Chapter 2 - THE VOICE OF A DEAD WOMAN
“PLAY IT.”
Alexander’s voice was so quiet that Maria almost didn’t recognize it.
Nobody in the ballroom moved.
The chandeliers still glittered above them.
Champagne still sat untouched on silver trays.
A string quartet stood frozen near the grand staircase, their instruments lowered.
But the elegant engagement party was over.
Everyone knew it.
Whatever happened next would have nothing to do with champagne, flowers, or wedding plans.
Maria looked down at her phone.
“Mr. Blackwood…”
“Play it.”
Vanessa jerked against Alexander’s grip.
“No!”
Every face in the ballroom turned toward her.
Alexander slowly released her arm.
Vanessa stumbled backward.
Her eyes darted toward the front doors.
Two members of Blackwood security were already standing there.
Alexander hadn’t ordered them to block the exit.
He didn’t have to.
Maria pressed the screen.
At first, there was only static.
Then Vanessa’s voice filled the ballroom.
Cold.
Sharp.
Unmistakable.
“You should’ve left this house when I told you.”
Maria’s recorded voice answered.
“I’m not leaving Ethan.”
“You don’t get to make that decision.”
“He’s terrified of you.”
A pause.
Then Vanessa laughed.
“He’ll get over it.”
Alexander’s arm tightened around his son.
Ethan pressed his face against his father’s chest.
The recording continued.
Maria’s voice trembled.
“His mother trusted me.”
And then Vanessa said something that made Alexander stop breathing.
“His mother trusted everyone. Look where that got her.”
Alexander’s eyes lifted.
Vanessa shook her head.
“That proves nothing.”
Maria didn’t stop the recording.
On the phone, Maria said:
“What do you mean?”
“You know exactly what I mean.”
“No. I don’t.”
Another pause.
Then Vanessa’s recorded voice became quieter.
“You think Catherine’s accident was just bad luck?”
A woman near the staircase gasped.
Alexander went completely still.
Catherine.
His wife.
Ethan’s mother.
Dead for three years.
Killed when her car went through a guardrail during a storm.
The police had ruled it an accident.
Alexander had spent three years trying to accept that conclusion.
Three years waking up at two in the morning and reaching toward an empty side of the bed.
Three years raising Ethan while pretending his own grief wasn’t consuming him.
And now Vanessa Sterling’s voice was coming from Maria’s phone.
“You should stop asking questions about Catherine,” the recording continued.
Maria’s voice responded.
“Why?”
“Because some questions destroy families.”
“What happened to her?”
“You really want advice?”
Vanessa laughed softly.
“Take the money I offered you. Leave Ethan behind. Forget Catherine ever existed.”
The recording ended.
Silence swallowed the ballroom.
Alexander stared at Vanessa.
“What did you mean?”
Vanessa’s mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
“What did you mean?”
“I was angry.”
“You mentioned my dead wife.”
“I was trying to scare Maria.”
“You said Catherine’s accident wasn’t bad luck.”
“I didn’t say I had anything to do with it!”
Alexander’s eyes narrowed.
Nobody had accused her of that.
Not yet.
Maria noticed it too.
“So you know there was something to do with it?” she asked.
Vanessa turned on her.
“You manipulative little—”
“Enough.”
Alexander’s voice cracked across the ballroom.
Vanessa stopped.
Alexander handed Ethan to Maria.
“Take him upstairs.”
Ethan grabbed his father’s sleeve.
“No.”
Alexander looked down.
The little boy’s eyes were wet.
“Daddy, don’t make me go.”
“You’re safe now.”
“She knows.”
Alexander frowned.
“Knows what?”
Ethan looked toward Vanessa.
And Vanessa’s expression changed.
Maria saw it.
Not anger.
Not irritation.
Fear.
“Ethan?” Alexander asked.
The boy whispered:
“The blue room.”
Vanessa stepped forward.
“He’s exhausted. He doesn’t know what he’s saying.”
Alexander ignored her.
“What blue room?”
Ethan’s tiny fingers tightened around his father’s coat.
“The room Mommy told me never to tell anybody about.”
Alexander felt something cold move through his chest.
Catherine had been dead for three years.
