Chapter 10 — The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Michael Carter stared at the text message until the screen dimmed.
You're looking in the wrong generation.
His breathing became shallow.
The words were not random.
They were a phrase he hadn't heard in over fifteen years.
His father used to say them whenever someone blamed the youngest person in the room.
"Never look only at the next generation," Charles Carter would laugh. "You're looking in the wrong generation."
Michael had buried his father.
He had carried the coffin himself.
So how could anyone else know those exact words?
He immediately called the number.
The call failed.
Number unavailable.
He tried again.
Nothing.
Amelia watched him carefully.
"Michael... what's wrong?"
He slipped the phone into his pocket.
"Nothing."
She didn't believe him.
"I've worked with your family for twenty years."
"You've never looked like this."
Michael looked toward the NICU window, where his grandson still fought for every breath.
"I may have made the biggest mistake of my life."
Across town, Rachel Monroe assembled her task force.
The attempted attack on the Financial Crimes Division had changed everything.
"This is no longer just a fraud case."
She stood before a digital evidence board covered with photographs.
"We're dealing with an organized criminal operation."
She pointed to Ryan's picture.
"Missing."
Then Vanessa's.
"In custody."
Then Daniel.
"Victim."
Finally, she placed one last photograph onto the board.
Charles Carter.
Founder of Carter Holdings.
Officially deceased.
Rachel turned toward the room.
"Tell me everything we know about him."
A young detective spoke first.
"Charles died of a heart attack fifteen years ago."
"Death certificate?"
"Verified."
"Burial?"
"Confirmed."
Rachel nodded.
"So why does every financial trail lead back to an account named 'Founder'?"
No one answered.
Meanwhile, Daniel finally convinced the doctors to allow Olivia into the NICU.
She was still weak from surgery, but she refused to wait another day.
A nurse carefully rolled her wheelchair beside the incubators.
Olivia reached for her daughter first.
The little girl opened sleepy eyes for only a second before wrapping tiny fingers around her mother's hand.
"She's beautiful," Olivia whispered.
Daniel smiled.
"She already knows your voice."
Then they stopped beside their son.
He remained connected to the ventilator.
His chest rose and fell only because the machine forced it to.
Olivia began to cry silently.
"I never even got to hold him."
The nurse gently rested a hand on her shoulder.
"You still will."
"When?"
"When he's strong enough."
Olivia leaned closer to the incubator.
"We've already picked your name."
Daniel looked at her.
They had planned to reveal the names only after both babies were born.
Now felt different.
Now felt necessary.
Olivia smiled through tears.
"Hello, Ethan."
The tiny infant didn't move.
"But we're waiting for you."
Daniel placed one hand against the incubator.
"Come back to us, son."
The heart monitor continued its steady rhythm.
Then—
A finger moved.
Barely.
Almost imperceptibly.
The nurse leaned forward.
"Did you see that?"
Another tiny movement.
This time, Ethan's hand curled weakly around Daniel's fingertip.
The nurse smiled.
"That's a very good sign."
For the first time since the attack...
Hope entered the room.
Late that evening, forensic analyst Maya Chen called Rachel.
"I recovered part of Ryan's deleted video."
Rachel immediately hurried into the lab.
"How much?"
"Only forty-three seconds."
"Play it."
The damaged footage flickered onto the screen.
Ryan appeared frightened.
Blood stained the collar of his shirt.
He kept glancing over his shoulder.
"If you're seeing this..."
Static interrupted him.
"...don't trust..."
More static.
"...Michael isn't the—"
The image distorted violently.
Then Ryan shouted one final sentence before the recording ended forever.
"Find the woman in the green scarf!"
The video froze.
Rachel replayed it three times.
"The woman in the green scarf?"
Maya nodded.
"I checked every file."
"No name."
"No location."
"Nothing."
Rachel stared at the frozen image.
"Then that's our next lead."
Before she could say anything else, another notification appeared on Maya's monitor.
Facial recognition match found.
Rachel leaned forward.
"Already?"
Maya slowly opened the result.
The system had identified a woman wearing a green silk scarf in surveillance footage taken outside Carter Holdings...
Just two days before Olivia was attacked.
Rachel's eyes widened as the image sharpened.
The woman wasn't a stranger.
She had attended Daniel and Olivia's wedding.
She had held both babies' ultrasound pictures at the family baby shower.
She had comforted Olivia after the IVF treatments.
She was someone the entire Carter family trusted.
Rachel whispered her name in disbelief.
"Elizabeth..."
The surname appeared beneath the photograph.
Elizabeth Monroe.
Rachel felt the room spin.
May you like
Because Elizabeth Monroe...
Was her own mother.
