PART 5 — THE MAN WHO WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO EXIST
For several seconds, nobody moved.
The room felt frozen.
My mother's words echoed in my head.
“Her grandfather was.”
I looked at Lily.
Then at the photograph.
Then back at the man standing across from me.
“Who is her grandfather?”
Isabella's father smiled.
“You've spent your entire life believing your father built the Hail empire.”
“He didn't.”
My mother stepped forward.
“He inherited it.”
I stared at her.
“From whom?”
She didn't answer.
Instead, she looked at Lily.
“From the man who was erased from every family record twenty-eight years ago.”
Mave tightened her arms around Lily.
“Who?”
My mother whispered a name.
“Alexander Hail.”
My blood ran cold.
“That was my grandfather's name.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Your grandfather was Thomas Hail.”
I frowned.
“My father's father.”
“That's what everyone was told.”
The room seemed to tilt.
I looked at the old photograph again.
The unknown man.
Victor Kane.
I suddenly understood.
“That's Alexander.”
My mother nodded.
“He was your father's older brother.”
I stared at her.
“My father had a brother?”
“He wasn't supposed to exist.”
“Why?”
Isabella's father laughed.
“Because Alexander Hail wasn't a businessman.”
He stepped closer.
“He was the architect of the entire organization.”
My security team shifted their weapons.
I didn't care.
I needed the truth.
“What happened to him?”
My mother looked at the floor.
“He disappeared.”
“When?”
“Twenty-eight years ago.”
“Why?”
She looked at Lily.
“Because he had a daughter.”
Mave whispered,
“A daughter?”
My mother nodded.
“A little girl he wanted to protect.”
I stared at her.
“Who was she?”
She didn't answer.
I looked at Isabella's father.
He smiled.
“That's the question you should be asking.”
I felt something tighten in my chest.
“Stop playing games.”
He pulled out his phone.
Then he showed me a photograph.
A young woman.
Dark hair.
Pale eyes.
Standing beside Alexander Hail.
My heart stopped.
Because I recognized her.
I had seen that face before.
On an old photograph in my father's study.
I turned toward Mave.
She was staring at the screen.
Her face had gone completely white.
“Mave?”
She couldn't speak.
I stepped closer.
“Who is she?”
Mave whispered,
“My mother.”
Silence.
I looked at the photograph again.
Then at Mave.
“Your mother?”
She nodded slowly.
“My mother told me never to ask about my grandfather.”
My mother smiled.
“Because she knew what would happen if anyone discovered the truth.”
I felt dizzy.
“So Alexander Hail was Mave's grandfather.”
“No.”
My mother shook her head.
“He was her father.”
I couldn't breathe.
Mave stared at her.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You're lying.”
“I wish I were.”
Mave's hands began to tremble.
“My mother told me my father died before I was born.”
“He didn't die.”
My mother looked at her.
“He vanished because people were hunting him.”
Mave whispered,
“Why?”
Isabella's father answered.
“Because Alexander stole something from the Hail family.”
“What?”
“The inheritance.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Another inheritance?”
He shook his head.
“Not money.”
He looked at Lily.
“Power.”
My security chief stepped forward.
“What does that mean?”
Isabella's father smiled.
“It means Alexander created a private network outside the Hail organization.”
“Banks.”
“Political connections.”
“Judges.”
“Law enforcement.”
“Information.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Everything a family like ours needs to survive.”
I stared at him.
“And Lily inherits it?”
“No.”
He paused.
“Her bloodline gives her access to it.”
My mother stepped closer.
“That's why we couldn't allow Mave to remain with you.”
I turned toward her.
“You separated a mother from her husband because of an inheritance?”
“No.”
Her voice became cold.
“We separated you because if you stayed together, Lily would eventually be born.”
I felt my hands curl into fists.
“And you wanted her dead.”
My mother didn't deny it.
“We wanted the bloodline to disappear.”
Mave began crying.
“You threatened my baby.”
My mother looked at her.
“I gave you a choice.”
“You gave me a death sentence.”
Mave's voice broke.
“You told me Ethan would be killed too if I didn't disappear.”
I turned sharply.
“What?”
Mave looked at me.
“They told me you would be murdered.”
I stared at my mother.
“You threatened my life?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Then who did?”
She looked toward Isabella's father.
He smiled.
“I did.”
My gun was in my hand before I realized it.
My security team immediately moved.
“Put it down,” I said.
He laughed.
“You won't shoot me.”
“Try me.”
My mother stepped between us.
“Ethan, listen.”
“No.”
I pointed toward her.
“You stole three years from me.”
I pointed at Mave.
“You stole three years from her.”
Then I looked at Lily.
“And you nearly stole her life.”
My voice shook.
“Why should I listen to anything you say?”
My mother looked at me with tears in her eyes.
“Because I was trying to protect you.”
I almost laughed.
“From what?”
She looked toward the windows.
“From the man who owns the network Alexander created.”
I froze.
“Alexander?”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“He's alive.”
Mave gasped.
“What?”
My mother whispered,
“Alexander Hail never disappeared.”
“He has been watching this family for twenty-eight years.”
I felt the room grow colder.
“Where is he?”
My mother looked at Lily.
“He has been waiting for his heir.”
A sudden noise came from upstairs.
A door slammed.
Everyone turned.
My security chief raised his weapon.
“There is someone upstairs.”
Isabella's father shouted,
“Impossible.”
Then footsteps echoed from the second floor.
Slow.
Calm.
Unhurried.
Someone was coming down the stairs.
My mother looked terrified.
For the first time that night, I saw genuine fear on her face.
“Ethan…”
“What?”
She whispered,
“Don't let him see Lily.”
I stared at her.
“Why?”
She looked toward the staircase.
“Because if he sees her…”
Her voice broke.
“He'll know she's his.”
The footsteps stopped.
A man's voice came from the darkness.
“I already know.”
Mave froze.
I turned toward the stairs.
An elderly man slowly stepped into the light.
His hair was silver.
His face was scarred.
But his eyes...
They were exactly like Lily's.
I looked at Mave.
She covered her mouth.
The old man stared at the little girl in her arms.
Then he smiled.
“My granddaughter.”
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
And then he looked directly at me.
“Ethan Hail.”
I raised my gun.
“Who are you?”
The old man smiled.
“I'm the man your father spent his entire life trying to find.”
He paused.
“And the man your mother spent twenty-eight years trying to kill.”
Then he looked at Lily again.
“But she isn't the reason I came back.”
His expression suddenly turned serious.
“I came back because someone has already betrayed me.”
He looked directly at Mave.
And said four words that made my blood run cold:
“Your mother is alive.”
