Chapter 5 - The Grandmother Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Victoria Blackwood entered the library surrounded by six armed guards.
She did not look frightened.
That was the first thing I noticed.
The second was that she looked almost exactly as I remembered her.
Older, yes.
Thinner.
Her blonde hair had turned silver.
But the same pale eyes watched everything.
Every camera.
Every exit.
Every person.
Then she saw me.
“Lena.”
My body went rigid.
Adrian stood between us.
“You don’t get to say her name.”
Victoria’s gaze moved to her son.
Something broke behind her eyes.
“Adrian.”
He did not respond.
She took one step toward him.
Three guns immediately lifted.
Victoria stopped.
“I suppose I deserve that.”
“You deserve worse.”
“Probably.”
I looked between them.
“Enough. Why are you here?”
Victoria turned toward me.
“To finish what I failed to do seven years ago.”
Adrian’s hand moved toward his weapon.
She lifted both hands.
“Protect Ethan.”
Silence.
I held up the photograph she had brought.
It showed me lying in a hospital bed.
Twenty-four years old.
Exhausted.
Holding newborn Ethan.
The photograph had been taken without my knowledge.
“Who took this?”
“I did.”
My stomach turned.
“You were there?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Across the street.”
I felt sick.
“You watched me give birth?”
“I watched the building.”
“That is not better.”
“No.”
Adrian’s voice was ice.
“Start talking.”
Victoria sat down slowly.
“Your father discovered Lena was pregnant three days before she overheard him.”
Adrian stared.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“You let me bury her.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Adrian crossed the room so fast Marcus stepped forward.
“Boss.”
Adrian stopped inches from his mother.
“For seven years I visited a grave.”
“I know.”
“You watched me.”
“Yes.”
“You knew she was alive.”
“Yes.”
His voice cracked.
“Why?”
Victoria looked at him.
“Because Roman would have found her if you had known.”
Adrian laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I expect you to hate me.”
“Good.”
“But I kept them alive.”
He stared at her.
Victoria continued.
“Roman had informants inside your security team. Inside the police department. Inside federal offices. If you had learned Lena survived, he would have known within hours.”
“So you staged her death.”
“Yes.”
“The body?”
“A woman who had died unidentified two weeks earlier.”
I felt nauseated.
“And my necklace?” I asked.
Victoria looked ashamed.
“I took it.”
Adrian turned away.
For several seconds, no one spoke.
Then I asked the question that had haunted me.
“The night in Roman’s study. What was he planning?”
Victoria’s expression hardened.
“To take the baby.”
My breath caught.
“Why?”
“He suspected the child might be Adrian’s first son.”
Adrian frowned.
“I was twenty-nine.”
“Which meant Roman had begun thinking about succession.”
Victoria looked toward the hallway.
“Your father had become paranoid. Gabriel was dead. Julian was unstable. You refused to marry the women he chose.”
“So he wanted my unborn son.”
“Yes.”
“What would he have done to Lena?”
Victoria looked at me.
“He would have killed you.”
My knees weakened.
Adrian went completely silent.
I had known.
But hearing it confirmed felt different.
“And Ethan?” I whispered.
“He would have raised him.”
“As what?”
Victoria’s mouth tightened.
“As another Blackwood.”
I looked toward my son’s room.
“No.”
“I agreed.”
“You could have told me.”
“I did not know whether Adrian could protect you from Roman.”
Adrian spun around.
“You didn’t trust me?”
“I trusted you as my son. I did not trust your organization.”
That landed.
Because she was right.
Victoria continued.
“So I helped Lena disappear.”
I stared.
“You barely spoke to me.”
“I arranged the bus ticket in the envelope.”
I remembered it.
Cash.
A ticket to Denver.
A note.
Do not use your real name.
“That was you.”
“Yes.”
“You followed me.”
“For the first year.”
“Why?”
“To make sure Roman didn’t.”
Adrian rubbed both hands over his face.
“Then Roman died.”
“Yes.”
“Four years ago.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you come back?”
Victoria looked toward him.
“Because by then Julian knew.”
The room changed.
Adrian lowered his hands.
“Knew what?”
“About Ethan.”
My heart stopped.
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“You said you protected them.”
“I tried.”
“What happened?”
“One of my people betrayed me.”
“Who?”
Victoria hesitated.
That hesitation terrified me.
“Who?” Adrian repeated.
She looked toward Marcus.
Marcus’s face changed.
Adrian followed her gaze.
“No.”
Marcus took one step backward.
Victoria spoke softly.
“Marcus Cole.”
Everything happened at once.
Adrian reached for his gun.
Marcus drew first.
“DON’T!”
I threw myself down.
A shot exploded.
Glass shattered.
Marcus grabbed Victoria by the throat and pulled her backward.
Security guards raised their weapons.
“Drop it!” Adrian shouted.
Marcus pressed the barrel against Victoria’s head.
“No one moves.”
I could not understand what I was seeing.
Marcus.
The man Adrian trusted enough to guard his home.
The man who had stood beside him in the hospital.
The man who had protected Ethan.
“You work for Julian,” Adrian said.
Marcus smiled faintly.
“I work for whoever is going to survive.”
Adrian’s face became something I had never seen before.
Pure betrayal.
“You’ve been with me fifteen years.”
“I was with your father first.”
The truth hit.
Roman’s informant.
Victoria had said Roman had someone inside Adrian’s security team.
It had been Marcus all along.
“You told Roman Lena was pregnant,” Adrian said.
Marcus shrugged.
“He paid well.”
I felt rage rise through the fear.
“You watched my son for three months.”
“Yes.”
“Why poison him?”
Marcus glanced at me.
“To force the blood alert.”
Adrian’s expression sharpened.
“What?”
Marcus smiled.
“We needed confirmation.”
My stomach dropped.
They had not known for certain Ethan was Adrian’s child.
They poisoned him to trigger the genetic donor match.
“You nearly killed him just to test his DNA?”
“It was controlled.”
“He almost died!”
“Not if his father responded quickly.”
Adrian’s voice became deadly quiet.
“You used my son as bait.”
Marcus smiled.
“And you came exactly as expected.”
Victoria suddenly drove her elbow backward.
Marcus fired.
Adrian fired at the same moment.
Victoria fell.
Marcus slammed against the wall.
Security rushed forward.
I crawled toward Victoria.
Blood spread beneath her shoulder.
She was conscious.
Barely.
“Ethan,” she whispered.
“He’s safe.”
“No.”
Her fingers grabbed my wrist.
“No, Lena.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“Marcus wasn’t the only one.”
Adrian knelt beside her.
“Who else?”
Victoria struggled to breathe.
“The house…”
Adrian leaned closer.
“What about the house?”
She looked toward the ceiling.
“The cameras.”
Then every light in the mansion went black.
Somewhere above us, Ethan screamed.
I ran.
By the time I reached his room, the bed was empty.
The window stood open.
A rope hung over the balcony.
May you like
And on Ethan’s pillow sat a single black chess piece.
The king.
