Chapter 3 — The Truth Buried with His Father
The ambulance arrived three minutes later.
Two minutes before I lost consciousness.
When I opened my eyes, everything smelled like antiseptic.
Machines beeped beside me.
My hands instinctively reached for my stomach.
A nurse rushed over.
"Easy."
"My baby..."
She smiled.
"Your daughter is alive."
The tears came before I realized I was crying.
"My husband..."
Her smile disappeared.
"No one has visited."
Three days passed.
No Ethan.
Only one visitor entered my hospital room.
My father.
Charles Whitmore.
The billionaire investor whose name rarely appeared in public but whose influence stretched across half the country.
He looked older than I remembered.
He sat beside my bed without speaking.
Finally, he handed me a thick brown envelope.
"I think it's time."
Inside were contracts.
Financial audits.
Emails.
And one letter.
Written by Ethan's father.
I unfolded it with trembling fingers.
Eleanor,
If you're reading this, then I've already failed.
Don't ever blame yourself.
The collapse wasn't your fault.
I asked you to expose my company before my partners destroyed thousands of innocent employees.
Losing my fortune was the only way to stop them.
Ethan can never know.
He'll spend his life hating you instead of me.
But I'd rather lose my son's love than watch him become the heir to corruption.
The paper slipped from my fingers.
I couldn't breathe.
All these years...
I'd carried a secret that had never belonged to me.
My father quietly said, "Richard Hartwell sacrificed everything."
"And Ethan never knew."
"He refused to let anyone tell him."
My heart shattered all over again.
Not because Ethan hated me.
Because his father had loved him enough to become the villain.
Across town...
Ethan sat alone in his father's abandoned office.
The engagement ring rested on his desk.
His phone buzzed.
Unknown sender.
One attachment.
Security footage.
Recorded seven years ago.
He pressed play.
His father's voice filled the empty office.
"If anything happens to me... tell Ethan the truth."
May you like
Ethan froze.
His entire world began to collapse.
