Chapter 18 - The Woman Who DisappearedCharles read the notebook carefully.
Every page revealed another hidden piece.
Elena Whitmore had worked as an accountant for Sterling Industries.
She discovered illegal transfers.
Secret payments.
And evidence that the company had been built on deception.
She tried to expose it.
Then she disappeared.
Ethan looked at Charles.
“You never found her?”
Charles shook his head.
“No.”
Victoria suddenly spoke.
“She left.”
Everyone turned.
Victoria continued.
“That is what we were told.”
Charles looked at her.
“Who told you?”
Victoria became silent.
Again.
The silence.
The same silence that always appeared when the truth became too close.
Ethan stepped closer.
“Mom.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
“I was young.”
The sentence surprised everyone.
“I was scared.”
“I had just taken control of the company.”
“My father was dying.”
“And everyone expected me to become exactly like him.”
Clara whispered.
“So you did.”
Victoria looked at her daughter.
The pain in her eyes was real.
“I tried not to.”
“But power changes people.”
Ethan shook his head.
“No.”
“People choose.”
Victoria looked at him.
And for the first time.
She had no argument.
Because that was the difference.
A person could inherit cruelty.
But they still chose whether to continue it.
Suddenly.
A sound came from upstairs.
Everyone froze.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Heavy.
Someone else was inside the mansion.
Marcus immediately looked toward the hallway.
“That’s impossible.”
Charles whispered.
“We are not alone.”
The lights flickered.
Then went out.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Clara grabbed Ethan’s hand.
Someone moved in the darkness.
A voice spoke.
“You finally found the room.”
Everyone froze.
Because the voice was familiar.
Too familiar.
Victoria whispered.
“No…”
The person stepped into the emergency light.
And everyone saw the face.
Someone who should not have been there.
Someone who had been declared dead twenty years earlier.
Someone connected to the first secret.
Ethan stared.
May you like
Unable to breathe.
“Dad?”
