CHAPTER 7 — THE SON WHO NEVER DIED
CHAPTER 7 — THE SON WHO NEVER DIED
Nobody spoke.
The only sound was the heart monitor.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
I looked from Emily to Sophia.
"Who is Victor?"
She didn't answer immediately.
Instead...
She slowly sat down.
Her hands were shaking.
"I lied to you."
The words barely escaped her lips.
My chest tightened.
"What did you lie about?"
She looked directly into my eyes.
"Lucas..."
"...wasn't my only child."
The room froze.
"What?"
Sophia burst into tears.
"The doctors told me Lucas had only weeks to live."
"I was pregnant again."
"I never told you."
Another silence.
"I gave birth to twins."
Marcus whispered,
"Twins?"
She nodded.
"Lucas..."
"And Victor."
I couldn't breathe.
"You mean..."
"My son..."
"...is alive?"
Sophia nodded once.
"But I lost him long before today."
Twenty Years Earlier
Lucas died in a public hospital.
I held his tiny hand until it became cold.
Victor watched from the doorway.
He was only nine.
He didn't cry.
He didn't speak.
He simply stared at his brother's body.
That night...
A black limousine stopped outside our apartment.
Richard Williams stepped out.
Perfect suit.
Perfect smile.
He crouched in front of Victor.
"Your brother died because your father abandoned you."
Victor remained silent.
Richard continued.
"Do you want revenge?"
The little boy finally looked up.
His eyes...
Empty.
Richard smiled.
"Come with me."
"I'll give you everything your father never did."
Victor climbed into the limousine.
He never came home again.
Back in the present...
"I searched for him for years," Sophia whispered.
"Richard had erased every record."
"I thought he was dead."
"But six months ago..."
"He contacted me."
"He introduced himself as..."
"'Victor Carter.'"
She laughed bitterly.
"He hated the Williams name so much..."
"...he refused to use it."
Marcus suddenly remembered something.
"Sir..."
"The assassin."
"What about him?"
"He escaped through the loading dock."
"We recovered one security image."
He handed me a tablet.
The picture was blurry.
A tall man.
Black suit.
Athletic build.
Half his face hidden beneath a cap.
But around his neck...
Hung a silver heart-shaped pendant.
The same one I had once given Sophia.
My hands trembled.
Victor had it.
He had kept the necklace for twenty-five years.
Despite everything...
He had never thrown it away.
Emily weakly reached for my hand again.
"Dad..."
"Victor didn't push me."
"What?"
"He tried..."
"...to save me."
Every person in the room stared at her.
She struggled to continue.
"Someone else..."
"...was already there."
"He fought him."
"He told me..."
"'Run.'"
"But..."
"I slipped."
The room fell into stunned silence.
Richard had convinced us Victor was the killer.
But Emily had just destroyed that lie.
If Victor had tried to save her...
Then who had pushed her?
Marcus's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression hardened.
"What?"
He turned toward me.
"The forensic team identified the fingerprints on the syringe."
I stood.
"Whose?"
Marcus swallowed.
"They belong..."
"...to Daniel Carter."
Emily's fiancé.
The groom who claimed he had been getting ready for the wedding.
The man who cried in front of cameras.
The man everyone believed was another victim.
He had just become the prime suspect.
But before we could process it...
The hospital television switched on.
Breaking News.
A smiling reporter stood outside Williams Tower.
"In a shocking development, Williams Corporation has officially announced the engagement of Daniel Carter... to Olivia Williams, Charles Williams' niece, only hours after Emily Williams' accident."
The room went silent.
Emily hadn't even regained consciousness for a full day.
And someone...
May you like
Had already found her replacement.
Richard wasn't covering up a crime anymore.
