Aiden
Fiona's eyes widened, and William appeared perplexed. Eric appeared shocked at first, but then his face erupted into a broad smile, followed by a wild laugh.

"What did you call him? Who the fuck is Javier?" William asked.

"Damn you Aiden! I wish you weren't so smart. Now you've spoiled my fun," Eric cribbed, still laughing.

"Fun? You call this fun ?" I pointed to the lifeless bodies of Rob and Marilyn.

"Aiden, there are main characters, antagonists, and extras in a play. Usually, the extras perish. They were only there as extras." As if this was a drama for him, he explained.

"So this is play for you? You are a psychopath, Javier!" I said through clenched teeth.

"Woah! Hold on! Why do you keep referring to him as Javier?" William inquired again, his face annoyed.

Fiona looked at Eric as if he had grown horns. She was visibly trembling.

"No! It's not possible, "she exclaimed, covering her mouth.

"Surprised? Are you? I suppose you recall your husband's actions." Eric smiled as he looked across at Fiona.

Except for myself, everyone in the warehouse was taken aback by Eric's true identity. Fiona covered her mouth, gasped, and continued to mumble, "Oh, my goodness! Oh, my goodness!" Her darkest fears had come true. The small boy she had assumed was dead was still alive and standing right in front of her!

"Are you the same Javier?" William murmured as he remembered his mother's revelation about the cassettes.

"You're right, it's very nice that you all remember me," Eric said with a wink.

Sydney shifted and opened her eyes at that same moment. I tried to run towards her, but Eric drew his revolver and pointed it at her. I halted.

"Ahh... The Sleeping Beauty wakes up," Eric exclaimed happily.

Sydney whimpered, "Aiden."

Eric yanked her face upward with a clutch of her hair. It was covered in bruises.
"Let her go," I whispered, gently approaching them and attempting to maintain my composure.

"Stay back, Aiden," Eric threatened, "or I'll kill her right now."

"I apologise for whatever has occurred. Grandpa informed me about the incident only recently." Slowly, I said.

Any pity I had for Eric washed away the instant he touched Sydney. I was merely killing time till officer Conan's backup arrived.

"Well, your grandfather thought I had died. Can't blame him. He was hiding his son's misdeeds. Why would he want to dig up the past?"

"So you never died, but why did your aunt lie? Why didn't she go to the cops?" I asked.

Eric simply shrugged.

"After we returned to Ukraine, I recovered consciousness a few months later. I told her everything and asked her to help my parents and me get justice, but she refused. She desired me to forget about everything. She urged me to forgive your father and grandfather and to pray to God for strength and serenity. Get past the tragedy and start a new life!" He sneered.

"God? Where was good when your father was murdering my parents? Can God give me back my parents and my childhood? NO! I decided at that moment what I must do! I bid my time. Thanks to your grandfather, I was rich! The money your grandfather sent to my aunt was more than generous. My aunt had got greedy and wanted to keep the flow coming in. Hence, she preferred not to file a case against the Reiners. Why kill the goose who laid the golden eggs?" Eric gave a short laugh.

" I pretended to move on and convinced her to declare me dead. She hesitated and stated lying was a sin, but I persuaded her by telling her I wanted a fresh start. I made her phone your grandfather and inform him that I had died and that the funds should be directed to our new company instead. In addition, my father had left a large quantity of money in a Swiss account for me. Why do you think I could purchase a theatre and your company's stocks? By the way...my father left a little of your father's legacy for me as well," Eric said as he steadied the gun and took a disc from his pocket.

I immediately recognised what was on the DVD. Even though my father had passed away, our reputation would be ruined if the CD fell into the hands of the media or my business competitors.

I drew in a long breath, "So what do you want now? Is it money? An apology? Though that would be too insignificant. I can't let you harm my grandfather or Sydney. So, what's left for me to do?"

"I wanted your father to pay for his wrongdoings, but he cheated me! He died far too soon, before I could get my hands on him. So, I guess it's up to you to make amends for your father's transgression. So I set out to wreck your life. Marilyn and I plotted together. She was head over heels in love with you and envious of this bitch!" He tightened his grip on Sydney. She shivered.

"Had you married Marilyn? I could have easily manipulated you through her, but you had to marry this little bitch instead... "

"HEY! Can we get back to doing what we were supposed to?" Eric was rudely interrupted by William. "OK! We now know who you are, but I don't give a fuck if you are Eric or Javier. You want your revenge. Fine! So do I....now can we just bump this ba......"?

Eric levelled the gun at William and shot fire before he could finish his sentence. As William collapsed in a pool of blood, I stood there stunned. Leah sobbed into her gag once again. Sydney trembled like a leaf.

"NO!" Fiona screamed and dashed over to William.

"That's for interrupting me and being a Reiner," Eric said coldly, his gaze now fixed on William's nearly lifeless corpse. Before he shot anyone else, I realised I had to stop him.

"Leave my wife Eric, she is innocent. You can have me instead!" I shouted.

"Oh no. What's the fun in that? I will kill you, Aiden, but not yet." He grinned and pointed the gun at Sydney.