Chapter 6: The Secret My Father Buried
The factory felt colder after Ewan said those words.
Not because of the broken windows.
Not because of the rain pouring through the ceiling.
Because the one person I had spent my entire life trying to understand had suddenly become the biggest mystery.
My father.
The man whose portrait hung above the fireplace.
The man whose name opened doors across Chicago.
The man I had spent four years trying to honor after his death.
Now everyone around me was telling me the same impossible thing.
He was the beginning of it all.
I looked at Ewan.
"Explain.""
He didn't answer immediately.
That bothered me.
Ewan had always been terrible at hiding his emotions.
As children, he couldn't lie about stealing my car keys or breaking my father's watch. His face always betrayed him.
But now?
Now he looked like a man who had spent six years learning how to survive.
"Not here," he said.
I almost laughed.
"Everyone keeps saying that.""
I stepped closer.
"No more secrets. No more protecting me.""
Ewan looked at me.
"You think knowing the truth makes you stronger.""
"Doesn't it?""
"No.""
His voice was quiet.
"Sometimes the truth is the thing that destroys you.""
Before I could answer, Elias moved.
"We need to leave.""
I turned toward him.
"You don't give orders anymore.""
His expression hardened.
"You don't understand what is happening.""
"I understand enough.""
"No.""
He looked toward the factory entrance.
"You understand the past.""
Then he looked at me.
"You don't understand who is coming for you now.""
A distant engine roared outside.
Everyone stopped.
Ewan immediately moved toward the side exit.
"Someone followed us.""
I looked at him.
"Who?""
He didn't answer.
Because he already knew.
The sound of car doors opening filled the factory.
Multiple vehicles.
Multiple people.
Elias's face changed.
For the first time that night, he looked genuinely concerned.
"Lucian.""
I hated that he still sounded like someone trying to protect me.
"What?""
"You need to trust me for the next thirty seconds.""
I stared at him.
"That will be difficult.""
"Then make it easy.""
A bullet hit the wall beside us.
Concrete exploded.
Ewan grabbed me and pulled me behind a support beam.
The factory erupted into chaos.
People shouted outside.
Glass shattered.
Footsteps rushed through the entrance.
But something was wrong.
They weren't shooting randomly.
They were moving with purpose.
They weren't here to scare us.
They were here for someone.
Elias.
"No one leaves," a voice shouted.
I recognized it.
Not because I knew the man.
Because I knew the confidence.
The person speaking believed he had already won.
Ewan looked at me.
"Lucian, when I say run, you run.""
I almost smiled.
"You're still giving me orders?""
"I'm still your older brother.""
That stopped me.
Because for one second, everything disappeared.
The lies.
The secrets.
The years apart.
He was just Ewan.
My brother.
Then a figure entered the factory.
And I realized this nightmare was far from over.
A man wearing a dark coat walked through the doorway.
Behind him were four armed men.
He looked directly at me.
Not Elias.
Not Ewan.
Me.
"Lucian Moretti.""
His voice was calm.
"Your father would be disappointed.""
I felt my hand tighten.
"Who are you?""
The man smiled.
"Someone who knew him better than you did.""
Elias stepped forward.
"Victor.""
The man's smile disappeared.
"So you remember me.""
Elias's face became cold.
"I should have killed you years ago.""
That sentence changed the atmosphere.
Because Elias had never spoken like that.
Not to anyone.
Victor looked amused.
"You see, Lucian? That's the problem with men like Elias.""
He looked at me.
"They always believe they are the heroes of their own story.""
I glanced between them.
"Start making sense.""
Victor laughed softly.
"Your father created monsters and then convinced himself he was protecting the world from them.""
He stepped closer.
"And when he realized one of those monsters was himself, it was already too late.""
Ewan's voice was sharp.
"Don't listen to him.""
Victor looked at Ewan.
"Still pretending you are innocent?""
Ewan's expression changed.
Just slightly.
But I saw it.
"What does he mean?""
No one answered.
I looked at Ewan.
