Chapter 5 - CATHERINE BLACKWOOD DIED THREE YEARS AGO Alexander laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
Because sometimes the human mind rejected horror by producing the wrong sound.
“My wife is dead.”
Vanessa stared at him.
“I know what you buried.”
Alexander stepped toward her.
“I identified her body.”
“No. You identified her jewelry.”
“I saw her.”
“After a car fire.”
Alexander stopped.
Vanessa continued.
“The coroner told you facial identification was impossible.”
Reed looked at Alexander.
“Is that true?”
Alexander didn’t answer.
Because it was.
The accident had been violent.
Catherine’s car went through a guardrail and burned before emergency crews arrived.
The remains were identified through dental records, personal belongings, and DNA.
“DNA,” Alexander whispered.
Vanessa nodded.
“Who gave the comparison sample?”
Alexander thought back.
His father.
Richard had handled everything.
The funeral.
The investigators.
The laboratory.
The paperwork.
Reed immediately pulled out his phone.
“I’m requesting the original file.”
Vanessa lowered her hands.
“Catherine knew someone wanted her dead.”
“So she disappeared?”
“She tried.”
“What does that mean?”
“She planned to expose the company.”
“What company?”
Vanessa looked toward Maria.
“Not Blackwood Industries.”
Maria whispered:
“Meridian.”
Vanessa nodded.
Alexander stared.
“You know about Meridian?”
Maria looked at him.
“My brother found it.”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“Gabriel found the first layer.”
“And Catherine?”
“She found the last.”
Alexander stepped closer.
“Where is she?”
Vanessa said nothing.
“WHERE IS MY WIFE?”
Ethan flinched.
Vanessa looked at the boy.
“Not here.”
Alexander’s voice became dangerous.
“You have five seconds.”
“She’s alive.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Alexander grabbed the edge of the table.
“You expect me to believe—”
“I saw her eighteen months ago.”
Silence.
Alexander stared.
“Where?”
“New York.”
“What happened?”
“She found me.”
Vanessa sat slowly.
“She told me that if I wanted to survive, I needed to get close to you.”
Alexander looked disgusted.
“You became engaged to me because Catherine told you to?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To protect Ethan.”
Alexander almost laughed again.
“You whipped him.”
Vanessa’s face collapsed.
“I know.”
“Don’t you dare cry.”
“I lost control.”
“You terrorized a six-year-old.”
“I know!”
“No excuse changes that.”
Vanessa lowered her eyes.
For once, she didn’t argue.
“You’re right.”
Alexander looked at Reed.
“Whatever else she tells us, she answers for what she did to Ethan.”
Reed nodded.
Vanessa wiped her face.
“I deserve that.”
Then she looked at Alexander.
“But if you want Catherine alive, listen.”
Alexander froze.
“If?”
Vanessa nodded.
“She’s in danger.”
“From whom?”
“The same person who ordered Gabriel Delgado killed.”
Maria stepped forward.
“My brother is dead?”
Vanessa looked at her.
“I thought you knew.”
Maria’s knees nearly buckled.
Alexander caught her arm.
Vanessa continued.
“Gabriel discovered Meridian wasn’t stealing from Blackwood.”
“What was it doing?”
“Buying Blackwood.”
Alexander frowned.
“Explain.”
“Your executives. Judges. Police officers. Politicians. Contractors. Anyone who could influence the company.”
Reed’s expression hardened.
“A corruption network.”
“Yes.”
“Run by who?”
“I never knew the top.”
“You expect us to believe that?”
“I was recruited through my father.”
Alexander knew Vanessa’s father, Charles Sterling.
A billionaire investor who had died six years earlier.
Vanessa continued.
“My father told me Meridian existed to protect powerful families.”
“Protect them from what?”
“Consequences.”
Alexander stared at her.
She gave a bitter smile.
“Money disappears. Witnesses change their stories. Investigations close. People have accidents.”
Catherine.
Gabriel.
Alexander looked toward the hallway where his father had disappeared.
“Richard?”
“He participated.”
Maria covered her mouth.
Alexander asked:
“Did he order Catherine killed?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he helped her escape.”
Alexander’s entire body went still.
Vanessa continued.
“Catherine discovered Meridian had ordered her death. Richard learned about it and created a second plan.”
“The crash.”
“Yes.”
“The body?”
“I don’t know.”
Alexander looked sick.
“Someone died in that car.”
Vanessa nodded.
“I know.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Reed stepped closer.
“If Catherine survived, why didn’t she contact her husband?”
Vanessa looked at Ethan.
“Because Meridian threatened the boy.”
Alexander followed her gaze.
Ethan stood beside Maria, clutching Mr. Brown.
“She abandoned her son to protect him?”
“She believed if Meridian knew she was alive, they would use Ethan to force her out.”
Alexander shook his head.
“She could have told me.”
“Richard told her not to.”
Alexander’s anger returned.
“My father stole three years from me.”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
Vanessa’s eyes hardened.
“Or maybe he saved your life.”
