Chapter 9 - THE BOY IN THE SECURITY UNIFORMDaniel removed the guard's jacket.
He looked sixteen.
Not eleven.
Victor stared at him.
“You've been working in my house.”
Daniel nodded.
“For months.”
“Why?”
“To find Mom.”
Victor stepped forward.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“Would you have believed me?”
Victor didn't answer.
Daniel turned toward Chloe.
“You found Grandpa.”
Chloe smiled.
“I did.”
Daniel looked relieved.
Then his expression changed.
“We have a problem.”
Samuel closed the laboratory door.
“What problem?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Evelyn knows where we are.”
Victor immediately turned.
“How?”
“Because I told her.”
Victor stared.
“Why?”
“I had no choice.”
Daniel opened his sleeve.
A small tracking device was embedded beneath his skin.
“She put it there.”
Victor's face hardened.
“We'll remove it.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Too late.”
A helicopter sounded overhead.
Then another.
Marcus shouted:
“Everyone move!”
The laboratory doors burst open.
Armed men entered.
Samuel pushed Chloe behind him.
Gunfire erupted.
Victor grabbed Daniel.
Nora grabbed Chloe.
They escaped through a hidden passage.
The tunnel shook around them.
Victor finally asked:
“Who is Evelyn really?”
Daniel answered:
“She was Mother's nurse.”
Victor stopped.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“And she survived?”
“Apparently.”
Victor looked confused.
“How?”
Daniel shrugged.
“People in this family keep dying and coming back.”
The tunnel opened into a forest.
They ran.
Behind them, soldiers searched the ruins.
Victor turned to Samuel.
“Where do we go?”
Samuel pointed toward an old bridge.
“There is a safe house.”
They crossed.
Inside the safe house, Samuel finally explained everything.
Twenty years earlier, Victor's mother had created a secret laboratory beneath the estate.
She wanted to prove that musical genius could be inherited.
Amelia became the primary subject.
But Amelia rebelled.
She discovered children were being kidnapped.
Among them was her unborn child.
Daniel.
Amelia escaped.
Nora helped her.
But Victor's mother captured Daniel.
Amelia believed her son was dead.
She disappeared to search for him.
Years passed.
Eventually, Amelia found evidence that Chloe had survived.
She returned.
But by then, Victor's mother's organization had evolved into something much larger.
Evelyn took control.
Victor asked:
“Why didn't Amelia come to me?”
Samuel looked at him.
“Because you never believed her the first time.”
The words hurt.
Then the safe house phone rang.
Everyone froze.
Samuel answered.
No one spoke.
Then a man's voice said:
“Victor Blackwood.”
Victor took the phone.
“Who is this?”
“Someone who knows what happened to Amelia.”
“Where is she?”
“She wants to see you.”
Victor's heart raced.
“Put her on.”
Silence.
Then a woman's voice.
Older.
Broken.
“Dad?”
Victor closed his eyes.
“Amelia.”
“I need you to listen carefully.”
“Where are you?”
“I'm inside your company.”
Victor frowned.
“What?”
“I never left.”
“Where?”
She whispered:
“The boardroom.”
A gunshot exploded through the phone.
Victor dropped it.
Then one final sentence came through.
“Trust no one wearing a Blackwood ring.”
Victor looked around the room.
May you like
Every person there wore one.
Including him.
