Chapter 7 - The House on Blackwood RoadThe old house stood at the end of Blackwood Road, surrounded by dead trees and weeds.
Oliver stared through the car window.
“This is where she died?”
Robert nodded.
“I didn’t know.”
Oliver looked at him.
“You didn’t know where she lived?”
“No.”
“Then what did you know?”
Robert had no answer.
They entered the house.
It smelled of dust and rain.
The front room was almost empty.
A broken clock hung on the wall.
Oliver ran his fingers along the table.
“My mother kept this.”
Robert looked around.
“I remember this place.”
“How?”
“I came here once.”
Oliver turned.
“When?”
Robert hesitated.
“Before you were born.”
“You came here?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Your mother asked me to.”
Oliver waited.
Robert continued.
“She wanted me to leave the city with her.”
“And you said no.”
“Yes.”
“Because of the threat.”
“Yes.”
Oliver stared at him.
“That was the last time you saw her?”
Robert nodded.
“No.”
Oliver looked confused.
“What?”
“I saw her again.”
“When?”
“Five months later.”
Oliver’s face changed.
“After I was born?”
Robert shook his head.
“Before.”
He looked haunted.
“She was pregnant.”
Oliver stared.
“You knew.”
Robert closed his eyes.
“I saw her.”
“What happened?”
“She begged me to stay.”
“What did you say?”
“I told her I couldn’t.”
Oliver turned away.
Robert continued.
“But she gave me something.”
“What?”
“The ring.”
Oliver looked at the silver ring on his finger.
“She made me promise that if we ever found each other again, I would remember.”
“Why didn’t you come back?”
Robert looked at him.
“Because I received a photograph.”
He pulled a folded image from his wallet.
It showed Clara standing beside another man.
The picture had been edited.
Oliver recognized the manipulation instantly.
“My mother never knew about this.”
“I thought she had moved on.”
“She didn’t.”
Robert looked broken.
“I know.”
Suddenly a floorboard creaked.
Both men turned.
Someone moved upstairs.
Oliver whispered:
“Daniel?”
They climbed the stairs.
The second floor was empty.
Then a projector flickered on at the end of the hallway.
A video began playing.
Clara appeared on the wall.
Oliver stopped breathing.
She was sitting at a table, older, exhausted.
Her voice filled the house.
“I know they are watching.”
Robert stared.
Clara continued.
“If Robert ever comes back, I need him to hear this.”
She looked directly into the camera.
“I did not betray you.”
Robert closed his eyes.
Clara continued.
“I was never with another man.”
Oliver swallowed.
“But there is something I never told you.”
She looked frightened.
“Oliver’s father was not the only person I had to protect him from.”
The video glitched.
A second image appeared.
A document.
A corporate file.
The name at the top made Robert freeze.
Hale Industries Special Assets Division.
Robert stared.
“What is that?”
Oliver looked at him.
“You said your family only owned factories.”
Robert’s face changed.
“I thought we did.”
The video continued.
Clara whispered:
“Someone inside Hale Industries has been paying people to disappear.”
Robert took a step backward.
“That’s impossible.”
“Your father knew.”
Robert looked at Oliver.
“My father?”
Clara nodded on screen.
“And he was not alone.”
She placed a second file on the table.
“This is the real reason they wanted you, Oliver.”
The video cut to black.
Then one sentence appeared:
THE MAN WHO ORDERED IT IS STILL ALIVE.
Oliver stared.
Robert whispered:
“Who?”
A voice came from behind them.
“You.”
They turned.
Daniel stood at the top of the stairs.
He was older now.
Gray-haired.
Thin.
But unmistakable.
Daniel raised a gun.
“You were always the problem, Robert.”
Robert stared.
“Why?”
May you like
Daniel smiled.
“Because you survived.”
