Chapter 8 - THE WARNING FROM A DEAD MAN
Victor moved first.
He stepped between Lily and Adrian.
Gabriel was not with them.
There were no Blackwood guards in the vault.
Only Victor.
Lily.
Adrian.
And a driver waiting two levels above.
Victor’s hand remained inside his jacket.
“Explain.”
Adrian’s smile disappeared.
“I can.”
“Do it before I decide I don’t care.”
Lily stared at her father’s letter.
Her hands were shaking.
Adrian looked at her.
“Thomas didn’t know the entire truth when he wrote that.”
“That is a terrible opening sentence.”
Lily replied.
Victor almost admired her ability to sound angry while terrified.
Adrian slowly raised both hands.
“The man your father knew as Adrian Blackwood betrayed him.”
Lily’s eyes narrowed.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I worked for Raymond.”
“You already told us that.”
“No.”
Adrian said.
“I told you I worked for him after I disappeared.”
“The truth is I started before the warehouse.”
Victor’s face hardened.
“How long?”
“Two years.”
Victor stared at his brother.
“You were spying on our father.”
“Yes.”
“For Raymond.”
“Yes.”
Victor’s hand came out of his jacket.
Empty.
Then he hit Adrian hard enough to send him against the vault wall.
Adrian did not fight back.
Victor grabbed his collar.
“You used me.”
“Yes.”
“You used Elena.”
Adrian’s expression changed.
“No.”
“You met my wife behind my back.”
“To warn her.”
“After spending years helping the man who wanted my family destroyed.”
Adrian shoved Victor away.
“I was twenty-one when Raymond found me.”
Victor stepped forward again.
“He didn’t find you.”
“He recruited you.”
“Yes.”
Adrian shouted.
“And he told me things about Dad that were true.”
Silence.
Victor stopped.
Adrian’s breathing was heavy.
“He showed me accounts.”
“Bodies.”
“Police reports that disappeared.”
“Families Dad ruined.”
“He made himself look like the righteous brother who had escaped.”
“And I believed him.”
Lily lowered the letter.
“When did you stop?”
“The night your father died.”
Adrian looked at her.
“Thomas discovered I was feeding information to Raymond.”
“He confronted me.”
“What did you do?”
“I lied.”
Adrian whispered.
“I told him I was trying to expose Raymond from inside.”
“Were you?”
“Not yet.”
Lily’s face hardened.
“Then Dad was right not to trust you.”
“Yes.”
Adrian did not defend himself.
“He wrote that letter before his death.”
“He knew I had access to his files.”
“He knew Raymond had asked me to find the ledger.”
Victor released him.
“Why should we trust you now?”
“You shouldn’t.”
Adrian replied.
“But Ethan is still alive because I came back.”
Victor stared.
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes.”
“I do.”
“How?”
Adrian looked toward the wooden box.
“Play the recorder.”
Lily frowned.
“My father’s recorder?”
“Play it.”
Victor did not like taking instructions from him.
Lily pressed the button anyway.
Static.
Then Thomas Bennett’s voice filled the vault.
Lily closed her eyes.
Eight years disappeared.
She was seventeen again.
Her father was in the kitchen.
Laughing.
Complaining about burnt coffee.
Calling her kiddo.
The recording began.
“If this is being heard, then the situation is worse than I hoped.”
Thomas sounded tired.
“Lily, I’m sorry.”
Her eyes filled.
“I wanted you far away from this.”
“But some families build cages so large their children mistake them for cities.”
Victor stared at the recorder.
Thomas continued.
“Salvatore Blackwood is dangerous.”
“Raymond Hale is worse.”
“He hides behind laws, companies, charities, and men willing to commit crimes he can condemn in public.”
“Raymond wants the Blackwood Heritage Trust.”
“He cannot claim it while Salvatore’s direct heirs remain.”
Victor’s face changed.
“Direct heirs.”
Lily whispered.
Thomas continued.
“Victor is protected by a separate inheritance provision.”
“His future children are not.”
Victor’s blood turned cold.
“Raymond’s plan requires the next Blackwood child to die before his fifth birthday.”
Adrian looked at Victor.
“Now you understand.”
The recording continued.
“I discovered another problem.”
“Raymond has someone inside Salvatore’s inner circle.”
“I do not know who.”
“I suspected Michael.”
“I suspected Dominic.”
“I even suspected Adrian.”
Adrian looked down.
“Maybe I suspected too many people.”
“But I learned one thing with certainty.”
“There is a woman helping Raymond.”
Lily tightened her grip.
“Her name is Serena Montigue.”
Victor closed his eyes briefly.
Thomas continued.
“She approached me pretending she wanted to expose Raymond.”
“She lied.”
“She wanted the location of my evidence.”
“I told her nothing.”
“She believes I hid a paper ledger.”
“I didn’t.”
Lily looked at the hard drive.
Thomas’s voice continued.
“The evidence is digital.”
“Copies exist in separate places.”
“The vault contains one.”
“Another is hidden where no Blackwood would willingly look.”
Victor frowned.
Adrian looked equally confused.
Thomas continued.
“If Lily reaches this vault with Victor Blackwood, then Victor needs to know something.”
