Chapter 3: The Son Who Was Never Supposed to Know
Chapter 3: The Son Who Was Never Supposed to Know
The footage played on the library wall.
It showed the funeral home at 2:14 in the morning.
Maria entered first.
Then a man in a gray coat followed her.
His face was hidden beneath a hat.
He helped lift Richard’s unconscious body into the coffin.
Ethan felt sick.
“Who is he?” he asked.
No one spoke.
Then Richard whispered, “Pause it.”
The detective froze the frame.
The man turned slightly toward the camera.
Richard’s face collapsed.
“Samuel.”
Maria’s eyes filled with tears, but not from guilt.
From grief.
“My brother,” she said.
Ethan stared at her.
“You had a brother?”
Maria’s voice hardened.
“Your father ruined him.”
Years earlier, Samuel had been Richard’s business partner. Together, they had built the first Vale company. But when the company became worth billions, Richard cut him out, framed him for fraud, and left him with nothing.
Samuel went to prison.
Maria married Richard years later under a new last name.
Not for love.
For revenge.
But the final twist came from Richard himself.
He looked at Ethan and said, “Samuel is not just her brother.”
Ethan’s stomach tightened.
Richard’s eyes filled with shame.
“He is your real father.”
The room went silent.
Ethan stepped back as if struck.
Maria whispered, “I was supposed to take you away when you were a baby. But Richard found out. He threatened me. He raised you as his son because he wanted an heir.”
Ethan couldn’t breathe.
His whole life had been polished, expensive, and false.
Then Detective Harris received another call.
Samuel had been found.
Not hiding.
Dead.
Inside an old warehouse owned by Vale Industries.
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And beside his body was a note written in shaky handwriting:
If Richard wakes up, ask him where the original will is hidden.
