Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN ALEXANDER BURIED TWICE Alexander remembered his mother’s funeral.
Rain.
Black umbrellas.
His father standing beside him.
A closed coffin.
He remembered being twelve years old and wondering why nobody would let him see her one last time.
He remembered Richard saying the accident had damaged her body too badly.
Another accident.
Alexander stared at the words Catherine had hidden inside Ethan’s teddy bear.
CALL YOUR MOTHER.
“This is insane.”
Reed looked at the phone number.
“There’s one way to find out.”
Alexander dialed.
One ring.
Two.
Three.
A woman answered.
“Hello?”
Alexander couldn’t speak.
The voice was older.
But somewhere inside it was a memory.
A bedtime story.
A song beside a fireplace.
A woman telling a frightened twelve-year-old boy that monsters only became powerful when people pretended they didn’t exist.
“Hello?” the woman repeated.
Alexander whispered:
“Mom?”
Silence.
Then the woman inhaled sharply.
“Alexander?”
His knees nearly gave out.
Maria reached for him.
Alexander stepped away.
“You’re alive.”
The woman began crying.
“My son.”
Alexander’s face twisted with rage.
“Don’t call me that.”
“Alexander—”
“You let me bury you!”
“I know.”
“You let me believe you were dead for twenty-six years!”
“I had no choice.”
“Everybody says that!”
Ethan stared at his father.
Alexander lowered his voice.
“Where are you?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Then this conversation is over.”
“No!”
Alexander waited.
The woman whispered:
“Catherine is with me.”
Everything stopped.
Alexander closed his eyes.
“Put her on.”
“I can’t.”
“Put my wife on the phone.”
“She’s not here right now.”
“Where is she?”
“She went to meet Richard.”
Alexander looked toward the hospital corridor.
“My father was shot tonight.”
Silence.
Then his mother whispered:
“Oh, God.”
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
“Who was Catherine meeting?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Alexander, listen to me. You need to get Ethan away from Boston.”
“Why?”
“Because Meridian knows Catherine is alive.”
Vanessa stepped closer.
“How?”
Alexander’s mother heard her.
“Who is that?”
“Vanessa.”
A sharp silence.
Then:
“Get away from her.”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“Everybody keeps saying that.”
Alexander ignored her.
“Mom, who runs Meridian?”
“I don’t know anymore.”
“Anymore?”
“I helped create it.”
Alexander froze.
Reed moved closer.
His mother continued.
“Your grandfather started Meridian in the seventies.”
“Why?”
“To hide money.”
“From the government?”
“At first.”
Alexander almost laughed.
“Of course.”
“Then it became something else.”
“What?”
“A private network. Judges. Attorneys. executives. Law enforcement. People who owed favors.”
“A criminal organization.”
“Yes.”
“And Dad?”
“Richard wanted out.”
“When?”
“When you were born.”
Alexander stared through the hospital window.
“He tried to dismantle it?”
“He tried to protect you from it.”
“By telling me you were dead?”
His mother’s voice broke.
“They ordered my death.”
Alexander went silent.
“I discovered Meridian was laundering money through Blackwood subsidiaries. Your father staged my death and sent me away.”
“Exactly what he later did with Catherine.”
“Yes.”
Alexander closed his eyes.
The pattern had repeated.
Two generations.
Two women.
Two fake deaths.
Two sons left behind.
“Why didn’t Dad destroy Meridian?”
“Because he couldn’t.”
“Why?”
“Because Meridian had something stronger than money.”
“What?”
“Secrets.”
The elevator opened.
A doctor approached.
“Mr. Blackwood?”
Alexander covered the phone.
“My father?”
“He’s alive.”
Alexander exhaled.
“He’s going into surgery. The bullet damaged his liver, but we’re cautiously optimistic.”
Alexander nodded.
“Thank you.”
He returned to the call.
“Mom?”
No answer.
“Mom?”
Then another voice came through.
A man.
