Chapter 6: The Girl in the Black Wolf Files
Lily woke to the sound of dripping water.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Her head throbbed.
For several seconds, she couldn't remember where she was.
Then everything came rushing back.
The old mansion.
The gunshot.
Victor.
The darkness.
And the voice on the phone.
She came willingly.
Lily opened her eyes.
A single yellow light hung above her.
She was sitting in a metal chair.
Her wrists were tied behind her.
Her ankle was chained to the floor.
The room smelled like damp stone.
She tried to move.
The chain rattled.
“Don't.”
A woman's voice came from the darkness.
Lily froze.
“You'll hurt yourself.”
A figure stepped into the light.
Lily's breath caught.
Serena.
Her hair was disheveled.
Her expensive dress was torn.
A bruise marked the side of her face.
But she was alive.
Lily stared at her.
“You.”
Serena smiled.
“You look surprised.”
“You kidnapped me?”
“No.”
Serena pulled a chair across from her.
“I was brought here too.”
“By whom?”
Serena didn't answer.
Lily looked around.
“Where is Ethan?”
Serena's smile disappeared.
“That is the only thing you care about.”
“Where is he?”
“Safe.”
“Prove it.”
Serena leaned forward.
“You still don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
Serena stared at Lily for several seconds.
Finally, she whispered:
“You were never hired to be Ethan's nanny.”
Lily's stomach tightened.
“I know.”
“No.”
Serena shook her head.
“You don't know the half of it.”
She reached into her pocket.
A photograph slid across the table.
Lily stared at it.
It showed a little girl.
Maybe five years old.
Standing beside a man.
The man had one hand resting protectively on her shoulder.
Lily recognized him.
Her father.
But the girl wasn't her.
At least...
Lily thought she wasn't.
She picked up the photograph.
“Who is she?”
Serena watched her carefully.
“You.”
Lily's fingers went cold.
“No.”
“Look at the necklace.”
Lily looked.
Around the little girl's neck was a silver crescent pendant.
The exact same symbol that had been beside Ethan's hospital crib.
Lily shook her head.
“I never had that.”
Serena smiled.
“You did.”
She pulled out another photograph.
This one showed Lily at around eight years old.
Same necklace.
Same crescent.
Same scar on her father's hand.
Lily's breathing became shallow.
“I don't remember.”
“Of course you don't.”
“Why?”
“Because they erased it.”
Lily stared at her.
“Who?”
Serena leaned closer.
“Your own family.”
Across town, Victor stood inside the old Blackwood estate.
His men searched every room.
Nothing.
No Ethan.
No Lily.
No old man.
Only empty corridors and locked doors.
Victor stood before the family portrait.
He touched the painted-over figure.
“Find out who this is.”
One of his men nodded.
“Already working on it.”
Isabella walked toward him.
“Victor.”
He turned.
“What?”
“I need to tell you something.”
Victor's eyes hardened.
“If it's another secret, I'm running out of patience.”
Isabella lowered her eyes.
“I knew Lily's father.”
Victor froze.
“What?”
“I met him years ago.”
“When?”
“Before Ethan was born.”
Victor stepped closer.
“What did he do?”
“He worked for our father.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Isabella looked at him.
“He didn't just work for him.”
Victor waited.
“He was assigned to protect me.”
Victor frowned.
“Why?”
“Because our father knew someone wanted me dead.”
“Who?”
Isabella shook her head.
“I never found out.”
Victor's expression changed.
“But Lily's father knew.”
“Yes.”
“And Lily?”
Isabella swallowed.
“Lily was born into the middle of it.”
Victor looked toward the photograph.
“What is Project Black Wolf?”
Isabella went silent.
“Isabella.”
She finally whispered:
“It wasn't a project.”
Victor's eyes narrowed.
“Then what was it?”
“A bloodline.”
Silence.
Isabella continued.
“Your father believed certain families carried genetic traits that made them uniquely suited to control the Blackwood empire.”
Victor stared at her.
“That sounds insane.”
“It was.”
“What did Lily's family have?”
Isabella looked at him.
“Loyalty.”
Victor frowned.
“That's it?”
“No.”
She lowered her voice.
“They could recognize Black Wolf members.”
Victor stared.
“Recognize them how?”
