Chapter 6 - A Son Torn ApartThere are moments in life when the heart and the mind become enemies.
The heart remembers every smile.
Every promise.
Every dream.
The mind remembers every lie.
Every contradiction.
Every warning.
Ethan sat alone in his office long after midnight.
Spread across the desk were two versions of Claire.
Photographs showed the woman he loved—laughing at charity events, comforting children, holding his hand at their engagement party.
Beside them lay anonymous recordings, Rosa's notebook, Detective Bennett's reports, and a newly discovered birth certificate.
Claire Elizabeth Dawson.
His phone vibrated.
Claire.
“Hi.”
“I've been calling all evening.”
“I was working.”
A lie.
She heard the distance in his voice.
“Is everything okay?”
“No.”
Silence.
“It's about us.”
Claire's breathing became uneven.
“How did you find out?”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“So it's true.”
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
She had no answer.
Later that night, Claire discovered a photograph of her mother outside her apartment.
A red circle had been drawn around the woman.
On the back:
THE NEXT MISTAKE WILL BE HERS.
Detective Bennett soon arrived at Whitmore Manor with worse news.
Claire's mother had disappeared.
Ethan confronted Claire.
She finally admitted that her father, Henry Dawson, had worked with Michael—and had discovered Victor Kane's crimes.
“He didn't die of a heart attack,” Claire whispered.
Ethan stared at her.
“Then how did he die?”
“Victor.”
Before either could continue, Claire's phone rang.
Victor.
Ethan heard enough.
“You know him.”
Claire's eyes filled with tears.
“My mother is still alive.”
Then the lights went out.
Glass shattered in the kitchen.
Three men entered the apartment.
A voice whispered:
“Find the phone.”
Ethan pulled Claire behind the sofa.
Suddenly—
“POLICE! Nobody move!”
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Gunfire exploded through the darkness.
The war had finally begun.
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