Chapter 5: The House of the Dead
Victor stared at the photograph.
Ethan was alive.
That was the only thing that mattered.
For now.
The baby was asleep in the arms of a man whose face remained hidden beneath the darkness of the photograph.
Behind them stood the old Blackwood estate.
A mansion Victor had not entered in six years.
A mansion that was supposed to be empty.
A mansion where his father had supposedly died.
Victor slowly lowered his phone.
“Sir?”
One of his men stepped forward.
“We'll send a team.”
“No.”
Victor's answer was immediate.
The guard frowned.
“Boss, the message says—”
“I said no.”
Victor looked at the photograph again.
“If they see an army coming, Ethan dies.”
Lily stood near the wall.
“You can't go alone.”
Victor turned toward her.
“I have to.”
“It's a trap.”
“I know.”
“Then don't go.”
Victor's expression softened for the briefest moment.
“You think I don't know that?”
Lily looked at him.
“Then why?”
Victor glanced through the glass at the empty hospital room.
“Because they have my son.”
Lily swallowed.
“He may not be your biological son.”
Victor's eyes hardened.
“I don't care.”
The words came without hesitation.
“He's mine.”
Isabella looked away.
Victor turned toward her.
“And you.”
She looked up.
“You're coming with me.”
Isabella's face changed.
“No.”
“You said you wanted the truth.”
“I do.”
“Then help me find it.”
She hesitated.
Finally, she nodded.
Lily stepped forward.
“I'm coming too.”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
“You need me.”
“Why?”
“Because I know the man who took Ethan.”
Victor stared at her.
“And because he knows me.”
Victor's jaw tightened.
“That is exactly why you're staying here.”
Lily shook her head.
“You won't find Ethan without me.”
Silence.
Victor studied her face.
Then he turned to his men.
“Prepare the car.”
Lily exhaled.
Victor looked at her one last time.
“If anything happens…”
“I know.”
“No.”
His voice became cold.
“If anything happens, you stay behind me.”
Lily nodded.
Forty minutes later, three black SUVs drove through the rain.
Only one continued toward the old Blackwood estate.
Victor sat in the back seat.
Isabella beside him.
Lily across from them.
Nobody spoke.
The city slowly disappeared.
Buildings became trees.
Streetlights became darkness.
Then the gates appeared.
Massive iron gates covered in rust.
The Blackwood crest remained above them.
Victor stared at it.
He hadn't seen it since his father's funeral.
“Why didn't anyone demolish this place?”
Isabella looked through the window.
“Because your father never wanted it touched.”
Victor frowned.
“Why?”
“He said something was buried here.”
“What?”
“I never knew.”
The gate suddenly opened.
Nobody touched it.
Victor's men exchanged nervous glances.
The SUV rolled forward.
The mansion appeared through the trees.
Exactly as Victor remembered it.
Except for one thing.
Every window was lit.
Lily stared.
“Someone lives here.”
Victor's expression darkened.
The front doors opened before they reached the stairs.
No guards.
No servants.
Just darkness.
Victor stepped out.
“Stay close.”
They entered.
The smell hit Lily first.
Dust.
Wood.
And something metallic.
Blood.
She looked at Victor.
He had smelled it too.
“Ethan?”
No answer.
Victor moved deeper into the foyer.
A grandfather clock stood against the wall.
Its hands were frozen at 3:17.
Isabella stopped.
“Victor.”
He turned.
“Look.”
She pointed toward the staircase.
A family portrait hung above it.
Victor's father stood in the center.
Victor was on one side.
Isabella on the other.
But someone had been painted over.
A fourth person.
Victor approached.
“Who was that?”
Isabella shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Lily stared at the portrait.
Something about it felt familiar.
Then she saw a small detail.
The figure's left hand had been left visible.
A scar crossed it.
The same scar from the photograph.
Lily whispered:
“That’s him.”
Victor stepped closer.
Before he could say anything, the lights turned on.
All of them.
A voice came from upstairs.
“Welcome home, Victor.”
Victor raised his weapon.
“Show yourself.”
Footsteps sounded.
Slow.
Measured.
Someone walked down the staircase.
An elderly man appeared.
Gray hair.
Black suit.
Walking cane.
Victor froze.
His face lost all color.
“No…”
Isabella covered her mouth.
The man smiled.
“It's been a long time.”
Victor whispered:
“Dad?”
The man stopped at the bottom of the staircase.
Victor couldn't move.
His father was standing ten feet away.
Alive.
Older.
But unmistakable.
Isabella began crying.
“You're alive.”
The old man smiled.