“By a mark.”
Victor suddenly remembered Lily's father.
The scar.
The pendant.
The black wolf symbol.
He pulled out his phone.
“Find every photograph of Lily from childhood.”
His man nodded.
Minutes later, a folder appeared.
Victor opened the first image.
Lily at four.
Second.
Lily at six.
Third.
Lily at ten.
Fourth.
Lily at sixteen.
Victor zoomed in.
Every photograph showed something around her neck.
The silver crescent.
Victor's eyes narrowed.
“Why did she stop wearing it?”
Isabella answered:
“Because she forgot.”
Victor looked at her.
“Forgot what?”
“Everything.”
In the underground room, Serena placed another photograph on the table.
Lily stared at it.
This time, she recognized the location.
The Blackwood mansion.
But she was a child.
Standing beside her father.
And beside them was Victor.
Young.
Maybe seventeen.
Lily's voice trembled.
“I know him.”
Serena nodded.
“You met Victor long before you became his nanny.”
Lily shook her head.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I would remember.”
“That's why they erased your memory.”
Lily looked up sharply.
“Who?”
Serena leaned back.
“Victor's father.”
“Why?”
“Because you witnessed something.”
“What?”
Serena's expression became serious.
“You saw who killed Ethan's father.”
Lily's face went blank.
“I don't know Ethan's father.”
“You did.”
“No.”
“You were there.”
Lily shook her head harder.
“I wasn't.”
Serena placed another photograph in front of her.
Lily looked down.
Her entire body froze.
It showed a hospital room.
A newborn baby.
Isabella.
And a man lying unconscious on a bed.
His face was visible.
Lily whispered:
“No…”
Serena watched her reaction.
“You remember him.”
Lily's eyes filled with tears.
“I've seen him.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“You do.”
Lily pressed both hands against her temples.
Images began flashing through her mind.
A hospital corridor.
Rain against a window.
A man's hand.
Blood.
A baby crying.
Her father shouting.
A woman screaming.
Then a gunshot.
Lily gasped.
She remembered.
The man on the hospital bed wasn't a stranger.
He had looked at her before he died.
And he had whispered:
“Tell Victor…”
Lily's eyes widened.
“What?”
Serena leaned forward.
“What did he say?”
Lily struggled to breathe.
“He said…”
The memory returned.
Clear.
Terrifyingly clear.
“Tell Victor… Damian did it.”
Serena's face went pale.
“What?”
Lily looked at her.
“Damian killed Ethan's father.”
Serena suddenly stood.
“No.”
“You knew.”
“I didn't!”
“You knew!”
Serena backed away.
“I never knew who he was!”
Lily stared at her.
“Then why did you help him?”
Serena's eyes filled with tears.
“Because he threatened my family.”
“With what?”
“My daughter.”
Lily froze.
“You have a daughter?”
Serena nodded.
“She disappeared six months ago.”
Lily stared at her.
“Who took her?”
Serena whispered:
“Damian.”
Before Lily could respond, the door opened.
A masked man entered.
Black clothing.
Black wolf stitched across his sleeve.
Lily immediately recognized him.
Her breathing stopped.
“You.”
The man removed his mask.
Lily's eyes widened.
She knew that face.
Victor knew him too.
Everyone in the Blackwood family knew him.
He was the man Victor had trusted most.
Marcus Vale.
Victor's lawyer.
But Marcus wasn't smiling.
He walked toward Lily and placed a photograph on the table.
Ethan.
Alive.
Sitting in a room.
Beside him was a man.
The same man from Lily's recovered memory.
Ethan's biological father.
Except he wasn't dead.
Lily's face went white.
“That's impossible.”
Marcus leaned closer.
“He never died.”
Lily stared at the photograph.
The man holding Ethan slowly turned toward the camera.
And smiled.
Marcus whispered:
“Meet the man Victor has spent fourteen months trying to bury.”
Then the photograph slipped from Lily's trembling fingers.
Because the man in the picture was not Damian.
It was someone far more terrifying.
It was Victor's identical twin.
A brother Lily had never heard of.
A brother the Blackwood family had erased from every record.
And behind him, Ethan was smiling.
May you like
As if he already knew him.
As if the baby had been waiting for his father to come back.
