Chapter 7 - THE DEALBrianna stared at Victor.
"You have Damian?"
Victor nodded.
"He was arrested because of me."
Ariana stepped forward.
"You framed him."
"Of course."
"Why?"
"Because Damian knows too much."
Victor placed the document on the altar.
"Sign."
Brianna looked at it.
"Where is my mother?"
"Alive."
"Let me see her."
"After you sign."
"No."
Victor's expression hardened.
"You've become stubborn."
"Because I know people like you."
He laughed.
"You don't know anything about me."
"I know you destroyed our family."
Victor's gaze shifted toward Ariana.
"No. Your family destroyed itself."
Ariana looked at him with hatred.
"You used us."
"I created you."
"You were never there."
"I was watching."
Victor looked at Brianna.
"I watched both of you grow."
Brianna felt sick.
"Why didn't you come to us?"
"Because your mother chose another man."
"And you abandoned us."
"I was building something."
"What?"
"Revenge."
The word hung in the chapel.
Victor admitted that he had spent decades planning to reclaim everything taken from him.
The Blackwood fortune.
The company.
The trust.
The family's reputation.
Damian had simply become another obstacle.
Then Victor revealed something even more shocking.
Damian's father had not built the Blackwood empire alone.
Victor had financed it.
The fortune originally belonged to him.
Brianna stared at the document.
"So you want everything."
"No."
Victor smiled.
"I want what is mine."
Ariana suddenly picked up a heavy candle holder.
She raised it.
Victor looked at her.
"Don't."
Ariana struck him.
Victor fell.
Brianna grabbed the documents.
"Run!"
They raced through the chapel.
But outside, several men were waiting.
They were surrounded.
Ariana whispered,
"We're trapped."
Victor emerged from the chapel.
Blood ran down the side of his face.
"You should have signed."
Brianna looked at him.
"I'll never sign."
Victor took out his phone.
He showed her a live video.
Damian was sitting in a dark room.
His face bruised.
His hands tied.
Brianna's heart broke.
Damian looked at the camera.
"Brianna, don't do it."
Victor smiled.
"See?"
He brought the phone closer to Damian.
"You have one hour."
Brianna stepped forward.
Victor continued:
"Sign the trust away, or he dies."
Damian shook his head.
"No."
Brianna cried.
"Damian!"
He looked directly at the camera.
"Listen to me."
"I won't let you die."
"You must not sign."
Victor struck him.
Brianna screamed.
"STOP!"
Victor smiled.
"One hour."
Then he walked away.
The sisters were locked inside a small room.
Ariana sat on the floor.
"I'm sorry."
Brianna stared at her.
"For what?"
"For everything."
Brianna looked away.
After a long silence, Ariana whispered,
"I know how to get us out."
"How?"
Ariana reached into her sleeve.
A tiny key dropped into her palm.
"I stole this from Victor."
Brianna looked at her.
Ariana smiled.
"And I know where he keeps the real evidence."
"Where?"
"Under the Blackwood family cemetery."
Brianna's heart stopped.
"What?"
Ariana opened the door.
"Come on."
"And Damian?"
Ariana looked at her.
May you like
"We save him after we destroy Victor."
:::