Ethan had been only three when she died.
“What room?”
“The one behind the books.”
Alexander looked toward Maria.
Maria seemed equally confused.
Vanessa was already moving toward the door.
Alexander saw her.
“Stop.”
She kept walking.
One of the security men stepped in front of her.
Vanessa spun around.
“You can’t keep me here!”
“No,” Alexander said. “But I can ask you to stay while I call the police.”
Her face changed.
“You wouldn’t.”
Alexander looked at the leather riding crop lying on the marble floor.
“You put your hands on my son.”
Vanessa said nothing.
“That alone is enough.”
He pulled out his phone.
Vanessa suddenly laughed.
It wasn’t a confident laugh.
It sounded desperate.
“You really think this is about Ethan?”
Alexander stopped.
Vanessa looked around at the guests.
“Fine.”
She removed her engagement ring.
The enormous diamond flashed beneath the chandeliers.
She placed it on a nearby table.
“You want the truth?”
“Start talking.”
“You don’t know your own family.”
Alexander’s expression hardened.
“My family?”
Vanessa pointed toward Maria.
“Ask her.”
Maria froze.
Vanessa smiled.
“Go ahead, Maria. Tell him.”
“Tell me what?” Alexander demanded.
Maria looked at Ethan.
Then at Alexander.
“I promised Catherine.”
Alexander’s face went pale.
“You knew Catherine?”
“I worked for her.”
“I know that.”
“No.”
Maria swallowed.
“I knew her before I worked for her.”
Alexander stared.
Maria slowly reached beneath the collar of her uniform.
She pulled out a thin silver chain.
A small brass key hung from it.
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Alexander looked at the key.
“What is that?”
“Something Catherine gave me two nights before she died.”
Alexander could barely speak.
“She gave you a key?”
“Yes.”
“To what?”
Maria looked toward Ethan.
“The blue room.”
The room was on the third floor.
Alexander had lived in Blackwood Manor most of his life.
He knew every hallway.
Every bedroom.
Every servant staircase.
At least he thought he did.
Ethan led them into the old library.
Maria carried him while Alexander walked beside them.
Security remained downstairs with Vanessa.
Alexander stopped before the towering shelves.
“There’s no room here.”
Ethan pointed.
“Mommy showed me.”
He reached toward an old leather-bound copy of The Count of Monte Cristo.
Alexander pulled it.
Nothing happened.
Ethan shook his head.
“Not like that.”
He pressed the book inward.
A click sounded behind the shelves.
Alexander stepped back.
A section of the bookcase moved.
Behind it was a narrow door painted dark blue.
Alexander stared at it.
For the first time in his life, he saw a room inside his own house he hadn’t known existed.
Maria removed the brass key.
Her hand shook as she inserted it.
The lock turned.
The door opened.
Inside was a tiny study.
Dust covered the desk.
A lamp stood beside stacks of papers.
Photographs covered one wall.
Alexander stepped inside.
His breath caught.
They were photographs of him.
Ethan.
Catherine.
Some were family pictures.
Others were different.
Photographs of men Alexander recognized from Blackwood Industries.
His former chief financial officer.
His father’s attorney.
A private investigator who had disappeared shortly after Catherine’s death.
And in the center of the wall…
Vanessa Sterling.
A red circle had been drawn around her face.
Below it Catherine had written three words.
DON’T TRUST HER.
Alexander stumbled backward.
Maria covered Ethan’s eyes.
“What the hell was Catherine investigating?”
Maria didn’t answer.
Alexander turned.
“You knew about this.”
“Only part of it.”
“How much?”
“She believed someone inside Blackwood Industries was stealing money.”
Alexander stared.
“How much?”
“Hundreds of millions.”
“That’s impossible.”
“She thought it was being moved through shell companies.”
Alexander looked back at the photographs.
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“She tried.”
“What?”
“Three times.”
Alexander shook his head.
“No.”
“She told me she tried to talk to you.”
“I would remember that.”
Maria’s expression softened.
“She said every time she tried, something happened.”
“What does that mean?”
“Your meetings changed. Your phone stopped working. Documents disappeared.”
Alexander felt his stomach tighten.
