Chapter 10: The One Who Survived
836 Words
The message came again at 2:17 a.m.
Meet me if you want the truth.
Old Riverside Warehouse. Alone.
Naya stared at the screen, her pulse steady despite the danger.
Ethan stood across the room, watching her carefully. “It’s the same number.”
“Yes.”
“You’re not going alone.”
“I have to.”
“No,” he said firmly.
She stepped closer. “If this is connected to our mothers, I can’t ignore it.”
“Our mothers,” he repeated quietly.
That word had changed everything.
After a long pause, Ethan exhaled. “Fine. But I’ll be close.”
---
The warehouse smelled like rust and forgotten years.
Dust swirled in the thin beams of moonlight cutting through broken windows. Every sound echoed.
“You came,” a voice said from the shadows.
Naya’s heart skipped.
A man stepped forward—mid-forties, tired eyes, familiar features.
She froze.
“I’ve seen you before,” she whispered.
“Yes,” he said. “When you were eight.”
The world tilted.
“Uncle Daniel?” she breathed.
Her mother’s younger brother.
Declared missing twelve years ago.
Dead.
“That’s impossible,” she said.
“I had to disappear.”
Ethan stepped out from the shadows behind her. “You faked your death.”
Daniel’s eyes shifted to him. “And you must be Amelia’s son.”
Silence fell heavy.
“You knew my mother?” Ethan asked.
Daniel nodded. “She and Lydia were close. Closer than you realize.”
“Tell us everything,” Naya demanded.
Daniel inhaled slowly.
“They uncovered a network,” he said. “Illegal offshore accounts tied to politicians, defense contracts, and private security groups.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened. “My father.”
“Yes. But he wasn’t at the top.”
Naya felt ice in her veins.
“There’s someone above him,” she said.
Daniel nodded. “A silent partner. A financier who stays invisible.”
“Name,” Ethan said sharply.
Daniel hesitated.
“He’s known only as ‘The Chairman.’”
The air felt thinner.
“Victor wanted out,” Daniel continued. “When your mothers got too close, he panicked.”
“He killed them,” Naya said flatly.
Daniel’s eyes filled with something close to regret. “He didn’t pull the trigger. But he made the call.”
Ethan went completely still.
“And you?” Naya asked. “Why are you alive?”
“I found out they planned to eliminate anyone connected to the investigation. I ran before they could reach me.”
“You left me,” Naya whispered.
Daniel’s voice broke slightly. “If I stayed, you would’ve died too.”
Footsteps echoed suddenly outside.
Multiple.
Daniel’s expression shifted. “We’re not alone.”
Ethan grabbed Naya’s hand instinctively.
The warehouse doors burst open.
Black-clad men.
Not police.
Private security.
Professional.
Daniel cursed under his breath. “They found me.”
Gunshots rang out.
Ethan pulled Naya behind a metal crate as bullets ricocheted off steel.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” Daniel muttered.
One of the men shouted, “Take the girl!”
Naya’s blood ran cold.
They weren’t here for Daniel.
They were here for her.
Ethan’s voice turned lethal. “Over my dead body.”
He lunged forward, tackling one attacker. The fight was brutal, fast, desperate.
Daniel grabbed Naya’s arm. “There’s a back exit.”
“I’m not leaving him!”
“You don’t have a choice!”
Another gunshot exploded.
Ethan staggered.
“Naya!” he shouted.
Time slowed.
She ran back toward him, ignoring Daniel’s protests.
Ethan had blood on his shoulder—but he was still standing.
He grabbed her face urgently. “Listen to me.”
“No!”
“You are the target,” he said through clenched teeth. “Not me. Not Daniel.”
Understanding hit her like a blow.
The Chairman.
She was the last thread tying everything together.
The last witness connected to Lydia Kivuva.
The final piece.
Sirens wailed in the distance.
The attackers retreated swiftly, disappearing into the night as professionally as they arrived.
Silence fell.
Naya held Ethan as he winced in pain.
“It’s just a graze,” he muttered.
Daniel approached cautiously. “This confirms it.”
“Confirms what?” Naya asked.
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“The Chairman knows you’re alive… and he considers you a threat.”
Ethan looked at her with fierce intensity.
“This isn’t just about revenge anymore.”
“No,” Naya whispered.
Daniel’s voice was grave.
“This is about survival.”
And far away—
In a quiet, dimly lit office overlooking the city—
A man watched security footage from the warehouse.
His face remained unseen.
His voice calm.
“She’s stronger than her mother,” he murmured.
A subordinate asked, “What are your orders, sir?”
The man’s lips curved slightly.
“Let her dig.”
A pause.
“Then bury her with the truth.”
- Writer
