Chapter 15 - THE ERASED HEIRVictor couldn't understand.
“Your name is Elizabeth?”
She nodded.
“Elizabeth Blackwood.”
Edward stepped forward.
“You were supposed to be dead.”
Elizabeth laughed.
“So was Amelia.”
Victor demanded:
“Why did you raise Chloe?”
“Because Amelia trusted me.”
“And why hide everything from me?”
“Because your family destroyed mine.”
Elizabeth opened a folder.
Inside were old photographs.
Another Blackwood branch.
Children.
Factories.
A family tree.
Victor saw names his father had never mentioned.
Edward stared.
“You found the records.”
Elizabeth nodded.
“Your grandfather erased us.”
“Why?”
“Because we refused to participate.”
Victor looked at Chloe.
“Why does she have the inheritance?”
Elizabeth answered:
“Because Amelia combined both bloodlines.”
Victor understood.
Chloe wasn't merely the heir.
She was the bridge between the two branches.
Elizabeth continued:
“The system was designed to recognize descendants from both lines.”
Richard nodded.
“That is why Evelyn couldn't activate it.”
“But she tried.”
“Yes.”
Elizabeth looked at Victor.
“And now she's desperate.”
Victor asked:
“Where is Amelia?”
Elizabeth hesitated.
“Alive.”
“Where?”
“She is coming here.”
Victor's heart raced.
Then a gunshot erupted.
Elizabeth fell.
Chloe screamed.
Victor caught her.
A sniper had fired through the glass ceiling.
Richard dragged them behind a wall.
“She's been found!”
Victor looked at Elizabeth.
Blood covered her shoulder.
“Who shot you?”
Elizabeth whispered:
“Evelyn.”
A second shot struck the wall.
Then Evelyn's voice echoed through the speakers.
“You were always too sentimental.”
Victor shouted:
“Come out!”
Evelyn laughed.
“Do you really think this ends with me?”
“No.”
“It ends with the Blackwood family.”
Victor saw movement outside.
Thousands of people were gathering.
Reporters.
Police.
Investors.
Governments.
Evelyn had broadcast the location.
She wanted the world to see the final collapse.
Victor looked at Chloe.
She was crying.
“What do I do?”
Victor held her hand.
“You play.”
Chloe stared.
“What?”
“Your mother taught you how.”
“I don't know the final song.”
Elizabeth whispered:
“Yes, you do.”
Chloe looked at her.
Elizabeth pointed toward the piano.
“Your mother sang it to you when you were little.”
Chloe slowly walked to the piano.
She sat down.
The first note sounded.
Then another.
Amelia's voice came through the speakers.
Singing.
The melody became a recording.
A hidden message emerged.
If Chloe plays this, the system will release everything.
The screens changed.
Secret identities.
Money trails.
Confessions.
The entire network.
Evelyn screamed.
“No!”
Chloe played faster.
The system opened.
And every criminal record in the Blackwood network became public.
But one final file remained locked.
MASTER IDENTITY.
Chloe stared.
A password prompt appeared.
She whispered:
“What is the password?”
A voice answered from behind her.
“Your mother's name.”
Chloe turned.
Amelia stood there.
Alive.
Older.
Crying.
“My name is Amelia Blackwood.”
The file opened.
And the identity of the true mastermind appeared.
Victor looked at the screen.
Then stopped breathing.
May you like
It wasn't Evelyn.
It was him.
