Chapter 19: The Last Words
952 Words
The shrill alarm of the heart monitor echoed through the hallway.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Doctors and nurses rushed into Richard King's room, pushing Ethan and Ava outside before the door slammed shut.
Through the narrow glass window, Ethan watched in silence as the medical team surrounded his father's bed.
"Charge to 200 joules!"
"Clear!"
Richard's body jerked violently.
The heart monitor continued to scream.
Ava stood beside Ethan, watching his face instead of the room.
He looked calm.
Too calm.
But she noticed the tiny tremor in his clenched fists.
For the first time since she'd met him, Ethan looked like a man fighting a battle no one else could see.
Minutes passed.
They felt like hours.
Finally, the alarm stopped.
The steady rhythm of a heartbeat returned.
The doctors let out relieved sighs.
One by one, they walked out of the room.
The lead physician removed his mask.
"Mr. King?"
Ethan stepped forward.
"Your father is stable for now."
"For now?"
The doctor nodded gravely.
"His heart is extremely weak. We managed to stabilize him, but the next twenty-four hours are critical."
"Can I speak to him?"
"Briefly."
"And please don't upset him."
Ethan nodded once.
Without another word, he entered the room.
---
Richard lay weakly against the pillows, an oxygen tube resting beneath his nose.
His eyes slowly opened as Ethan approached.
"You... stayed."
"I came because you said you wanted to tell me the truth."
Richard closed his eyes.
"So much hatred..."
"I created all of it."
Ethan's expression remained unreadable.
"You abandoned Mom."
Richard slowly shook his head.
"No..."
"You chose another woman."
"No."
"You never came to see us."
Richard's breathing became heavier.
"They... made sure I couldn't."
Ethan frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Richard looked toward the door before lowering his voice.
"You think I left your mother..."
"But I was forced away."
Ethan stared at him.
"I don't believe you."
"You shouldn't."
Richard gave a weak smile.
"Not yet."
His trembling hand reached toward the bedside drawer.
Inside was a small silver key attached to an old leather tag.
Richard placed it in Ethan's hand.
"Locker..."
"...Number 317."
Ethan looked down at the key.
"What's inside?"
"The truth."
"What truth?"
Richard swallowed painfully.
"Documents..."
"Letters..."
"Everything."
Ethan tightened his grip on the key.
"If all of this is true..."
"Why wait until now?"
A tear slid down Richard's face.
"Because..."
"I thought I was protecting you."
Silence filled the room.
Richard's breathing became shallow.
"There were people far more powerful than me."
"They threatened your mother."
"They threatened you."
"So I disappeared."
Ethan's jaw tightened.
"Who?"
Richard opened his mouth to answer—
The lights suddenly flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then the room went dark.
Gasps echoed throughout the hospital.
Emergency lights switched on, bathing everything in a dim red glow.
Outside, nurses hurried through the corridors.
"What happened?"
"The backup generator!"
"The main power is down!"
Ethan immediately became alert.
Something felt wrong.
Very wrong.
The machines beside Richard restarted on emergency power.
Then...
The door slowly opened.
A nurse entered.
Her face was hidden behind a surgical mask.
"I need to check the patient."
Ethan didn't move.
"I've never seen you before."
The nurse froze.
"I'm covering another shift."
Ethan's instincts screamed.
Something wasn't right.
The woman's eyes shifted briefly toward Richard.
Then...
Her hand slipped into her pocket.
A flash of metal.
A syringe.
Ethan reacted instantly.
"Get away from him!"
The woman lunged toward Richard.
Ethan grabbed her wrist before the needle reached his father.
The syringe fell to the floor.
The woman twisted violently, surprisingly strong.
She slammed her elbow into Ethan's ribs and tried to escape.
Security guards rushed into the room.
"Stop her!"
She shoved one guard aside and sprinted into the hallway.
Ethan chased after her.
She ran through the crowded emergency corridor, knocking over medical carts.
Doctors shouted as equipment crashed onto the floor.
Ava hurried after them.
"Ethan!"
The woman burst through a fire exit and raced down the stairwell.
Ethan followed without hesitation.
Down one flight.
Then another.
She was fast.
But Ethan was faster.
Just as he reached for her jacket—
She threw a handful of white powder into his face.
He instinctively shielded his eyes.
By the time he recovered...
She had vanished through a side exit.
Outside, only the sound of speeding traffic remained.
Ethan scanned the street.
Nothing.
No sign of her.
Only a black sedan disappearing into the evening traffic.
---
Several kilometers away...
Inside that same black sedan, the masked woman removed her disguise.
Victoria smiled.
"You almost caught me."
Lucas, sitting beside her, didn't smile.
"You failed."
"I failed?"
"You were supposed to finish Richard."
Victoria folded her arms.
"He'll die eventually."
Lucas stared out the window.
"No."
"Now he's become a problem."
He looked at her coldly.
"Ethan has the key."
Victoria's smile slowly disappeared.
"What key?"
Lucas didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he reached into his briefcase and pulled out an old photograph.
It showed Richard King standing beside a young woman holding a little boy.
Ethan.
But standing in the background...
Half-hidden by the shadows...
Was another man.
Lucas tapped the photograph with one finger.
"If Ethan discovers who this man is..."
"...everything we've built over the last twenty years will collapse."
Victoria's eyes widened.
"Who is he?"
Lucas slipped the photograph back into the file.
"The one person who should have stayed buried."
Back at the hospital, Ethan stood in the dim corridor, staring at the small silver key in his palm.
He had come expecting closure.
Instead, he had walked into a mystery that reached back decades.
And somewhere in the city, someone was willing to kill to keep that mystery hidden.
- Writer
