Chapter 13 - The Truth Beneath the Blackwood EstateThe first thing I noticed was the smell.
Sharp.
Chemical.
Wrong.
I backed away from the safe.
“Daniel?”
He was already examining the door.
“Don't panic.”
“That's easy for you to say.”
Nathan pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and pressed it over my nose and mouth.
“Stay low.”
The mechanical voice repeated its warning.
SECURITY PROTOCOL ACTIVATED.
A thin hiss came from the ventilation panel.
Nathan raised his weapon and fired at the nearest camera.
The lens shattered.
“Does that stop it?” I asked.
“No.”
“Then why did you shoot it?”
“Because I wanted to.”
Under different circumstances, I might have laughed.
Daniel had removed a small toolkit from his coat.
“There should be an emergency release behind the lower panel.”
He knelt beside the door and began removing screws.
Nathan opened the files scattered across the table.
“What are you doing?” I demanded.
“Looking for something useful.”
“While we're being poisoned?”
“Especially while we're being poisoned.”
He flipped through the documents.
Most contained financial records, property transfers, and names I didn't recognize.
Then he stopped.
A hospital form lay beneath the ledger.
He lifted it.
I recognized the logo immediately.
St. Catherine's Hospital.
The document was dated February fourteenth.
My daughter's birth date.
Nathan placed the form beside a second sheet.
The second sheet contained a genetic report.
This was the original report from Lily's birth.
I leaned closer.
The result was unmistakable.
PATERNITY: NATHAN BLACKWOOD.
Beneath it was a handwritten note.
Confirmed. Thomas ordered the report altered before filing.
I felt my knees weaken.
Nathan stared at the page.
“That's the proof we needed.”
Daniel continued working on the panel.
“There'll be more.”
Nathan searched deeper into the safe.
He found a stack of letters bound with a black ribbon. The top envelope carried Thomas's signature.
The letter inside was dated two weeks before Lily was born.
Nathan read it silently.
Then his expression changed.
“What is it?” I asked.
He handed me the page.
The letter contained instructions from Thomas to Victor.
The child must not be allowed to become an heir. If the mother refuses to cooperate, separate her from the infant and make certain she cannot contact Nathan. If Daniel interferes, remind him of what happened to the driver.
My hands trembled.
Thomas had planned this before Lily was born.
He had known about me.
He had known about the child.
He had ordered Victor to separate us.
I looked at Nathan.
“He wanted to take her.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't he kill me?”
Nathan's expression became cold.
“Because a mother who believes her child is in danger can be controlled more easily than a mother who has nothing left to lose.”
The words chilled me.
He was right.
Thomas had never needed to lock me in a room.
He had given me fear and let me build the prison myself.
I stared at the letter again.
A second sheet lay beneath it.
This one was addressed to Daniel.
If Nathan discovers the child, he will destroy the family to protect her. You know what he becomes when he loves someone. Do not let him make the same mistake I made.
I frowned.
“What mistake?”
Nathan took the letter.
He read the final lines.
Then he lowered it slowly.
“My mother.”
Daniel stopped working.
The cellar was quiet except for the hiss of gas.
Nathan looked at me.
“My mother died when I was thirteen. Thomas told us she had taken her own life after discovering his affairs.”
Daniel shook his head.
“He lied.”
Nathan stared at him.
“What?”
“Our mother discovered Thomas was planning to sell the legitimate side of the family business to an overseas group. She threatened to expose him. He arranged her death and made it look like suicide.”
Nathan's face drained of color.
For a moment, he looked like a boy again.
A thirteen-year-old boy standing beside a coffin, being told that the person he loved most had chosen to leave him.
“You knew?” he whispered.
“I suspected.”
“You knew?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“I found evidence five years ago. That's why I planned to expose him.”
Nathan stepped toward his brother.
“You let me believe she killed herself.”
“I was trying to gather proof.”
“You let me believe she abandoned us!”
His voice broke.
“You let me spend years thinking she didn't love us enough to stay.”
Daniel looked devastated.
“I was wrong.”
Nathan stood motionless.
Then he turned away.
I wanted to comfort him, but there was nothing I could say that would repair the years Thomas had stolen.
A loud metallic bang came from the door.
Daniel had removed the lower panel.
