CHAPTER 7 — The Enemy Inside the Mansion
The sound of the gunshot echoed through the Carver mansion.
For one frozen second, nobody moved.
Then everything exploded into chaos.
Security alarms screamed.
Footsteps thundered through the hallways.
Servants rushed toward locked doors.
Guests who had stayed overnight for the engagement celebration screamed in confusion.
But inside Hannah’s room, the world became strangely quiet.
Because she was staring at the man standing in front of her.
Michael Carver.
The man everyone believed had been dead for fifteen years.
The man connected to the child growing inside her.
The man who claimed he was trying to protect her.
And now someone had just tried to kill him.
Again.
Michael grabbed Hannah’s arm.
“Get away from the window.”
She pulled back.
“Wait.”
“You don’t have time.”
“Why should I trust you?”
The question stopped him.
For a moment, Michael looked less like a powerful Carver and more like a broken man.
“Because Aaron trusted me.”
Hannah froze.
“What did you say?”
Michael looked toward the hallway.
“Your husband knew who I was.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Her eyes filled with confusion.
“Aaron knew you were alive?”
“He discovered it.”
“How?”
Michael swallowed.
“Because he was helping me expose the people who wanted the Carver family destroyed.”
Hannah stepped back.
“That makes no sense.”
“It will.”
Another sound interrupted them.
A door slamming downstairs.
Michael’s expression changed.
“They’re inside.”
Daniel reached Hannah’s room moments later.
His security team surrounded him.
When he opened the door, he stopped.
Because Michael was there.
Alive.
Standing beside Hannah.
For fifteen years, Daniel had imagined this moment.
He imagined anger.
Questions.
Maybe even violence.
But instead…
He felt something far more painful.
Betrayal.
“Michael.”
His brother looked at him.
“Daniel.”
The two men stared at each other.
No words.
No movement.
Just fifteen years of pain between them.
Then Daniel whispered:
“You let me bury you.”
Michael lowered his eyes.
“I know.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I had no choice.”
Daniel’s voice became colder.
“Everyone has a choice.”
Michael accepted the anger.
Because he deserved it.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“By disappearing?”
“Yes.”
“By letting our mother mourn you?”
Michael looked away.
“By letting you live.”
Daniel wanted to hate him.
He wanted to believe Michael was selfish.
But the fear in his brother’s eyes told him something else.
Michael had been running from something much worse.
They moved to the underground security room.
Marcus locked the doors.
“The shooter escaped.”
Daniel looked at Michael.
“Who?”
Michael answered immediately.
“Someone who knows this house.”
Marcus exchanged a look with Daniel.
“What makes you say that?”
“Because they didn’t come for me.”
Everyone looked at him.
Michael continued.
“They came to scare me.”
Daniel frowned.
“Why?”
“Because they want me to reveal where I hid the evidence.”
Hannah stepped forward.
“What evidence?”
Michael looked at her.
“The evidence that proves who killed Aaron.”
The room became silent.
Daniel’s eyes hardened.
“What evidence?”
Michael reached into his coat.
He pulled out a small flash drive.
“I spent fifteen years protecting this.”
Marcus took a step forward.
“What’s on it?”
Michael answered:
“Every payment. Every illegal transfer. Every name involved.”
Daniel stared at the drive.
“Why didn’t you release it?”
“Because releasing it would have killed everyone connected to it.”
Hannah looked confused.
“Everyone?”
Michael nodded.
“Your husband. Caleb. Me.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“Caleb is alive too?”
Michael looked at Hannah.
“Yes.”
Her heart stopped.
“What?”
“Your brother found the same information Aaron found.”
Hannah covered her mouth.
“Where is he?”
Michael looked toward the dark hallway.
“I don’t know.”
The answer crushed her.
“But I know one thing.”
“What?”
“He was alive when he disappeared.”
At that exact moment, Claire Whitlock stood in the mansion’s private garage.
Her hands were shaking.
Not from fear.
From anger.
She held her phone.
“He’s back.”
The person on the other end was silent.
Then a voice replied:
“That’s impossible.”
Claire looked toward the mansion.
“No.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Michael Carver is alive.”
A pause.
“What about the girl?”
Claire smiled.
“Hannah still believes she can win.”
She looked at the upstairs windows.
“She doesn’t understand.”
“What?”
Claire’s voice became cold.
“The baby isn’t just a child.”
“It’s the key.”
The person on the phone asked:
“The key to what?”
Claire smiled.
“The Carver empire.”
She ended the call.
Then looked at the mansion.
Because for the first time…
Claire understood something.
She had spent months trying to destroy Hannah Brooks.
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But she had never realized the pregnant maid was carrying the one thing everyone wanted.
The truth.
