Chapter 4: The Man Behind the Mask
“ETHAN!”
Victor’s roar tore through the hospital corridor.
Every nurse turned.
Security guards sprinted toward the room.
Lily stood frozen beside the empty crib, tears streaming down her face.
“No…”
She grabbed the blanket.
It was still warm.
“He was here.”
Victor walked into the room.
Slowly.
His eyes scanned everything.
The window.
The door.
The ventilation grate.
The monitors.
Nothing.
No broken lock.
No shattered glass.
No signs of struggle.
Whoever had taken Ethan had walked into a heavily guarded hospital room and walked out without leaving a trace.
Victor picked up the black pendant.
His fingers tightened around it.
“Lock down the hospital.”
A guard immediately spoke into his radio.
“Seal every entrance. Nobody leaves.”
Victor looked at Lily.
“Where were you?”
“I was here.”
“Who was watching Ethan?”
“I…”
Lily's voice broke.
“I don't know.”
Victor stepped closer.
“You were standing beside him.”
“I turned around for seconds.”
“Seconds?”
“I heard someone calling in the hallway.”
Victor's eyes became colder.
“You left him alone?”
“I thought it was a nurse!”
Isabella suddenly interrupted.
“Victor.”
He turned.
She was staring at the pendant.
“That isn't just a pendant.”
Victor held it up.
“What is it?”
“Open it.”
Victor examined the tiny crescent.
There was a narrow seam along its edge.
He pressed his thumbnail against it.
Click.
The pendant opened.
Inside was a microscopic photograph.
Victor stared.
His face changed.
The photograph showed a man holding a newborn baby.
The man's face was partially hidden.
But his left hand was visible.
A deep scar crossed the back of it.
Lily immediately stepped backward.
“That’s him.”
Victor turned.
“The man who gave you Ethan?”
Lily nodded.
“Yes.”
Victor stared at the photograph.
“Marcus.”
“No,” Isabella whispered.
Victor looked at her.
“What?”
“That isn't Marcus.”
“Then who?”
Isabella pointed to the photograph.
“That scar.”
She swallowed.
“I've seen it before.”
“Where?”
“On our father.”
Victor's eyes widened.
“Our father died six years ago.”
“I know.”
“Then how did he…”
Isabella suddenly stopped.
Her expression changed.
“Victor.”
“What?”
“Remember the night our father died?”
Victor frowned.
“I remember everything.”
“No.”
Isabella stepped closer.
“You remember what they told you.”
Victor stared at her.
“The doctors said he had a heart attack.”
“They lied.”
Victor's face hardened.
“What are you saying?”
“Our father wasn't killed six years ago.”
“He was.”
“No.”
Isabella's voice trembled.
“He disappeared.”
Victor looked at her in disbelief.
“Why would everyone lie about his death?”
“Because he wanted them to.”
A cold silence filled the room.
Then Victor's phone vibrated.
Another message.
YOU'RE GETTING CLOSER.
A second message appeared.
BUT YOU'RE STILL LOOKING IN THE WRONG PLACE.
Victor typed:
Where is my son?
The reply came instantly.
Ask Serena.
Victor's expression turned murderous.
Twenty minutes later, Serena was brought into the hospital's private security room.
Her wrists were restrained.
Her perfect hair was disheveled.
She looked nothing like the elegant woman who had ruled the Blackwood mansion for months.
Victor walked in.
She smiled weakly.
“You came.”
Victor said nothing.
He placed the black pendant on the table.
Serena's face changed instantly.
She recognized it.
Victor noticed.
“You know this.”
“No.”
“You just looked at it like you've seen a ghost.”
“I've never seen it.”
Victor leaned closer.
“Where is Ethan?”
Serena looked away.
“I don't know.”
Victor slammed his hand against the table.
“Don't lie to me.”
Serena flinched.
“I swear!”
“You knew someone was going to take him.”
“No.”
“You knew about the pendant.”
“I don't!”
Victor grabbed her chin.
“Then tell me why your face changed when you saw it.”
Serena's eyes filled with tears.
“I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
She whispered:
“Him.”
“Who?”
Serena looked toward the camera in the corner.
Then she leaned forward.
“There are things you don't understand.”
Victor released her.
“Explain.”
“Your father never died.”
Victor froze.
The same words Isabella had said.
Serena continued.
“He's alive.”
Victor stared at her.
“And he knows about Ethan.”
“Where is he?”
“I don't know.”
Victor's voice became deadly.