“Who had access to my schedule?”
Maria didn’t need to answer.
Many people had.
His assistants.
Executives.
Security.
His father.
And…
Vanessa.
She had been working as a consultant for Blackwood Industries before Catherine died.
Alexander turned toward the desk.
A small digital recorder sat beneath a pile of papers.
Maria stared at it.
“That wasn’t there before.”
Alexander picked it up.
The battery indicator was still alive.
Barely.
He pressed PLAY.
Static.
Then Catherine’s voice.
Alexander nearly dropped the recorder.
“Alex…”
His dead wife sounded exhausted.
Afraid.
“If you’re hearing this, then I failed to tell you in person.”
Alexander gripped the desk.
Ethan looked up.
“Mommy?”
Alexander closed his eyes.
Catherine continued.
“There is something happening inside the company. Money is disappearing, but that’s not what scares me.”
A breath.
“They’re watching Ethan.”
Alexander’s eyes opened.
Maria covered her mouth.
“I don’t know why yet. I think it has something to do with the trust your grandfather created.”
Alexander whispered:
“The Blackwood Trust.”
Catherine continued.
“I found a clause nobody told us about. If something happens to you, control doesn’t automatically go to the board.”
Alexander stared at the recorder.
“It goes to Ethan.”
Maria looked at him.
Alexander suddenly understood.
Blackwood Industries wasn’t simply wealthy.
The company controlled hotels, commercial property, shipping investments, and private equity holdings across the country.
Billions.
If Alexander died…
Ethan inherited controlling interest through the trust.
Catherine’s voice continued.
“But Ethan is a child. Which means whoever becomes his legal guardian could effectively control everything.”
Alexander felt the blood drain from his face.
Vanessa wanted to marry him.
She would become Ethan’s stepmother.
His legal guardian if anything happened to Alexander.
“Jesus Christ.”
Then Catherine said:
“I found something else.”
Static interrupted.
Alexander leaned closer.
“A payment.”
The audio distorted.
Then returned.
“Two hundred fifty thousand dollars.”
Alexander froze.
“Paid three days before the brakes on my car were serviced.”
Maria whispered:
“No…”
Catherine continued.
“I traced the company that received it.”
A sound came from the hallway.
Alexander turned.
Footsteps.
Running.
Then one of the security men shouted from downstairs.
“MR. BLACKWOOD!”
Alexander ran from the room.
He reached the balcony overlooking the ballroom.
The front doors stood open.
One guard was on the floor.
Vanessa was gone.
Alexander raced downstairs.
“What happened?”
“She hit Harris with a champagne bottle.”
“Where is she?”
“She took a car.”
Alexander looked toward the driveway.
A black Mercedes was disappearing through the gates.
He pulled out his phone.
“Call the police.”
Maria came downstairs holding Ethan.
Alexander looked back at the recorder.
The message was still playing.
Catherine’s voice crackled through the tiny speaker.
“I traced the payment to someone Alexander trusts more than anyone.”
Alexander stopped.
The final sentence came through clearly.
“If anything happens to me, don’t trust his father.”
Alexander’s face went white.
His father.
Richard Blackwood.
The retired patriarch of the family.
The man who had comforted Alexander at Catherine’s funeral.
The man who had held Ethan while his mother’s coffin was lowered into the ground.
The man Alexander had trusted his entire life.
The recording stopped.
Then Alexander’s phone rang.
UNKNOWN NUMBER.
He answered.
“Hello?”
For three seconds, there was silence.
Then a familiar voice spoke.
His father’s voice.
“Alexander.”
Alexander stared at Maria.
“Dad?”
Richard Blackwood sounded calm.
Too calm.
“You opened Catherine’s room.”
Alexander’s blood turned cold.
“How do you know that?”
Another silence.
Then Richard said:
“Take Ethan and leave the house.”
Alexander looked around the ballroom.
“Why?”
“Because Vanessa isn’t running from you.”
A low mechanical beep sounded somewhere beneath the floor.
Alexander frowned.
“What was that?”
Richard’s next words came in a whisper.
May you like
“She’s making sure Catherine’s evidence disappears with everyone inside.”
Then every light in Blackwood Manor went out.
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