Chapter 3 - Helen Had Hidden Michael’s Brother
Police reached the back door before Michael could.
The hooded figure raised both hands.
He was approximately Michael’s age.
Same height.
Same dark eyes.
Even the shape of his jaw looked familiar.
Helen began crying.
“David.”
Michael turned toward her.
The stranger looked at Michael.
“My name is David Carter.”
Michael felt as if someone had removed the floor beneath him.
David was not an intruder.
He was Helen’s first child.
At seventeen, unmarried and terrified, Helen had given birth in Ohio.
Her parents arranged a private adoption.
For decades, she told almost nobody.
Not Michael.
Not Michael’s late father, Robert, until shortly before Robert died.
David found Helen through DNA records six years earlier.
They had communicated secretly.
Michael’s anger sharpened.
“You had six years to tell me.”
Helen looked down.
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“That you’d think I had lied about everything.”
“You did lie.”
David interrupted.
“This isn’t why I came.”
He recognized Victor Hale.
Victor had once worked for a private intelligence contractor connected
to David’s former employer.
David was a forensic accountant.
Three years earlier, he discovered money being moved through shell
companies tied to government technology contracts.
One of those shell companies had recently begun buying shares in
Michael’s cybersecurity firm.
Michael’s blood went cold.
“Why photograph my kids?”
David’s expression tightened.
“To pressure you.”
“Pressure me into what?”
“Selling your company.”
Michael’s company, Carter Sentinel Systems, had developed authentication
software used by hospitals, banks, and several federal contractors.
A private equity group had made repeated acquisition offers.
Michael rejected them.
David believed someone behind the group wanted more than the business.
They wanted access to a security protocol Michael’s engineers had
developed.
Helen had learned about the threat three days earlier.
Instead of telling Michael, she tried to remove Noah and Lily from the
house.
Then Victor appeared.
And Helen panicked.
But there was still something wrong.
Michael looked at David.
“If you came to warn us, why were you hiding behind my house?”
May you like
David answered quietly.
“Because Victor isn’t the person I’m most afraid of.”
