Chương 7
Richard looked down.
"If you are hearing this, then something happened that I hoped would never happen."
Ethan closed his eyes.
"I need you to understand something."
The recording continued.
"Everything I built was supposed to become your future."
A pause.
"But I failed to see the danger growing around me."
Ethan listened carefully.
"There are people who will try to convince you that I was a bad man."
His father's voice trembled slightly.
"They will show you my mistakes."
A pause.
"They will show you my failures."
Ethan's eyes moved toward the documents.
"But they will not show you why I made the choices I made."
The room remained silent.
"Victor will try to take what belongs to you."
Ethan froze.
Richard looked up.
"Victor?"
The recording continued.
"He will use the past against you."
"He will make you question everyone around you."
A long pause followed.
"But remember this."
Ethan leaned closer.
"The people who truly love you are not the ones who hide from your pain."
His father's voice became softer.
"They are the ones who stay when the truth becomes difficult."
Claire looked at Ethan.
He looked back at her.
Then the recording continued.
"There is one final thing you must know."
Static interrupted the voice.
Everyone waited.
Then his father spoke again.
"The person who helped Victor return..."
The recording became distorted.
Ethan leaned closer.
"Who?"
The voice returned faintly.
"The person closest to you..."
Then silence.
The recording stopped.
Nobody moved.
The message had ended at the exact moment they needed the answer.
Ethan looked at Richard.
"That's it?"
Richard nodded.
"That's all I have."
Ethan looked at Claire.
The words repeated in his mind.
The person closest to you.
Someone near him.
Someone trusted.
Someone who had access.
A terrible thought entered his mind.
And he hated himself for thinking it.
Because the person closest to him had been standing beside him all night.
Claire saw the change in his expression.
"What are you thinking?"
Ethan looked away.
"I don't know."
But he did.
And that frightened him.
Because the final secret was no longer somewhere outside their family.
It was inside it.
Ethan sat alone in the back seat of the car as the city lights moved past the window.
Claire sat beside him.
Neither of them spoke.
The silence between them was not the same silence they had shared in the mansion.
That silence had been filled with anger.
This one was filled with fear.
The recording had changed everything.
The person closest to him.
Those words continued repeating in Ethan's mind.
He wanted to believe there was another explanation.
Someone else.
Someone they had not considered.
But every possibility seemed to lead back to the same question.
Who had access to the information?
Who knew about his father's secret?
Who knew about the documents?
Who knew enough to manipulate everything?
Claire looked at him carefully.
"You think it is me."
Ethan did not answer immediately.
The pain in her voice was obvious.
"I did not say that."
"You didn't have to."
He looked at her.
"I am trying to understand."
"I know."
She looked down at her hands.
"And I know what this looks like."
Ethan felt a wave of guilt.
Because he knew Claire.
He knew the woman who had stood beside him through every failure.
The woman who had stayed awake with him during the first years of his company.
The woman who had believed in him when he had nothing.
But he also knew she had hidden something for twenty years.
And now the possibility existed that she had hidden even more.
"I need time."
Claire nodded.
"I understand."
The car continued through the city.
Neither of them noticed the dark vehicle following several cars behind.
When they arrived back at the mansion, Thomas was waiting near the entrance.
His expression immediately changed when he saw their faces.
"Did you find answers?"
Ethan walked past him.
"No."
He stopped.
"We found more questions."
Thomas lowered his head.
Ethan looked at him.
"There is something I need to know."
"Yes, sir."
"Who else knew about my father's brother?"
Thomas hesitated.
Only for a moment.
But Ethan noticed.
"Thomas."
The butler looked uncomfortable.
"Very few people."
"Names."
Thomas took a slow breath.
"Your father."
"Richard."
"Your mother."
Ethan froze.
"My mother?"
Thomas nodded.
"She knew."
The answer hit him harder than expected.
"My mother knew about Victor?"
"Yes."
"And she never told me?"
Thomas looked away.
"Your parents wanted to keep you away from that world."
Ethan laughed quietly.
Again.
That same excuse.
Everyone wanted to protect him.
Everyone decided what truth he deserved.
"Where is my mother's old storage room?"
Thomas looked surprised.
"Sir?"
"The room where she kept personal belongings."
Thomas hesitated.
"It has been locked for years."
"Open it."
Thomas looked at him.
"Are you sure?"
Ethan's expression hardened.
"For twenty years, everyone else has decided what I should know."
A pause.
"Now I decide."
Thomas slowly nodded.
The old butler walked toward the hallway.
Claire followed Ethan.
"Do you think your mother left something behind?"
"I don't know."
He looked at the staircase.
"But tonight I learned something."
"What?"
"Dead people seem to know more than the living."
Claire gave a sad smile.
It was the first moment of humor they had shared in hours.
But it disappeared quickly.
The storage room was located behind a hidden door near the upper floor.
Thomas unlocked it after years of keeping it sealed.
The door opened with a quiet creak.
Inside was a small private room.
Unlike the rest of the mansion, this place looked untouched.
Old books filled the shelves.
Family photographs covered the walls.
A wooden desk sat near the window.
The air smelled like forgotten memories.
Ethan stepped inside slowly.
For the first time in years, he felt close to his mother.
She had died before his father.
A quiet illness.
Another loss that had shaped his childhood.
May you like
He walked toward the desk.
There were letters.