Alexander stared at her.
Before he could answer, Reed’s phone rang.
He listened.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He ended the call.
“The DNA records from Catherine’s case are gone.”
Alexander felt cold.
“All of them?”
“Evidence database. Physical storage. Laboratory archive.”
“Impossible.”
“Apparently not.”
Vanessa whispered:
“Meridian.”
Reed looked at her.
“Or someone using Meridian as an excuse.”
Vanessa smiled faintly.
“You’re smarter than the last detective.”
Reed ignored the insult.
“Where did you meet Catherine?”
“A hotel in Manhattan.”
“Which one?”
“The Lexington Crown.”
“When?”
“March seventeenth, eighteen months ago.”
Reed typed it down.
“What did she look like?”
“Different. Short hair. Dark glasses.”
“What did she say?”
“That Ethan was in danger.”
Alexander’s jaw tightened.
“Why?”
“Because someone had started modifying the trust.”
“What modification?”
Vanessa looked at him.
“If Ethan died before his twenty-first birthday, controlling interest would no longer stay with the Blackwood bloodline.”
Alexander stared.
“Where would it go?”
“To Meridian.”
Maria whispered:
“Oh my God.”
Alexander immediately turned toward Ethan.
His son.
The target had never simply been Alexander.
Ethan himself stood between Meridian and billions.
Reed called additional officers.
“We’re moving the boy.”
“To where?” Alexander asked.
“Somewhere nobody in your family knows.”
“I’m going with him.”
“So is Maria.”
Vanessa stood.
“And me.”
Alexander stared at her.
“You’re going to jail.”
“Probably.”
“Then why should I keep listening?”
“Because Catherine gave me something.”
Vanessa reached toward her dress.
Three officers raised their guns.
“Slowly,” Reed warned.
Vanessa pulled out a necklace.
Hanging from it was a small memory card sealed inside a metal case.
“She told me to give this to Alexander only if Meridian moved against Ethan.”
Alexander took it.
“When?”
“Eighteen months ago.”
“You carried this for eighteen months?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Catherine said the day you received it would mean the war had already started.”
They loaded the card into Reed’s laptop.
One video file appeared.
A timestamp from eighteen months earlier.
Alexander clicked.
Catherine appeared on the screen.
Alive.
Alexander stopped breathing.
She looked thinner.
Her hair was short.
But it was her.
“Alex…”
His hand moved toward the screen.
Catherine smiled sadly.
“I don’t know when you’ll see this.”
Ethan heard her voice.
“Mommy?”
Alexander’s heart shattered.
Ethan moved closer.
Catherine continued.
“I’m sorry.”
Alexander closed his eyes.
“I know what you must think of me. But if I came home, they would kill Ethan.”
Ethan touched the screen.
“Mommy.”
Maria began crying.
Catherine continued.
“Meridian is not a company. It’s a system. And the person controlling it has been close to us for years.”
Alexander leaned forward.
“I made one mistake. I trusted the wrong person.”
Static interrupted the video.
Then Catherine said:
“Maria is innocent.”
Maria covered her mouth.
“Richard helped me.”
Alexander stared.
“And Vanessa…”
The video froze.
Then resumed.
“Vanessa doesn’t know everything. Don’t tell her where you’re going.”
Vanessa’s face changed.
“What?”
Catherine continued.
“If Vanessa is standing beside you when you watch this, understand something.”
Vanessa stepped toward the laptop.
“No…”
“She was never sent to protect Ethan.”
Alexander slowly turned toward her.
Vanessa shook her head.
“She’s lying.”
Catherine’s recorded voice continued.
“She was sent to watch him.”
Reed drew his weapon.
Vanessa backed away.
“No.”
Alexander stared at her.
“You said Catherine recruited you.”
“She did!”
The video continued.
“But I believe Vanessa changed sides.”
Everyone stopped.
Catherine looked directly into the camera.
“If she did, she’ll have a scar beneath her left shoulder.”
Alexander looked at Vanessa.
Vanessa slowly pulled the fabric aside.
A long scar crossed her shoulder.
Catherine continued.
“That scar means she refused Meridian’s final order.”
Alexander whispered:
“What order?”
Catherine answered as though she could hear him.
“To kill Ethan.”
Vanessa began crying.
Alexander stared at her.
She whispered:
“I couldn’t do it.”
Catherine’s video continued.
“If Vanessa is alive, she may still be useful. But don’t trust anyone completely.”
Then Catherine leaned toward the camera.
“Alex, there’s one more thing.”
The screen flickered.
“If Ethan still has Mr. Brown, open the left paw.”
Everyone looked at the teddy bear.
Alexander took it carefully.
He opened a hidden seam.
Inside was a folded strip of paper.
A phone number.
And three words.
CALL YOUR MOTHER.
Alexander stared at it.
“My mother died when I was twelve.”
Nobody spoke.
Vanessa whispered:
“No, Alexander.”
His eyes lifted.
May you like
“What?”
“She didn’t.”
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