“I never died.”
Victor's hand tightened around his gun.
“You let us believe you were dead.”
“I needed you to believe it.”
“Why?”
His father looked toward Lily.
“Because of her.”
Lily stepped backward.
Victor immediately moved between them.
“Don't look at her.”
The old man laughed.
“You still protect people you don't understand.”
Victor raised his weapon.
“Where is Ethan?”
“Safe.”
“Bring him here.”
“Not yet.”
Victor's eyes became murderous.
“You have five seconds.”
His father calmly tapped his cane against the floor.
“You haven't changed.”
“Four.”
“You always were impatient.”
“Three.”
His father smiled.
“Two.”
“Victor.”
The old man leaned forward.
“Ask your nanny who she really is.”
Victor glanced at Lily.
She was trembling.
His father continued.
“She knows.”
Lily shook her head.
“No.”
“Tell him.”
“I don't.”
The old man laughed.
“Then perhaps I should.”
Victor stepped closer.
“Say it.”
His father looked directly at Lily.
“Your father wasn't a servant.”
Lily froze.
“He was one of my most trusted assassins.”
Victor looked at her.
Lily's face turned pale.
“No.”
“He killed for this family.”
“No.”
“He protected our secrets.”
Lily shook her head.
“My father was a mechanic.”
“That's what we wanted you to believe.”
Victor's expression darkened.
“Why was she chosen?”
His father smiled.
“Because she inherited his loyalty.”
Lily's eyes filled with tears.
“You're lying.”
“Am I?”
The old man tapped his cane.
A hidden panel opened behind the fireplace.
Inside were dozens of photographs.
Lily's childhood.
Her father.
The Blackwood family.
And Ethan.
Victor stared.
“What the hell is this?”
His father walked toward the photographs.
“Fourteen months ago, Isabella discovered the truth.”
Isabella looked terrified.
“She found out that Ethan was never supposed to be born.”
Victor turned.
“What?”
His father continued.
“Your brother Damian had arranged everything.”
“Damian?”
“He wanted the inheritance.”
Victor's eyes narrowed.
“But Ethan survived.”
“Yes.”
“Because Isabella escaped.”
His father nodded.
“And she gave Ethan to Lily.”
Victor looked at Isabella.
“Why didn't you come to me?”
Isabella's voice broke.
“Because I didn't know who I could trust.”
“You could have trusted me.”
“I did.”
She looked at him.
“Until I learned the truth.”
Victor's expression hardened.
“What truth?”
Isabella stared at their father.
“That you ordered Ethan's death.”
Silence.
Victor slowly turned toward the old man.
“Did you?”
His father didn't answer.
Victor stepped forward.
“Did you order my son's death?”
The old man smiled.
“I ordered the death of an heir who could destroy everything I built.”
Victor's eyes became empty.
“You're talking about a baby.”
“I'm talking about an empire.”
Victor raised his gun.
His father didn't flinch.
“You won't shoot me.”
“Try me.”
“You still don't understand.”
The old man looked toward the ceiling.
Then smiled.
“Because Ethan isn't here.”
Victor froze.
“What?”
“He was never in this house.”
Lily's blood ran cold.
“Then where is he?”
The old man looked at her.
“You should know.”
Victor turned toward Lily.
“Lily?”
She shook her head.
“I don't.”
Then the mansion lights suddenly went out.
A gunshot exploded.
Victor felt someone crash into him.
Lily.
They fell to the floor.
Another shot.
Glass shattered.
When the emergency lights came on, the old man was gone.
Isabella was screaming.
Victor looked around.
Then froze.
Lily was no longer beside him.
She had disappeared.
On the floor where she had been lying was a small envelope.
Victor opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Lily's father was standing beside Ethan's biological father.
And beneath the photograph was a handwritten message:
YOU HAVE BEEN PROTECTING THE WRONG WOMAN.
Victor stared at the words.
Then his phone rang.
A woman's voice whispered:
“Victor…”
He recognized it.
The same mysterious woman from the hospital.
“Want your nanny back?”
Victor's face became cold.
“What did you do to Lily?”
The woman laughed.
“Nothing.”
A pause.
“She came willingly.”
Victor's blood ran cold.
“Why?”
The woman answered:
“Because she finally remembered who she really is.”
The call ended.
Victor stared into the darkness.
Then he noticed something on the back of the photograph.
Three words.
PROJECT BLACK WOLF.
And for the first time, Victor realized Ethan's kidnapping wasn't about the Blackwood inheritance.
May you like
It was about Lily.
And whoever had taken her had been waiting fourteen years for this exact night.