“You're lying.”
“I swear!”
“Then why did you help him?”
Serena shook her head.
“I didn't know who he was.”
“Who?”
“The man behind the mask.”
Victor's eyes narrowed.
“You've met him?”
Serena nodded.
“Once.”
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
“Where?”
“At the mansion.”
Victor stared at her.
“What did he want?”
“Ethan.”
“Why?”
Serena began crying.
“He told me the baby wasn't supposed to survive.”
Victor's face went blank.
“He said Ethan was an accident.”
Lily, standing near the door, covered her mouth.
Serena continued.
“He said the family had already chosen another heir.”
“Damian.”
Serena nodded.
“Yes.”
Victor's hands curled into fists.
“What did he offer you?”
“Money.”
“How much?”
“Ten million.”
“And you agreed?”
Serena looked down.
“I was afraid.”
Victor's voice dropped.
“You hurt my son for ten million dollars.”
Serena cried.
“I didn't know he'd actually come for him!”
Victor turned away.
Then stopped.
“What did he tell you about Lily?”
Serena's face went pale.
“He said…”
She hesitated.
“Say it.”
“He said Lily knew where Ethan's real father was.”
Victor turned sharply.
“Does she?”
Serena looked at Lily.
Lily's eyes widened.
“I don't.”
Serena shook her head.
“He said she was lying.”
Victor stared at Lily.
“Lily.”
“I swear I don't know.”
Then Serena whispered:
“He also said Lily wasn't chosen by accident.”
Everyone went silent.
Victor stepped closer.
“What does that mean?”
Serena looked terrified.
“He said Lily's family had been protecting the Blackwoods for generations.”
Lily's face went white.
“My family?”
“Yes.”
Serena swallowed.
“He said your father worked for Victor's father.”
Lily stared at her.
“My father died when I was six.”
Victor turned toward her.
“Lily.”
She shook her head.
“I don't know anything about this.”
Before Victor could respond, the security room lights suddenly went out.
Darkness.
A gunshot echoed.
Bang!
Someone screamed.
Then another shot.
Victor immediately pulled his weapon.
“GET DOWN!”
Emergency lights flickered on.
Serena was gone.
The restraints on the chair had been cut.
A guard lay unconscious beside the door.
Victor rushed into the hallway.
“Find her!”
His men scattered.
Lily stood frozen.
Then she noticed something on the floor.
A small piece of black fabric.
She picked it up.
There was blood on it.
And stitched into the fabric was a symbol.
A black wolf.
Lily's face drained of color.
She knew that symbol.
She had seen it once before.
Fourteen months ago.
The night Ethan was born.
She remembered the hospital corridor.
The masked man.
The newborn.
The blood.
And the black wolf embroidered on his sleeve.
But there was something else.
Something she'd forgotten.
The man had not been alone.
Someone else had stood behind him.
A woman.
Lily had never seen her face.
But she remembered the voice.
“Take the baby.”
Lily suddenly gasped.
Victor turned.
“What?”
“I remember.”
“What?”
“The man who took Ethan.”
Victor stepped closer.
“What did you remember?”
“He wasn't alone.”
“Who was with him?”
Lily looked at Serena's empty chair.
“A woman.”
Victor's expression hardened.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
Then a voice came from the hospital's intercom.
Soft.
Female.
Calm.
“Victor.”
Everyone froze.
The voice continued.
“You've been searching for the wrong enemy.”
Victor looked around.
“Where are you?”
A quiet laugh echoed through the speakers.
“Your son is safe.”
Victor's eyes burned.
“Give him back.”
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because you still haven't discovered the most important secret.”
Victor clenched his jaw.
“What secret?”
The woman answered:
“Ethan's blood doesn't belong to the Blackwoods.”
A pause.
Then:
“It belongs to me.”
The intercom went silent.
Victor stared at Lily.
Isabella stared at Victor.
And Lily suddenly realized something horrifying.
The mysterious woman hadn't said Ethan was her son.
She had said his blood belonged to her.
Which meant she wasn't claiming motherhood.
She was claiming ownership.
Then Victor's phone buzzed one final time.
A photograph appeared.
Ethan was asleep in a man's arms.
Behind them stood an enormous black mansion.
Victor recognized it immediately.
His father's old estate.
The place that had supposedly been abandoned for six years.
Below the photograph was one sentence:
COME ALONE, VICTOR.
May you like
And beneath it:
OR YOUR SON LEARNS WHO HIS REAL FATHER IS.
