Chapter 7 - THE ATTACK ON THE FOUNDATION
Security rushed into the hospital.
The doors locked automatically.
Patients were moved away from the windows.
Police surrounded the building.
I stood beside Lucas.
He looked calm.
Too calm.
“Have you done this before?”
“What?”
“Run from people who want you dead.”
He smiled faintly.
“More times than I can remember.”
Arthur received a call.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He listened.
Then looked at me.
“The foundation's main server has been breached.”
My heart sank.
“By whom?”
“We don't know.”
Lucas stepped forward.
“I do.”
Everyone looked at him.
“Victor had a backup plan.”
“Victor is in prison.”
“Yes.”
“But someone else isn't.”
“Who?”
Lucas looked at me.
“Your grandfather.”
I felt cold.
“He's alive?”
Lucas nodded.
“And he's been waiting.”
Arthur immediately ordered the building secured.
But Lucas shook his head.
“He won't attack this hospital.”
“How do you know?”
“Because this isn't the target.”
He pointed to the screen.
“The message isn't about the hospital.”
“Then what?”
“The trust.”
I opened the notebook again.
A handwritten code appeared beside the account.
Lucas entered it into his phone.
A hidden file opened.
Inside was a video.
My father's face appeared on screen.
He looked older.
Tired.
But alive.
I stopped breathing.
“Dad?”
His recorded voice began.
“If you're watching this, the family has reached the final stage.”
He looked directly into the camera.
“Ethan, I am sorry.”
My eyes filled with tears.
“You were both supposed to know each other eventually.”
The recording continued.
“Your grandfather created an empire built on fear.”
“He taught his children that money mattered more than people.”
“I refused.”
“That is why I created the foundation.”
My father's expression softened.
“I want you to understand something.”
“The trust was never designed to make you rich.”
“It was designed to make you free.”
The screen went black.
Then a final message appeared.
THE ORIGINAL DEED IS UNDER THE HOSPITAL.
Lucas looked at me.
“That's why they came here.”
We moved toward the basement.
The old foundation of the hospital was built over a former bank vault.
We found the entrance behind a maintenance wall.
Inside was a steel door.
Arthur entered the code.
The door opened.
There was one box.
Inside:
The original deed.
The trust agreement.
My father's personal journal.
And one photograph.
My father.
My mother.
Lucas.
Me.
All together.
I had never seen the photograph.
My mother had.
She had hidden it.
I finally understood.
My parents had known Lucas.
They had protected him.
And my mother had carried the guilt of keeping him away from me.
Then we heard footsteps.
Someone was coming.
Arthur raised his weapon.
A man's voice echoed through the corridor.
“Put the papers down.”
May you like
I recognized the voice.
My grandfather.