“There's a mechanical release,” he said. “But it's connected to the main alarm.”
Nathan looked at the ventilation system.
“How long before the gas becomes dangerous?”
“Not long.”
“Open it.”
Daniel pulled the release.
The door remained shut.
He tried again.
Nothing.
Then a small screen beside the panel illuminated.
A countdown appeared.
00:04:30.
Four and a half minutes.
Nathan grabbed the toolkit.
“Move.”
He examined the lock, found an exposed cable, and pulled it free.
The countdown paused.
Daniel stared at him.
“How did you know to do that?”
Nathan didn't look up.
“Because the person who installed this system was an idiot.”
The lock clicked.
We stumbled through the door into the corridor.
Nathan slammed it shut behind us.
For several seconds, we stood breathing hard.
Then a phone rang.
Not Nathan's.
Not Daniel's.
Mine.
I pulled it from my pocket.
The screen displayed an unknown number.
I answered.
“Hello?”
Thomas's voice came through, calm and almost affectionate.
“Grace. I trust you've found the documents.”
I gripped the phone.
“Where is my daughter?”
“Safe.”
“Let me speak to her.”
A pause.
Then, faintly, I heard Lily crying.
My entire body went rigid.
“Lily!”
Thomas's voice became colder.
“You have until sunrise to bring the documents to the main house. You will come alone. Nathan will remain outside the estate.”
“No.”
“You can refuse. Of course.”
He sounded almost amused.
“But then I will be forced to make a difficult decision about the child's future.”
I pressed my fist against my mouth.
“Please.”
“Don't beg, Grace. It makes you sound like your daughter has inherited the wrong family's temperament.”
The call disconnected.
I stood frozen.
Nathan took the phone from my hand.
His expression was deadly.
“He wants you alone.”
“He wants Lily.”
“He wants both of us to obey.”
I looked at the documents.
Then at the staircase leading toward the main house.
“What if I go?”
Nathan's eyes hardened.
“No.”
“What if I can get close enough to reach her?”
“No.”
“You don't have another plan.”
“I'll make one.”
“You've been making plans for five years. Your brother has been hiding, your uncle has been manipulating the family, and your daughter has been used as a bargaining chip since before she was born.”
My voice shook.
“I am not waiting anymore.”
Nathan stared at me.
Then Daniel spoke.
“She might be right.”
Nathan turned toward him.
“Don't.”
Daniel raised both hands.
“Thomas expects you to come alone because he wants to control your reaction. He expects Grace to refuse because he believes her fear will keep her obedient. If she arrives with the documents, he will think he has won.”
I looked at Daniel.
“And then?”
Daniel's expression hardened.
“Then we make sure he discovers the difference between having a hostage and having control.”
Nathan studied the corridor for several seconds.
Then he handed me the sealed envelope.
“You will not go alone.”
“But he said—”
“I don't care what he said.”
He stepped closer.
“Grace, I won't ask you to hide behind a laundry cart again. I won't ask you to surrender your daughter to protect my family. But I will not stand by while you walk into a room with a man who has spent fifteen years perfecting the art of making people disappear.”
He touched my cheek.
“Let me protect you this time.”
I stared at him.
Then I nodded.
Not because I was surrendering.
Because I finally understood that protecting Lily would require more than one person.
It would require all of us.
We returned to the main house through a concealed passage.
The halls were empty.
The lights were dark.
At the foot of the staircase, Nathan stopped.
He had found something on the floor.
A small pink sock.
Lily's sock.
I recognized the tiny embroidered rabbit on its side.
Beside it lay a folded note.
Nathan opened it.
Three words were written across the page.
SHE KNOWS THE TRUTH.
Underneath was a photograph of Emily.
My sister stood beside a hospital bed.
A newborn baby lay in the bed.
Not Lily.
Another child.
And beneath the photograph was a name.
EVELYN SHAW.
I looked at Nathan.
His face had turned white.
“Grace,” he whispered.
“What's wrong?”
He stared at the photograph.
Then he looked at Daniel.
“Tell me Evelyn wasn't pregnant.”
Daniel didn't answer.
Nathan took one step toward him.
“Tell me.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
May you like
And the truth came out.
“Evelyn had a daughter before she died.”
