Chapter 9 - THE BROTHER WHO WANTED THE BLACKWOOD NAME
Victor walked into an empty consultation room and closed the door.
Lily followed despite his protest.
Detective Grant remained outside with officers tracing the call.
Victor put Damian on speaker.
“Where are you?”
Damian laughed.
“You haven’t changed.”
“You called me.”
“Because Serena talks too much when frightened.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“So you know she was arrested.”
“I know more about your house than you do.”
That insult landed because it was true.
Victor forced himself to remain calm.
“Did you arrange Clara’s death?”
Silence.
Then Damian sighed.
“No.”
“Did you know Adrian sabotaged her car?”
“No.”
“Did you send Serena?”
Another pause.
“I introduced her to Adrian.”
Lily watched Victor’s jaw tighten.
“Why?”
“Because you took everything.”
Victor laughed once.
“I inherited what Father left me.”
“Father left you my life.”
“You walked away.”
“I was forced out.”
“You tried to sell family assets behind his back.”
“You always did believe whatever story made you the righteous son.”
Victor’s patience thinned.
“Clara.”
Damian became quiet.
“What about her?”
“Why was she on that highway?”
Damian didn’t answer.
Victor slammed his palm against the table.
“WHY WAS MY WIFE ON THAT HIGHWAY?”
Lily flinched.
Victor immediately lowered his voice.
Damian finally spoke.
“She was coming to meet me.”
Victor froze.
“What?”
“Clara contacted me.”
“Why?”
“She had discovered Adrian was stealing from you.”
Victor stared at the phone.
“She didn’t trust anyone inside your organization.”
“So she trusted you?”
“No.”
Damian laughed bitterly.
“She hated me.”
“Then why contact you?”
“Because she knew I hated Adrian more.”
Victor remembered years of rivalry between Damian and Adrian.
He had assumed it was jealousy.
Maybe it was.
Maybe it was also instinct.
“What did she want?”
“Proof.”
“Of what?”
“That Adrian was moving money.”
Victor glanced at Lily.
“She found proof?”
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“She never reached me.”
The room became silent.
Damian continued.
“She called twenty minutes before the crash. She sounded terrified.”
Victor shut his eyes.
“What did she say?”
“She said Adrian knew.”
Victor’s face tightened.
“Anything else?”
“She told me to protect Ethan if something happened to her.”
Victor looked toward the hospital wall separating him from his son.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Damian laughed without humor.
“Would you have believed me?”
Victor couldn’t answer.
“You thought I wanted your empire,” Damian continued. “You still do.”
“You did.”
“Yes.”
The honesty surprised him.
“I wanted what Father gave you,” Damian said. “I wanted to humiliate you. So when Adrian told me he had a way inside your household, I listened.”
“Serena.”
“Yes.”
“You helped her get near me.”
“Yes.”
Lily’s expression hardened.
Damian continued.
“But the plan was originally financial.”
Victor’s voice dropped.
“Originally.”
“Adrian wanted leverage. Serena wanted money. I wanted to watch you lose control.”
“And Clara died.”
“Yes.”
“And you stayed silent.”
“Yes.”
Victor’s eyes became cold.
“You’re no better.”
“No.”
Another surprise.
Damian didn’t defend himself.
“I spent fourteen months knowing my hatred helped place Serena near your family.”
Victor swallowed.
“Where are you?”
“Zurich.”
“Come back.”
Damian laughed.
“So you can kill me?”
“So you can testify.”
Silence.
Lily looked at Victor.
The old Victor might have wanted vengeance.
This Victor wanted truth.
Damian seemed to realize that.
“You’re serious.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Victor looked through the glass at Ethan.
“Because my son deserves a father who ends this differently.”
Damian was silent for a long time.
Then he said, “There’s one more thing Clara told me.”
Victor’s heart began pounding.
“What?”
“She said she made copies.”
“Of what?”
“Everything she found.”
“Where?”
“She said, ‘Where Victor never looks.’”
Victor frowned.
“That was it?”
“No.”
Damian’s voice softened.
“She said you’d understand.”
The call ended moments later.
Victor stared at Lily.
“Where I never look.”
Lily repeated it.
“Could be somewhere in the house.”
Victor thought.
Clara had known him better than anyone.
Where did Victor never look?
Closets?
Kitchen?
Nursery?
Then Lily’s expression changed.
“The library.”
Victor frowned.
“I use the library.”
“You use the desk.”
“So?”
“You told me once Clara loved books and you hated them.”
Victor stared.
He remembered saying it casually months earlier when Lily had asked why half the shelves were dusty.
Clara bought books faster than anyone could read them.
Victor had used the room only for meetings.
Never touched the shelves.
“Where I never look.”
They returned to the Blackwood mansion that afternoon under police supervision.
The house felt different.
Not home.
Crime scene markers remained near the foyer.
The marble where Ethan had been hurt had been cleaned, but Victor could still see it.
