Chapter 5 - The Father Who Never Died
A man appeared on the screen and whispered: "Ethan, you were never supposed to find this recording."
Ethan Blackwood dropped the key in his hand.
The video showed his father sitting in a hidden room beneath the old Blackwood building.
But the date on the recording was impossible.
It was made six months after his father's funeral.
I watched Ethan stare at the screen.
He didn't blink.
He didn't move.
For a moment, he looked like a child who had just learned the world wasn't what he believed.
Because everyone has a moment when the truth becomes too heavy to carry.
For Ethan, that moment was seeing his dead father speaking directly to him.
The man who had supposedly been buried three years ago.
The man whose death changed Ethan's entire life.
The man whose absence created the opening for someone else to control his family.
"Ethan..."
I whispered his name.
But he didn't hear me.
His entire attention was focused on the screen.
His father's face appeared tired.
Older.
Different from the photographs Ethan had shown me years ago.
This wasn't the powerful businessman everyone knew.
This was a man who looked afraid.
The recording continued.
"If you are watching this, it means they failed to erase everything."
Ethan stepped closer.
His breathing became heavier.
The man on the screen looked directly into the camera.
"First, I need you to understand one thing."
A pause.
"I didn't die because of an accident."
The room became silent.
Nobody spoke.
Not even Victoria.
Because she already knew.
I could see it on her face.
She had known this secret for years.
Ethan slowly turned toward her.
"You knew."
Victoria looked down.
"Ethan..."
"You knew my father was alive?"
Her eyes filled with tears.
"I knew he survived."
The anger on Ethan's face was immediate.
"Survived?"
His voice became louder.
"You let me bury him."
Victoria shook her head.
"I didn't know what happened at first."
"Then what did you know?"
She couldn't answer.
Daniel stepped forward.
"Let her explain."
Ethan looked at him.
"No."
His voice was cold.
"No more explanations from people who kept secrets."
He pointed toward the screen.
"My father is alive."
Then he looked at Victoria.
"And you knew."
Victoria wiped her tears.
"I knew because he contacted me."
The words hit Ethan harder than anything else.
"When?"
"Two months after his funeral."
Ethan stared at her.
"Two months?"
Victoria nodded.
"He told me not to tell you."
"Why?"
Her voice became quieter.
"Because he said someone inside the family was watching you."
I felt a chill.
Again.
Someone inside the family.
The same phrase.
The same fear.
The same invisible person behind everything.
The video continued.
Ethan's father looked directly into the camera.
"I made a mistake."
The older man's voice cracked.
"I trusted someone who was close to me."
A pause.
"Someone who knew my son."
Ethan moved closer.
The screen flickered.
Then the man continued.
"That person used my death to control Ethan."
My heart tightened.
Because that was exactly what happened.
Someone had manipulated Ethan.
Someone had destroyed our relationship.
Someone had hidden Leo.
The recording continued.
"They created a story that Sarah betrayed you."
I froze.
Ethan looked at me.
Even after all this time, hearing my name from his father's mouth changed something.
"They wanted you angry."
The old man continued.
"They wanted you alone."
The screen flickered again.
"And most importantly..."
He leaned closer.
"They wanted your child to disappear."
My hands immediately moved around Leo.
Even though the danger was only a memory on a screen, my body reacted.
A mother always knows when a threat involves her child.
Ethan looked at Leo.
His face changed.
The anger disappeared.
Only pain remained.
Because he finally understood.
Leo wasn't a secret I created.
Leo was someone someone else tried to erase.
Daniel looked at the screen.
"Can you pause it?"
The employee stopped the video.
Daniel stared at the background.
"What?"
Ethan looked at him.
"What did you see?"
Daniel pointed.
"Behind him."
Everyone looked.
At first, I saw nothing.
Just a dark room.
A table.
A chair.
Then I noticed something.
A photograph on the wall.
A family photograph.
Ethan's family.
But there was someone missing.
Daniel zoomed in.
The picture became clearer.
There was Ethan.
There was Victoria.
There was their father.
And standing beside them...
Was someone I recognized.
My stomach dropped.
Because I had seen that person before.
Not recently.
Years ago.
During the happiest time of my life.
"Ethan..."
My voice shook.
He looked at me.
"Who is that?"
I pointed at the screen.
The person standing beside Ethan's father.
The person smiling in the family photo.
"The woman who helped me after Leo was born."
Ethan frowned.
"What?"
I swallowed.
"She was the nurse."
Nobody moved.
Daniel looked at me.
"The nurse?"
I nodded slowly.
"She was there when Leo was delivered."
Ethan stared.
"You never told me about her."
"Because I didn't know her name."
The room became colder.
I remembered that night.
The hospital.
The fear.
The loneliness.
The woman who held my hand when I thought I was completely alone.
The woman who told me everything would be okay.
But now...
She was in a photograph with Ethan's father.
Daniel looked at Victoria.
"You know who she is."
Victoria didn't answer.
That was enough.
Ethan's expression darkened.
"Victoria."
She closed her eyes.
"Her name is Rebecca."
The name hit something inside me.
Rebecca.
I had heard that name before.
Not from Ethan.
Not from Victoria.
From a voicemail.
A voicemail I received two years ago.
A voicemail I thought was a mistake.
Ethan noticed my reaction.
"You know her?"
I looked at him.
"I don't know."
Daniel stepped closer.
"Sarah."
His voice became serious.
"Think."
I closed my eyes.
And suddenly I remembered.
The night before Ethan left.
A woman had called me.
She said she needed to meet me.
She said she knew something about Ethan.
But when I arrived...
Nobody came.
The next morning, Ethan was gone.
I opened my eyes.
"She called me."
Everyone looked at me.
"Two years ago."
Ethan stepped forward.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I thought it was unrelated."
Daniel shook his head.
"No."
He looked at the screen.
"It wasn't unrelated."
The video suddenly moved again.
The recording had not ended.
Everyone turned back.
Ethan's father appeared on screen again.
His face was more serious now.
"If you found this..."
He looked directly into the camera.
"Then Rebecca already knows."
The room went silent.
Ethan whispered:
"Rebecca..."
The man continued.
"Do not trust her."
A second passed.
Then another.
And then the screen showed something that made Ethan freeze.
A document appeared.
A birth certificate.
Leo's birth certificate.
But the name listed under the father section...
was not Ethan Blackwood.
It was someone else.
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And beneath that name was a handwritten note:
"Change this before Ethan finds out."