“You really should have listened to Catherine.”
Alexander froze.
“Who is this?”
The man chuckled.
“You have something that belongs to me.”
“What?”
“Ethan.”
Alexander’s eyes moved immediately toward his son.
“You come near my child—”
“I already have.”
Alexander looked around.
Police everywhere.
Maria beside Ethan.
Reed.
Vanessa.
“How?”
The man laughed.
“Check his bear.”
Alexander grabbed Mr. Brown.
Something small blinked inside the paw.
A tracking device.
Reed ripped it out.
“Move!”
The hospital lights died.
Emergency alarms screamed.
Alexander grabbed Ethan.
Officers rushed toward them.
Then the fire alarm activated.
Crowds poured into the corridor.
Reed shouted:
“Keep the boy between us!”
Maria held Ethan’s hand.
Vanessa followed.
They reached a secure stairwell.
Reed locked the door behind them.
“Parking garage.”
“No,” Vanessa said.
Everyone looked at her.
“That’s where they’ll expect us.”
“Then where?”
Vanessa pointed upward.
“Roof.”
They climbed.
Seven floors.
Ethan was exhausted.
Alexander carried him.
When they reached the roof, cold wind slammed into them.
A police helicopter was being requested.
Reed checked the stairwell.
“Clear.”
Then Maria screamed.
A red laser dot appeared on Alexander’s chest.
“DOWN!”
Vanessa tackled him.
A gunshot cracked.
Glass shattered behind them.
Sniper.
Reed fired toward a neighboring rooftop.
“MOVE!”
They hid behind the concrete housing of the ventilation system.
Alexander held Ethan beneath him.
“Daddy…”
“I’m here.”
“I want Mommy.”
Alexander’s eyes burned.
“I know.”
Vanessa looked toward the neighboring building.
“I know that shooter.”
“How?”
“Meridian uses him.”
“Name?”
“Caleb Shaw.”
Reed radioed the information.
Another shot struck concrete.
Maria screamed.
Alexander looked down.
Blood.
“Maria!”
A bullet had grazed her arm.
“I’m okay.”
Ethan began crying.
Alexander ripped fabric from his shirt and pressed it against Maria’s wound.
Vanessa watched.
Something changed in her face.
Shame.
“You protected him,” she whispered.
Maria looked at her.
“That’s what you were supposed to do.”
Vanessa lowered her eyes.
Another shot.
Reed returned fire.
Then sirens approached from every direction.
The sniper disappeared.
Ten minutes later, tactical officers secured the neighboring roof.
Caleb Shaw was gone.
But he had left something behind.
A photograph.
Reed brought it to Alexander.
The image had been taken earlier that night.
It showed Catherine Blackwood.
Alive.
Standing outside Blackwood Tower.
Timestamp:
8:47 PM.
Alexander stared.
“That was twenty minutes before my father was shot.”
Reed turned the photo over.
Written on the back:
ASK HER WHY SHE PULLED THE TRIGGER.
Alexander felt the world tilt.
“No.”
Maria stared at the picture.
“Someone wants you to believe Catherine shot Richard.”
“Or she did,” Reed said.
Alexander looked at him.
“You think my wife shot my father?”
“I think we follow evidence.”
Vanessa took the photograph.
“There’s something wrong.”
“What?”
She pointed toward Catherine’s wrist.
A bracelet.
Silver.
Alexander recognized it.
He had given Catherine that bracelet on their fifth anniversary.
Vanessa looked at him.
“Catherine stopped wearing this before she disappeared.”
“How would you know?”
“Because she gave it to someone.”
“Who?”
Vanessa looked toward Maria.
Maria went pale.
Alexander turned.
“Maria?”
Maria slowly reached into her pocket.
She removed a silver bracelet.
The same bracelet.
Alexander stared.
“Then who is in the photograph?”
Nobody answered.
Until Ethan spoke.
“That’s not Mommy.”
Alexander crouched.
“How do you know?”
