CHAPTER 11: THE LETTER OF THE DEAD
For several seconds, no one spoke.
The pumping station had fallen eerily quiet.
The gunfire was over.
The snipers had vanished.
Only the distant sound of dripping water remained.
Victor stared at Daniel's lifeless face.
He had waited twenty-two years to ask a dead man questions.
Now he had found him...
Only to lose him again.
Marcus quietly approached.
"Boss..."
Victor didn't answer.
His eyes remained fixed on the folded letter protruding from Daniel's inner pocket.
The paper was stained with blood.
Daniel's blood.
Victor carefully removed it.
The envelope was old.
The edges had yellowed with age.
Across the front, written in neat black ink, were only eight words.
To Victor... if I die before telling you everything.
Marcus looked at him.
"You think it's genuine?"
Victor nodded slowly.
"Daniel never wasted words."
He broke the wax seal.
Inside...
There were three handwritten pages.
And a small black-and-white photograph.
Victor unfolded the first page.
Victor,
If you are reading this, then I have failed.
I hoped to survive long enough to tell you the truth face to face.
If fate chose otherwise... then this letter must finish what I started.
Victor continued reading.
His breathing remained calm.
Only Marcus, who had known him for years, noticed the slight tightening around his jaw.
The greatest mistake your father ever made was believing betrayal always came from enemies.
He never imagined it would come from people sitting at his own table.
Victor paused.
Exactly the same warning Daniel had tried to give before he died.
He turned the page.
Twenty-five years earlier...
The Blackwood organization had not been the empire it would later become.
Victor's father, Alexander Blackwood, ruled with strict principles.
Children were never targets.
Hospitals were never attacked.
Human trafficking was forbidden.
Drug distribution near schools meant immediate execution.
Many rival organizations mocked those rules.
Alexander never cared.
According to Daniel's letter...
Those principles had made the Blackwoods respected.
But they had also created powerful enemies.
Especially inside...
The Consortium.
Marcus frowned.
"So your father refused them."
Victor nodded silently.
Daniel had written every meeting.
Every offer.
Every threat.
The Consortium wanted Alexander to merge with them.
He refused.
Again.
And again.
Finally...
They made another decision.
If Alexander wouldn't join...
They would replace him.
Victor reached the third page.
His eyes stopped on one sentence.
The assassination was approved during a meeting attended by twelve council members... and one Blackwood representative.
Marcus looked stunned.
"A representative?"
Victor slowly nodded.
"There was someone from our own family."
Marcus whispered,
"Who?"
Victor continued reading.
Daniel had intentionally left the name blank.
Instead, he had written:
You already know this person.
When the time comes, you won't need me to recognize them.
Victor lowered the letter.
His expression was unreadable.
Marcus looked frustrated.
"He never named the traitor."
Victor quietly replied,
"He didn't have to."
Inside Blackwood Memorial Hospital...
Lily had finally convinced Ethan to eat a few spoonfuls of soup.
The little boy still looked exhausted.
His shoulder remained wrapped in thick bandages.
Yet something had changed.
He no longer cried every few minutes.
Whenever Lily smiled...
He smiled back.
Dr. Harrison entered carrying new test results.
"Good news."
Lily stood immediately.
"He's alright?"
"The sedative is leaving his system."
She sighed with relief.
"But..."
Dr. Harrison hesitated.
Lily's heart sank.
"What?"
"The psychologists examined him."
"They noticed something unusual."
Lily looked confused.
"What do you mean?"
The doctor spoke gently.
"Ethan reacts normally around almost everyone."
"But whenever someone wearing strong perfume approaches..."
"...his heartbeat spikes."
Lily remembered.
Serena.
She always wore the same expensive floral perfume.
The doctor continued.
"Trauma creates strange associations."
"He may remember scents before he remembers faces."
Lily looked down at Ethan.
The toddler quietly played with his blue dinosaur.
She whispered,
"I'm so sorry..."
Meanwhile...
Adrian sat alone inside his downtown office.
The television reported the attempted kidnapping at Blackwood Memorial.
He muted it.
His secretary knocked softly.
"Sir."
"Yes?"
"A package arrived."
"No return address."
Adrian frowned.
"Leave it."
After she left...
He opened the box.
Inside...
Was a chess piece.
A black king.
Nothing else.
Adrian's face immediately lost color.
He looked toward the office windows.
The curtains were closed.
Still...
He walked across the room and locked the door.
Then he picked up a satellite phone hidden inside his desk.
One number.
No contact name.
The call connected after two rings.
A distorted voice answered.
"You received it."
Adrian spoke quietly.
"Why now?"
"The game has changed."
Adrian closed his eyes.
"Daniel talked."
"Not enough."
A long silence followed.
Then the voice spoke again.
"The nanny."
Adrian frowned.
"What about her?"
"She has become a problem."
Adrian answered immediately.
"No."
The voice became colder.
"That wasn't a request."
The line disconnected.
Adrian stared at the dead phone.
For several seconds...
He didn't move.
Back underground...
Victor finished reading Daniel's letter.
Tucked behind the final page...
He found the old photograph.
This time...
Something caught his attention.
Written on the back...
In faded pencil...
Were six names.
Alexander.
Daniel.
Adrian.
Richard Hale.
Benjamin Cross.
And...
One name Victor had never heard before.
Evelyn Mercer.
Marcus looked over his shoulder.
"Who's Evelyn Mercer?"
Victor slowly shook his head.
"I don't know."
Before he could think further...
His encrypted phone vibrated.
It was the hospital.
Victor answered instantly.
"This is Victor."
Lily's frightened voice came through.
"Mr. Blackwood..."
His chest tightened.
"What happened?"
"It's Ethan."
Victor stopped breathing.
"What about him?"
Lily answered in a whisper.
"He just said his first complete sentence..."
Victor frowned.
"What did he say?"
Silence.
Then Lily repeated Ethan's exact words.
"Pretty lady put Daddy's juice in the red cup."
Victor's face changed instantly.
Because only one person...
Had served him a drink from a red crystal glass...
The night before Ethan's mother died.
May you like
Serena.
END OF CHAPTER 11
