Chapter 2 — Secrets Inside the Empire
Elena was rushed into emergency surgery.
Their son was delivered two hours later.
Against every expectation...
He survived.
Daniel stood outside the neonatal intensive care unit staring through the glass.
His son slept peacefully beneath soft blue lights.
A tiny bracelet wrapped around his ankle.
Noah Daniel Carter.
The nurse smiled.
"He's a fighter."
Daniel nodded.
"He gets that from his mother."
Across the hall, Detective Sarah Bennett approached carrying a folder.
"We've started asking questions."
Daniel looked up.
"My wife's neck."
"The bruises?"
"Someone tried to strangle her."
Sarah quietly opened the file.
"The medical examiner never examined her."
Daniel frowned.
"What?"
"There was no official autopsy."
His blood turned cold.
"There was only a death certificate."
Signed.
Approved.
Filed.
Less than four hours after Elena had supposedly died.
Someone had rushed everything.
Someone powerful.
Sarah placed another photograph on the table.
Security footage.
The mansion garage.
One image showed Marcus carrying Elena into the house.
She wasn't dead.
She was moving.
Another image showed Daniel's mother handing an envelope to the family physician.
The timestamp...
Forty-five minutes later.
The doctor signed the death certificate.
Daniel whispered,
"They planned this."
Sarah met his eyes.
"The question is why."
Daniel already knew.
Money.
Control.
Inheritance.
His father had died six months earlier.
The family corporation was worth nearly two billion dollars.
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If Daniel's wife and child disappeared...
Marcus became sole heir.