Victor looked up.
“I do not believe Victor is his father.”
Silence.
Victor’s face changed.
Thomas continued before anyone could speak.
“I believe Salvatore’s eldest biological son was replaced at birth.”
Lily stared at Victor.
Adrian went pale.
Victor looked as if the world had shifted beneath him.
“What?”
The recorder continued.
“Hospital records from 1985 were altered.”
“Blood records do not match.”
“Salvatore never discovered it.”
“Someone else did.”
“Raymond.”
Victor’s voice was almost inaudible.
“No.”
Adrian stared at him.
Thomas continued.
“If Raymond proves Victor is not Salvatore’s biological son, the Heritage Trust becomes vulnerable.”
“But there is a complication.”
“Victor’s son may still qualify through Elena’s bloodline.”
Lily frowned.
“Elena?”
Adrian whispered.
Thomas continued.
“Because Elena Moretti is descended from Salvatore Blackwood’s mother’s family.”
Victor sat down slowly.
His marriage to Elena had never been arranged.
He had believed that.
Thomas was saying their bloodlines intersected generations earlier.
“That is why Raymond cannot simply expose Victor.”
“He needs Victor’s child gone.”
Lily felt sick.
Ethan had been targeted before he was born.
Thomas’s voice softened.
“Lily.”
She held her breath.
“If you are hearing this, you may be wondering why I involved you.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“The key was insurance.”
“I hoped you would never use it.”
“But if you did, I trusted one person to help you.”
Adrian lifted his head.
Victor stared at the recorder.
Thomas said the name.
“Dominic Russo.”
Everyone froze.
Adrian whispered.
“That makes no sense.”
Thomas continued.
“Dominic knows where the second copy is.”
“He does not know where this one is.”
“Do not tell him until you are certain he has remained loyal.”
Victor looked toward the vault door.
Dominic was currently under guard at the hospital.
Thomas’s final words came softly.
“And Lily.”
“If Serena Montigue is still alive when you hear this, do not confront her alone.”
“She is not the architect.”
“She is the door.”
“Find who stands behind her.”
The recording ended.
Silence.
Lily wiped tears from her face.
Victor picked up the hard drive.
“We copy everything.”
Adrian nodded.
“Not here.”
Victor looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because if Raymond knew enough to demand the ledger, he may know about the vault.”
Almost on cue, the lights went out.
Darkness swallowed them.
Lily gasped.
Victor grabbed her arm.
“Stay behind me.”
A red emergency light flickered on.
The steel vault door began closing.
Adrian lunged.
Too late.
It sealed.
Victor pulled out his phone.
No signal.
Lily looked toward the ceiling.
“Was that supposed to happen?”
“No.”
Adrian replied.
A mechanical hiss came from the vents.
Victor looked up.
“What is that?”
Adrian’s face changed.
“Air system.”
A sweet chemical smell entered the room.
Lily covered her mouth.
Victor grabbed the wooden box.
“We need out.”
Adrian examined the lock.
“Inside release is electronic.”
“Power is down.”
Victor searched the walls.
Lily’s head began feeling light.
“How long?”
She asked.
Adrian looked at the vent.
“If that’s what I think it is, not long.”
Victor slammed his fist against the steel door.
No response.
Then Lily remembered her father’s letter.
Another page had been folded beneath the first.
She opened it.
A hand-drawn diagram appeared.
Vault 317.
A red X marked the floor beneath the back shelf.
“Victor.”
He turned.
“My father planned for this.”
They shoved the shelf aside.
A small metal hatch sat in the floor.
Adrian laughed once.
“Thomas.”
Victor opened it.
A maintenance shaft descended beneath them.
“You first.”
He told Lily.
She climbed down.
Adrian followed with the box.
Victor came last.
They crawled through darkness while the chemical gas filled the vault above.
Five minutes later, they emerged into an old utility corridor.
Lily collapsed against the wall.
Victor crouched beside her.
“You okay?”
“Yes.”
Adrian checked the hard drive.
“Still here.”
Victor’s phone regained signal.
Six missed calls.
All from Gabriel.
Victor called.
“What happened?”
Gabriel sounded breathless.
“Where are you?”
“Leaving the bank.”
“Boss, don’t come back to the mansion.”
Victor froze.
“Why?”
“Someone breached the estate.”
“Serena?”
“Gone.”
Victor’s eyes darkened.
“How?”
“We don’t know.”
“And Dominic?”
A pause.
Victor’s stomach tightened.
“What?”
Gabriel’s voice lowered.
“Dominic is gone too.”
Adrian stared.
Victor said nothing.
Then Gabriel added.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Ethan was found.”
Lily grabbed Victor’s arm.
Victor stopped breathing.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Gabriel hesitated.
“Inside Dominic Russo’s house.”
Victor looked at Adrian.
Lily felt hope collide with terror.
Then Gabriel finished.
“But Dominic’s wife was found unconscious beside him.”
“And on the wall above Ethan’s crib, someone wrote a message.”
Victor’s voice became cold.
“What message?”
Gabriel answered.
May you like
ONE TRAITOR DOWN.
TWO TO GO.
