CHAPTER 12: THE CHOICE OF VICTOR BLACKWOOD
The countdown continued.
23:59:58.
23:59:57.
Every second echoed through the Blackwood mansion like a warning.
Nobody spoke.
Because everyone understood what Daniel Voss had done.
He had not sent an army.
He had not sent assassins.
He had not threatened Victor with death.
He had done something far more dangerous.
He had forced Victor to look at himself.
For years, Victor Blackwood had believed power was the only way to survive.
Power protected his family.
Power prevented enemies from hurting him.
Power ensured nobody could ever take something from him again.
But now Daniel had placed the one thing Victor valued above everything else in front of him.
His son.
His future.
And he had given him an impossible choice.
Destroy the empire.
Or become the monster who created it.
Victor stood in the center of the control room, staring at the countdown.
His mother watched him quietly.
Lily stood beside Ethan.
Thomas and Adrian remained silent.
For once, nobody had an answer.
Because this decision belonged only to Victor.
“Tell me everything.”
Victor’s voice broke the silence.
Everyone looked at him.
His mother stepped forward.
“Victor…”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“Not another secret.”
His words were calm.
But everyone felt the weight behind them.
“I spent my entire life believing I understood my family.”
He looked around the room.
“But every person I trusted kept pieces of the truth from me.”
Nobody argued.
Because they knew he was right.
“So now I want everything.”
A pause.
“No more protection.”
“No more lies.”
His mother closed her eyes.
Then nodded.
“You deserve the truth.”
She walked toward the table and picked up an old file.
“This began before you were born.”
Victor looked at the documents.
“Daniel Voss built his network by controlling families like ours.”
She opened the file.
“Your grandfather believed power was everything. He made deals with Voss because it increased the Blackwood influence.”
Victor looked disgusted.
“And my father?”
“Your father inherited it.”
She continued.
“But unlike his father, he realized what it had become.”
Thomas nodded.
“Your father spent years trying to dismantle the system.”
Victor looked at Adrian.
“And you helped him?”
Adrian lowered his head.
“Yes.”
Victor’s expression hardened.
“Then why betray him?”
Adrian looked broken.
“Because Daniel found my weakness.”
“What weakness?”
Adrian looked at Ethan.
“My family.”
The room became quiet.
“Daniel threatened them.”
Adrian continued.
“He told me if I refused, they would disappear.”
Victor stared.
“So you killed my father to save yours?”
Adrian’s eyes filled with regret.
“No.”
A pause.
“I tried to save everyone.”
Victor looked away.
“And failed.”
“Yes.”
The honesty hurt more than a lie.
The countdown continued.
21:15:43.
Victor walked to the window.
Chicago stretched before him.
A city he had spent years controlling.
A city that feared his name.
But suddenly, all that power felt meaningless.
Because the person who mattered most was standing behind him.
Ethan.
A child who did not care about the Blackwood name.
A child who did not care about enemies.
A child who only cared whether his father came home.
Victor turned.
He looked at Lily.
“Why did you stay?”
The question surprised her.
“What?”
“You knew this family was dangerous.”
Lily looked at Ethan.
“But he needed me.”
Victor nodded slowly.
That answer was simple.
No ambition.
No hidden plan.
Just loyalty.
The kind he had spent years searching for.
Then he looked at Thomas.
“My father trusted you.”
Thomas nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Thomas answered immediately.
“Because your father believed people could change.”
Victor almost smiled.
“My father was more optimistic than me.”
Thomas looked at him.
“Maybe.”
A pause.
“Or maybe he saw something you forgot.”
“What?”
Thomas looked at Ethan.
“You are not your father.”
The words stayed with Victor.
Not your father.
For years, he had been running from becoming his father.
But maybe he had been running so hard that he never realized he could choose his own path.
Suddenly, the mansion alarm changed.
A new message appeared.
15:00:00
The countdown accelerated.
Everyone froze.
Daniel’s voice returned through the speakers.
“You are running out of time, Victor.”
Victor looked at the cameras.
“Show yourself.”
Daniel laughed.
“Still giving orders.”
A pause.
“That is your father's blood.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“Where is Ethan’s room?”
Daniel smiled.
“Close.”
Victor immediately turned.
“What does that mean?”
“You built a fortress.”
Daniel continued.
“But you forgot something.”
A pause.
“Every fortress has a foundation.”
The screen showed an image.
The underground chamber.
Then another image.
A hidden room beneath it.
Victor’s face changed.
“There’s another level?”
His mother looked shocked.
“No.”
Daniel laughed.
“Yes.”
The image moved deeper underground.
A room.
A chair.
Files.
And a person.
Victor froze.
Because the person on the screen was someone he recognized.
Someone who should not be there.
Someone everyone thought was gone.
The image zoomed in.
Victor’s breathing stopped.
Richard Blackwood.
But not the Richard they had seen.
This Richard was injured.
Confused.
And chained.
Daniel’s voice became colder.
“You thought Richard was the enemy.”
A pause.
“He was only another victim.”
Victor stared.
The entire story shifted again.
Daniel continued:
“Your father was not trying to protect the empire.”
“He was trying to expose me.”
“But he needed someone to finish what he started.”
Victor looked at the countdown.
Then at the screen.
“Why show me this?”
Daniel answered:
“Because I want to know something.”
A pause.
“Are you truly your father's son?”
The screen went black.
The countdown continued.
14:59:59.
Victor stood silently.
Then he made his decision.
“Adrian.”
The old man looked at him.
“Yes?”
“Open every Blackwood file.”
Adrian froze.
“Victor…”
“Every account.”
“Every connection.”
“Every secret.”
His voice became firm.
“I want the entire empire exposed.”
Everyone stared.
Because they knew what that meant.
The Blackwood empire could collapse.
Years of power.
Years of influence.
Everything could disappear.
But Victor continued.
“I spent my life protecting this name.”
He looked at Ethan.
“Now I’m going to protect the people who carry it.”
Lily watched him quietly.
Because this was the first time she saw Victor Blackwood not as a feared man.
Not as a powerful leader.
But as a father.
A man choosing love over control.
Thomas smiled sadly.
“Your father would be proud.”
Victor looked at him.
“I hope so.”
Then the mansion lights suddenly went out.
A final message appeared.
"GOOD CHOICE."
Victor stared.
Daniel’s voice whispered:
“But now comes the difficult part.”
The emergency lights turned on.
And every security screen displayed the same image.
A person standing outside the mansion gates.
Holding a weapon.
Victor recognized the face.
His expression changed.
Because the person standing there was someone he never expected.
Someone from his past.
Someone connected to his mother's disappearance.
Someone who knew the final secret.
His mother whispered:
“No…”
Victor looked at her.
“Who is that?”
Her face turned pale.
“That is the man who killed your family.”
The screen showed the face clearly.
And beneath it appeared a name:
MARCUS BLACKWOOD.
Victor froze.
Another Blackwood.
Another secret.
Another ghost from the past.
The war was not ending.
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It was only beginning.
Mình sẽ viết tiếp Chapter 13: The Last Blackwood Secret ở phần tiếp theo.
