ethan clenched his fists.
“Explain.”
Richard took a slow breath.
“My younger sister, Claire, was pregnant sixteen years ago.”
Lena froze.
Sixteen years.
The same year her mother died.
“She was carrying twins,” Richard continued. “She was happy. Excited. She had already chosen names.”
His voice cracked for the first time.
“Then one night, she called me crying.”
Margaret looked away.
Richard’s eyes sharpened.
“She said Margaret visited her.”
Silence.
“And Margaret threatened her.”
Ethan whispered, “Why?”
Richard answered.
“Because Claire discovered something she shouldn’t have.”
Margaret screamed.
“STOP!”
No one listened.
Richard opened the envelope and pulled out photographs.
Crime scene photos.
Hospital records.
Insurance documents.
Ethan’s hands trembled as he took them.
The first photo made him sick.
A woman lying in blood.
Claire.
The second photo.
Another woman.
Lena’s mother.
Dead on a marble floor.
Ethan’s breath caught.
The dates.
Same night.
Same address.
“No…” Ethan whispered.
Richard nodded.
“Yes.”
Lena shook violently.
“My mother died at your mansion…”
Richard looked at her with sorrow.
“She came because Claire called for help.”
Margaret suddenly laughed.
It was sharp. Unhinged.
“Fine!”
Everyone turned.
Her carefully crafted image was cracking apart.
“You want the truth?” she spat.
She stepped forward despite the officer’s grip.
“Yes, Claire found out.”
Ethan stared at his mother in horror.
Margaret’s eyes burned.
“She found out Richard was planning to leave me.”
Richard closed his eyes.
Margaret continued.
“He was going to divorce me.”
Her voice trembled—not from sadness, but fury.
“After everything I built!”
Ethan’s voice broke.
“So you killed Aunt Claire?”
Margaret smiled.
“She ruined everything.”
Richard whispered, “You monster.”
Margaret ignored him.
“Your precious Claire wanted to expose me. She said she’d testify in court.”
The police officer spoke into his radio for backup.
Margaret kept talking.
Almost proudly now.
“So yes… I went there.”
Lena stopped breathing for a moment.
Margaret looked directly at her.
“Your mother should have minded her own business.”
Lena’s tears fell harder.
“She tried to save Claire.”
Margaret sneered.
“She died because she was weak.”
Ethan exploded.
“SHUT UP!”
His voice thundered.
Margaret flinched.
For the first time.
Her son looked at her not with love.
But disgust.
Pure disgust.
Lena suddenly gasped.
Her hand shot to her stomach.
Pain.
Sharp.
Violent.
The monitor screamed.
BEEEEEP! BEEEEEP!
Doctors rushed forward.
“She’s bleeding!”
Ethan ran to her.
“Lena!”
Her face twisted in agony.
She grabbed his shirt.
“The baby…”
Ethan’s heart stopped.
“What about the baby?”
Lena forced out words between painful breaths.
“She took… our baby…”
Margaret smiled again.
And that smile terrified everyone.
Ethan slowly turned.
His voice became dangerously quiet.
“Where is my child?”
Margaret said nothing.
He stepped closer.
“Where is my child?”
Still silence.
Richard suddenly froze.
His eyes widened.
As if remembering something.
“No…”
Ethan looked at him.
“What?”
Richard whispered in horror.
“Oh God…”
“What?!”
Richard’s hands shook.
“She didn’t lose the baby because of surgery.”
Lena stared.
“What are you saying?”
Richard looked at Margaret like he was seeing the devil.
“She’s done this before.”
Silence.
Margaret’s smile widened.
Richard’s voice broke.
“When Claire was pregnant…”
His breathing became unstable.
“She didn’t lose both twins.”
Ethan’s blood ran cold.
“…What?”
Richard looked at him with tears in his eyes.
“One survived.”
The entire room froze.
Margaret finally laughed.
Loud.
Unhinged.
Terrifying.
Ethan stepped backward.
“No…”
Richard pointed at Margaret.
“She stole the baby.”
Lena covered her mouth.
The police officer whispered, “My God…”
Ethan shook his head.
“No. No, no, no.”
Richard’s next words destroyed him.
“She raised that stolen baby as her own.”
Ethan’s voice disappeared.
His lips barely moved.
“…What baby?”
Richard stared directly into his son’s eyes.
Then said the truth that shattered Ethan’s world forever.
“You.”
Ethan stopped breathing.
Richard whispered—
May you like
“Ethan… you are not Margaret’s biological son.”
To be continued…