Lily hesitated there.
Victor noticed.
“You don’t have to stay.”
“I do.”
They entered the library.
Thousands of books covered two walls.
Clara’s collection.
History.
Poetry.
Architecture.
Mysteries.
Victor stared helplessly.
“This could take days.”
Lily smiled faintly.
“Maybe she left another clue.”
Victor thought about Clara.
Her sense of humor.
Her impatience with his refusal to read fiction.
Then he noticed one book slightly pulled forward.
A children’s book.
Goodnight Moon.
Victor frowned.
“Clara hated that book.”
Lily looked at him.
“What?”
“She said it made no sense.”
“Then why is it here?”
Victor pulled it from the shelf.
Behind it was a small metal box.
His hands trembled.
Inside were copies of bank transfers.
Emails.
Photographs of Adrian meeting Serena months before Clara’s death.
A mechanic’s invoice.
And a voice recorder.
Victor stared at it.
Lily whispered, “Play it.”
He pressed the button.
Clara’s voice filled the library.
“Victor, if you’re hearing this, something happened before I could explain.”
Victor’s eyes closed.
Her voice.
Fourteen months.
He had forgotten how warm it sounded.
“I need you to listen instead of getting angry.”
Lily looked away, giving him privacy.
“Adrian has been stealing from you for more than a year. I believe Damian helped introduce the people involved, but I don’t believe Damian understands how far Adrian plans to go.”
Victor sat down.
Clara continued.
“Serena Montigue is part of it.”
His breath caught.
“Adrian wants her close to you.”
Lily covered her mouth.
“I don’t know why yet. But Victor, please—if I’m wrong, you can laugh at me later. If I’m right, protect Ethan.”
The recording paused.
Then Clara added one final sentence.
“And stop believing loyalty is something people owe you just because you once saved them.”
Victor lowered his head.
Lily saw tears fall onto his hands.
This time he did not hide them.
The most feared man in Chicago cried quietly inside a library because the dead woman he loved had finally been allowed to warn him.
Lily sat beside him.
Neither spoke.
After a long time, Victor looked at the evidence box.
“This clears Damian of Clara’s murder.”
“Not of everything.”
“No.”
Victor’s expression hardened.
“But it proves Adrian and Serena started planning before Clara died.”
Lily nodded.
Police collected the material.
By evening, Adrian changed his statement.
Confronted with Clara’s recordings, he admitted ordering the brake sabotage.
He insisted Serena encouraged it.
Serena blamed Adrian.
Damian agreed to return to Chicago and cooperate.
The conspiracy began collapsing under the weight of everyone trying to save themselves.
But one question remained.
Why had Serena returned to the hospital with a syringe?
Investigators finally found the answer inside her messages.
She had sent one text to Adrian before entering.
If Ethan dies before Victor changes the trust, everything is over.
Adrian replied:
Then don’t let him die.
Serena responded:
Too late. Victor knows.
The syringe had not been intended merely to sedate Ethan.
She planned to create another medical crisis.
Then blame Lily one final time.
Victor read the message twice.
He handed the phone back.
“Make sure the prosecutor sees everything.”
Grant nodded.
“He will.”
Victor turned toward Lily.
She was holding Ethan against her shoulder.
The baby’s cast looked impossibly large on his small arm.
Victor approached.
Ethan reached for him.
Victor took his son.
Then he looked at Lily.
“I owe you more than an apology.”
“You don’t owe me anything.”
“Yes.”
His voice became quiet.
“I owe you the truth.”
Lily waited.
“I hired you because your résumé said you were qualified.”
She smiled faintly.
“That’s usually why people hire nannies.”
Victor didn’t smile.
“But I kept you because Ethan loved you.”
Lily’s expression softened.
“And tonight I realized I trust you more than anyone left inside this house.”
“Victor—”
“I’m not asking you to stay.”
Lily stared at him.
“You aren’t?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because staying should be your choice.”
For the first time since Serena had kicked her onto the marble, Lily felt something loosen inside her chest.
Victor continued.
“If you leave, you’ll receive full pay for the next year and security until the case is finished.”
Lily looked at Ethan.
“And if I stay?”
Victor glanced down at his son.
“Then we rebuild this house around what he needs.”
Lily touched Ethan’s hair.
The baby smiled sleepily.
“Then I stay.”
Victor nodded.
Behind them, a police officer entered the library.
“Mr. Blackwood?”
Victor turned.
“We have Serena’s formal statement.”
“And?”
The officer hesitated.
“She says she’ll testify against Adrian.”
Victor wasn’t surprised.
“But she wants a deal.”
Victor looked at Clara’s evidence box.
“Not my decision.”
“No.”
The officer continued.
“She also says there’s something you still don’t know about Ethan.”
Lily stiffened.
Victor’s eyes sharpened.
“What?”
May you like
The officer looked uncomfortable.
“She claims Ethan Blackwood is not your biological son.”
