Chapter 10: The Betrayal Behind The Smile
The phone slipped from my hand.
For a moment, I couldn’t hear anything.
Not my father.
Not Richard.
Not the rain hitting the windows.
Only one sentence repeated in my mind.
They found Lily.
My daughter.
The little girl who walked into my wedding carrying her baby sister.
The little girl who had spent her entire life believing I would come back.
And I had promised her.
I promised I wouldn’t leave.
“Who took her?”” I asked again.
Elena’s breathing was uneven.
“I saw him.””
“Who?””
Her voice broke.
“Ethan.””
The room froze.
No.
Not him.
Not again.
I looked at Richard.
At my father.
Neither of them spoke.
Because they already knew.
The worst part about betrayal wasn’t discovering someone lied.
It was realizing every memory you shared with them had to be questioned.
Ethan was there when I built my company.
He was there when my mother died.
He was there when I buried my father.
He was the person I trusted most.
And now he had my daughter.
“Where is she?”” I asked.
Elena was crying.
“I don’t know.””
I closed my eyes.
The anger inside me became something colder.
Something dangerous.
“Adrian,” my father said quietly.
I turned.
“Don’t.””
He stopped.
For years, I wanted my father to be proud of me.
Now, standing in front of him, I realized something.
I didn’t need his approval anymore.
I needed my daughter back.
“I’m getting Lily.””
Richard stepped forward.
“You don’t know what Ethan is capable of.””
I looked at him.
“I know exactly what he’s capable of.””
I left the house.
I didn’t wait for explanations.
I didn’t wait for permission.
I drove straight to Cole International headquarters.
Because there was only one place Ethan would go.
The company he helped build.
The company he thought belonged to him as much as it belonged to me.
Security recognized me immediately.
“Mr. Cole?””
“Where is Ethan Blake?””
The guard looked nervous.
“He left twenty minutes ago.””
“Did he say where?””
“No.””
I walked past him.
Then I stopped.
“Check the cameras.””
Minutes later, we were watching footage from the security room.
There was Ethan.
Carrying a small bag.
Walking through the underground parking garage.
Then another figure appeared.
A child.
Lily.
My hands tightened.
“She was scared.””
The guard looked away.
I couldn’t breathe.
Ethan had not kidnapped her violently.
That almost made it worse.
He had tricked her.
Made her trust him.
The same way he tricked me.
Then I noticed something.
The timestamp.
He wasn’t leaving the building.
He was going deeper.
“Show me the basement cameras.””
The guard hesitated.
“There’s no access down there.””
“Why?””
“Because that level was closed years ago.””
“Open it.””
Nobody moved.
I looked at them.
“Open it now.””
The elevator took us below the company.
A place I didn’t even know existed.
The doors opened.
Cold air rushed past us.
The basement looked abandoned.
But someone had been living there.
A small table.
Food wrappers.
A chair.
And on the wall…
photographs.
Hundreds of them.
Photos of me.
My company.
Elena.
Lily.
Emma.
My stomach turned.
This wasn’t just a secret.
It was an obsession.
Then I saw a note taped to the wall.
My name was written on it.
ADRIAN.
I pulled it down.
Inside was a message.
“I did everything for you.””
I heard footsteps behind me.
I turned.
Ethan stood at the end of the hallway.
His face looked exhausted.
Broken.
But Lily wasn’t with him.
“Where is my daughter?””
He didn’t answer.
“Where is Lily?””
His eyes filled with regret.
“I didn’t want it to happen this way.””
I walked toward him.
“You took my child.””
“I was trying to protect her.””
“Stop saying that.””
My voice echoed.
“Everyone who hurt my family said they were protecting me.””
Ethan looked down.
“She knows.””
“Who?””
“The truth.””
I froze.
“What truth?””
He swallowed.
“That Lily isn’t the only thing your father hid.””
I stared at him.
“Where is she?””
Ethan looked behind me.
Toward the wall of photographs.
May you like
Then he whispered:
“She’s with the person who started all of this.””