"What does he mean?""
Ewan looked away.
That hurt.
More than anything else.
Because I realized everyone had been protecting me from different truths.
But nobody had been protecting me from lies.
"Lucian," Elias said.
I turned.
"Not now.""
His expression hardened.
"Actually, now is exactly when you need to know.""
He looked at Victor.
"Because he will tell you half the truth.""
Victor smiled.
"And you will tell him the other half?""
Nobody spoke.
The silence was the answer.
We escaped through the back entrance.
Not because we won.
Because someone allowed us to.
That thought stayed with me.
A man like Victor did not simply lose control of a situation.
He chose when the situation ended.
We drove through the city in silence.
Ewan sat beside me.
Marco followed in another vehicle.
Elias had disappeared.
Again.
I stared out the window.
Six years ago, I had lost my brother.
Tonight, I found him.
And somehow, I felt like I had lost him again.
Finally, Ewan spoke.
"You hate me.""
I didn't look at him.
"I don't know what I feel.""
"That's fair.""
"No, it isn't.""
I turned toward him.
"You don't get to say that.""
His face tightened.
"I know.""
"You made a choice.""
"Yes.""
"You decided I couldn't handle the truth.""
"Yes.""
"You decided Mother couldn't handle the truth.""
His eyes lowered.
"Yes.""
I looked away.
"Do you know what hurts the most?""
He waited.
"Not that you disappeared.""
My voice became quieter.
"It's that you were alive somewhere in this world while I was grieving someone who wasn't dead.""
Ewan closed his eyes.
"I thought about calling you every day.""
"But you didn't.""
"No.""
"Why?""
He looked at me.
"Because every time I picked up the phone, I remembered the last thing Father told me.""
I froze.
"What did he tell you?""
Ewan swallowed.
"That if anything happened to him, I had to protect you.""
I frowned.
"Protect me from what?""
His answer came quietly.
"From becoming him.""
The car became silent.
I looked away.
Because deep down, I was afraid of the answer.
We returned to the mansion before sunrise.
My mother's room was empty.
The bed was made.
The window was open.
My heart stopped.
"Where is she?""
Marco immediately called security.
No answer.
I walked toward the window.
On the floor was a piece of paper.
My mother's handwriting.
I picked it up.
Only one sentence.
*I am sorry, Lucian. I should have told you when Ewan came back.*
I turned the paper over.
There was more.
*But I was afraid you would discover what your father did.*
My hands shook.
Another line.
*The fire at Pier 44 was not meant to kill Ewan.*
I kept reading.
*It was meant to destroy the evidence.*
Then the final sentence.
The one that made my blood run cold.
*Your father ordered it.*
I looked up.
Ewan was standing behind me.
He had seen my face.
He didn't need to read the paper.
He already knew.
"Tell me I'm wrong.""
His silence answered.
I turned toward him.
"Tell me my mother is wrong.""
His eyes filled with pain.
"I can't.""
The room felt like it was collapsing.
"My father ordered the fire?""
Ewan nodded.
"Yes.""
I stepped back.
"No.""
"Lucian—"
"No.""
I looked at the photograph of my father on the wall.
The man I admired.
The man I trusted.
The man I wanted to become.
And for the first time in my life, I wondered if I had spent years chasing the image of a person who never existed.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
Again.
I answered.
A woman's voice came through.
Not Celeste.
Not my mother.
Someone else.
Someone terrified.
"Lucian Moretti?""
"Who is this?""
"My name is Isabella Vale.""
I frowned.
The name meant nothing.
Until she spoke again.
"I know why your father burned Pier 44.""
I said nothing.
She continued.
"And I know why Ewan survived.""
My grip tightened around the phone.
"How?""
A pause.
Then:
"Because I was there.""
I looked at Ewan.
He was watching me carefully.
The woman's voice lowered.
"But before I tell you the truth, you need to understand one thing.""
"What?""
May you like
Her next words froze the room.
"Your brother was not the only person who survived that night.""
