He Locked His Daughter in the Mansion, Believing He Had Erased the Past—Until His "Dead" Son Walked Through the Door to Reclaim the Empire
Chapter 1: The Call of the Abyss
Arthur Sterling sat in his mahogany-paneled office, swirling a glass of 30-year-old scotch. In the basement, his daughter, Elena, was nothing more than a problem to be solved. She knew too much about the illegal offshore accounts he’d used to fund his rise, and she refused to keep quiet.
He heard the faint sound of the old landline in the hallway—the one he thought he’d disconnected.
He stormed out, his footsteps thundering on the marble. He found her there, battered, bruised, the receiver pressed to her ear. She was whispering, begging for help.
"Nobody is coming, Elena," Arthur sneered, grabbing the phone from her hand and ripping the cord from the wall. The plastic cracked against the floor, a hollow sound of defeat.
Then, the receiver—still lying on the floor—fizzled. A calm, chillingly familiar voice drifted from the speaker, amplified by the silent, cavernous house.
May you like
"I’m already outside, Father."
Arthur froze. The blood drained from his face, leaving him ashen. That voice. It had been buried at the bottom of the Pacific for fifteen years.
