Chapter 1 - The Blood-Stained Letter
The storm outside the tiny, dilapidated rental room raged on, but the silence inside was deafening.
Mrs. Ellen sat on the edge of the creaky wooden bed, her wet clothes clinging to her shivering, frail frame. Her heart felt hollow. Only three hours ago, her only son, Julian, had violently shoved a heavy black canvas travel bag into her hands on the grand porch of a sprawling, iron-gated mansion. He had yelled at her to get out of his sight, calling her a burden, while a young woman in diamonds—Chloe, the daughter of the city’s most ruthless real estate tycoon—watched from the warm, golden doorway with a cruel smile.
Ellen had sobbed, kneeling in the mud, begging him to tell her what she had done wrong. Julian hadn't looked back as he slammed the heavy oak door in her face.
Now, sitting in the cold room she had rented with her last few coins, Ellen stared at the bag resting on the floor. She didn't care about the bag. She only cared about the boy she had raised alone after her husband died in a factory accident fifteen years ago.
With trembling hands, Ellen unzipped the main compartment. She gasped, stepping back as tears spilled down her pale cheeks.
The bag was crammed full of stacks of hundred-dollar bills. Hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"Julian... why?" she whimpered, her hands shaking uncontrollably. "Where did you get this money?"
As she moved the heavy stacks of cash aside, her hand brushed against something wet and sticky at the bottom of the bag. She pulled her hand back in horror. Crimson blood smeared across her fingers.
Beneath the money lay a thick white envelope, partially stained red, along with a worn leather-bound notebook and an official medical document.
Ellen opened the envelope with frantic fingers. Inside was a letter written in Julian’s jagged, hasty handwriting:
“Mom,
If you are reading this, you are safe in the room I paid for in secret. Please, forgive me for screaming at you. Forgive me for pushing you into the rain. I had to make them believe I hated you. I had to make Chloe and her father, Victor Vance, believe I had abandoned my past completely.
Mom, six months ago, I discovered why Dad really died in that factory explosion. It wasn't an accident. Victor Vance sabotaged the machinery to claim a twenty-million-dollar insurance payout and cover up his illegal chemical smuggling operations. When I began digging into the truth to get justice for Dad, Victor’s men caught me.
They gave me a choice: die immediately, or sign a contract that effectively makes me their slave. Victor used my engineering skills to fix his illegal offshore accounts. But three weeks ago, Victor found out I was secretly gathering evidence to send to the federal authorities. He took everything from me. He forced me into a marriage arrangement with his ruthless daughter, Chloe, to keep me under total surveillance.
Yesterday, Victor threatened to kill you if I didn't hand over the hard drive containing the evidence. I couldn't let them touch a single hair on your head, Mom. So I stole two million dollars from Victor’s private vault—money he earned from Dad’s death—and put it in this bag for you.
The liquid blood on this paper isn't from a fight, Mom. The doctors diagnosed me with stage-four lung toxicity two months ago—caused by the chemical leaks at Vance’s plant when I was trying to find the evidence. I don't have much time left. My life is already over, but yours doesn't have to be.
The notebook beneath the money contains every password, every offshore account number, and every piece of evidence that will lock Victor Vance away forever. Give it to Agent Marcus at the Federal Bureau. Use the money to run far away, buy a small house near the ocean like you always dreamed, and live a peaceful life.
Don't come back for me, Mom. Tonight, I am going to blow up Vance’s central server room from the inside to wipe away my tracks and stall his men. Let the world think I was a monster who abandoned his mother for wealth. As long as you are safe, my sacrifice is complete.
I love you, Mom. I’ve always loved you.
— Your son, Julian.”
Ellen collapsed onto the floor, clutching the blood-stained paper to her chest, her chest heaving as agonizing wails tore from her throat.
Her son hadn't abandoned her. He hadn't sold his soul for wealth. He was sacrificing his life, his reputation, and his very breath to protect her and avenge his father!
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"No... no, Julian!" Ellen cried into the dark room, wiping her tear-streaked face with her sleeve. "You gave up everything for me... but I won't let you die alone in that snake pit!"
She grabbed the leather notebook, zipped the bag shut, and ran back out into the freezing storm.
