Chapter 4 - The Daughter Who Was Never Supposed To Know
The birth record appeared on the screen.
My name was written at the top.
Emma Carter.
But the name underneath made my entire body go cold.
Father: Michael Carter.
For a few seconds, nobody moved.
Not because nobody had questions.
Because everyone had too many.
The video continued playing.
My father.
The man I had known only as General Michael Carter.
The man who had guided my career.
The man who signed the papers that ended my military service.
The man who disappeared before I could ask him why.
He looked directly into the camera.
His face was older than I remembered.
There were lines around his eyes.
His expression was not that of a commander.
It was the expression of a father who knew he had run out of time.
"Emma," he said.
His voice echoed through the empty academy hallway.
"I know you are angry."
I stared at the screen.
Angry was not the right word.
Anger was simple.
This was something else.
Confusion.
Betrayal.
A thousand questions arriving at once.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
The question escaped my mouth even though he was not actually there to answer.
Commander Reyes looked away.
Daniel stood silently beside the table.
And that told me something.
Both of them knew.
Both of them had carried this secret while I lived my life believing I knew who I was.
The video continued.
"I wanted you to have a normal life."
I almost laughed.
A normal life.
That was what everyone always said when they were hiding something.
They never said:
"I wanted to protect you from the truth."
They always said:
"I wanted you to have a normal life."
But a normal life built on a lie was not normal.
It was a cage.
Michael Carter looked down for a moment.
"When you were young, I made a decision."
The screen flickered.
"That decision saved your life."
Daniel stepped closer.
"Emma, listen carefully."
I turned toward him.
"You knew?"
He didn't deny it.
That hurt more than a lie.
"How long?"
His eyes lowered.
"Since before the final mission."
The words hit harder than I expected.
"You knew I was his daughter?"
"Yes."
"And you said nothing?"
Daniel took a breath.
"I was ordered not to."
I looked at him.
"By him?"
He nodded.
The room became silent again.
Because suddenly every memory I had started changing.
Every conversation.
Every mission.
Every decision.
Things I thought were random suddenly had meaning.
The extra protection.
The unusual assignments.
The people who watched me.
The way some commanders treated me differently.
I had always assumed it was because of my skills.
Because I was good at my job.
But now I wondered.
Was I respected?
Or was I protected?
The video continued.
"Emma, there are things you need to understand before you open that drive."
My eyes moved toward the black device on the table.
The one Daniel brought.
"The information inside that drive will answer questions you have carried for years."
Michael paused.
"But it will also show you why I disappeared."
The screen changed.
A file appeared.
MISSION: BLACK HORIZON.
My breathing stopped.
I knew that name.
Everyone from my unit knew that name.
The mission that ended everything.
The mission nobody discussed.
The mission that officially became a classified failure.
The mission where Daniel died.
The mission where I walked away.
Or at least, that was what I believed.
Michael continued.
"Black Horizon was not a rescue operation."
The video froze for a second.
"It was an investigation."
My eyebrows tightened.
"Investigation into what?"
The answer appeared on the screen.
WEST MARCH MILITARY ACADEMY.
My stomach dropped.
The academy.
The place where I was standing.
The place where everything had started again.
Commander Reyes closed his eyes.
"You knew."
I turned toward him.
"You knew West March was connected?"
He did not answer.
That was enough.
I stepped closer.
"Commander."
His face showed regret.
"I knew there were people here connected to the mission."
"Who?"
He looked at the screen.
"I never knew how deep it went."
I looked at Daniel.
"And you?"
Daniel looked away.
"I found out after I was declared dead."
The words were almost impossible to understand.
"How?"
He was quiet.
Then he said:
"Because someone wanted me gone."
The academy lights suddenly flickered.
Everyone looked upward.
The video stopped.
For one terrifying second, every screen went black.
Then a message appeared.
Not from Michael.
Not from Daniel.
A new message.
A single sentence.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT THE PAST BURIED.
Ryan's name suddenly appeared underneath it.
My eyes narrowed.
"Why is Ryan involved?"
Nobody answered.
Then another message appeared.
THIS STARTED WITH HIS FAMILY.
Commander Reyes immediately moved toward the nearest computer.
"What is happening?"
The screens changed again.
Security footage.
The courtyard.
Earlier that morning.
The moment Ryan pointed the training pistol at me.
But this time, the camera angle was different.
Someone else had been watching.
Someone hidden near the academy building.
The footage zoomed in.
A person standing behind the window.
Watching everything.
Watching me.
Daniel stepped closer to the screen.
His face changed.
"No."
I looked at him.
"What?"
He pointed at the screen.
"That's impossible."
The image became clearer.
A man standing inside the building.
A man holding a file.
A man who had been watching me from the beginning.
"Who is that?" I asked.
Daniel whispered the answer.
"The person who betrayed our team."
The video cut.
A new file opened automatically.
A personnel record.
Not mine.
Not Daniel's.
Someone else.
The name appeared slowly.
Ryan Cole.
I stared at it.
"No."
Commander Reyes looked shocked.
"Why would a cadet's file be connected to Black Horizon?"
Daniel moved closer.
Because he understood before anyone else.
"Emma..."
His voice was different.
Afraid.
"What?"
He looked at the screen.
"Ryan Cole isn't just a cadet."
The document continued loading.
A photograph appeared.
A young Ryan.
Standing beside an older man.
An older man wearing a military uniform.
My eyes moved to the name below the photograph.
And I felt the world shift.
Because Ryan Cole's father was not just a wealthy man.
He was the last person I expected to see connected to my past.
The same man who was listed as the commanding officer of Black Horizon.
The same man who was supposed to have died with Daniel.
General Carter's former second-in-command.
And then the academy doors behind us slowly opened.
Someone stepped inside.
Someone who had been listening the entire time.
A voice came from the darkness.
"Emma Carter."
I turned.
The man smiled.
"You finally found out who your enemy was."
Then he raised an old military photograph.
A photograph showing my entire team alive.
Except one person had been crossed out.
May you like
And underneath the mark was a single word:
TRAITOR.