Ethan pointed at the woman’s hand.
“Mommy has a little moon.”
Alexander remembered.
A tiny crescent-shaped scar between Catherine’s thumb and index finger from a childhood accident.
The woman in the photograph didn’t have it.
A double.
Someone wanted Catherine blamed for Richard’s shooting.
Reed’s phone rang.
He answered.
Then looked at Alexander.
“We found Catherine.”
Alexander stopped breathing.
“Where?”
“At Logan Airport.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Take me there.”
“There’s a problem.”
“What?”
“She was arrested trying to board a flight to Iceland.”
Alexander stared.
“For what?”
Reed swallowed.
“She had the gun used to shoot your father in her luggage.”
Two hours later, Alexander stood outside an interrogation room.
Through the glass sat the woman he had mourned for three years.
Catherine Blackwood.
Alive.
Older.
Thinner.
But unmistakably Catherine.
Alexander couldn’t move.
She looked up.
Their eyes met through the glass.
Catherine stood.
Her hand went to her mouth.
Alexander entered.
Neither spoke.
Then Catherine crossed the room.
She wrapped her arms around him.
Alexander remained stiff.
She pulled back.
“Alex…”
He stared at her.
“Three years.”
“I know.”
“Our son cried for you every night.”
Her eyes filled.
“I know.”
“You watched us?”
“Yes.”
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“And you stayed away.”
“If I came back, Meridian would have killed him.”
Alexander stepped back.
“Did you shoot my father?”
“No.”
“Did you know he was going to be shot?”
Catherine hesitated.
That hesitation was enough.
Alexander’s expression changed.
“You knew.”
“I knew someone was going after him.”
“And you didn’t warn me?”
“I tried.”
“When?”
“I sent the message.”
“What message?”
Catherine stared.
“The message telling you not to open the blue room.”
Alexander froze.
“I never got that message.”
Catherine’s face changed.
“Then someone intercepted it.”
Reed entered.
“We need to talk about the gun.”
“It was planted.”
“In your luggage?”
“Yes.”
“Who packed your bag?”
“I did.”
“Anyone else have access?”
Catherine looked toward the observation glass.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
She hesitated.
Then said:
“Alexander’s mother.”
Alexander stared.
“You were with her?”
“For three years.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“She called me tonight.”
Catherine’s face went pale.
“What?”
“She told me you were with her.”
Catherine shook her head.
“No.”
Alexander stared.
“What do you mean?”
“I haven’t seen Eleanor Blackwood in six months.”
The room fell silent.
Alexander felt cold.
“Then who called me?”
Catherine looked terrified.
“Did she ask where Ethan was?”
Alexander remembered.
Get Ethan away from Boston.
The voice had kept him talking.
Kept him on the phone.
Long enough for someone to track them.
Catherine whispered:
“Alex…”
“What?”
“Your mother is alive.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Catherine shook her head.
“You don’t understand.”
She leaned closer.
“Eleanor Blackwood is the person I was investigating.”
Alexander stared at her.
Catherine’s next words shattered everything he thought he knew.
“Your mother runs Meridian.”
Alexander stepped backward.
“No.”
“She has for twenty-six years.”
“My father said—”
“Richard didn’t hide your mother from Meridian.”
Catherine’s eyes filled with tears.
“He hid you from her.”
Alexander couldn’t speak.
Catherine continued.
“Eleanor never disappeared because someone wanted to kill her.”
“Then why?”
“Because Richard discovered what she had done.”
Alexander’s hands shook.
“What did she do?”
Catherine looked through the glass toward Ethan.
“She tried to have you killed when you were twelve.”
Alexander stopped breathing.
“And now she’s come back for your son.”
Suddenly, every phone in the police station began ringing.
Reed’s radio exploded with voices.
An officer rushed through the door.
“Detective!”
“What?”
“We have a security breach downstairs.”
Alexander turned toward the glass.
Maria had been sitting with Ethan moments earlier.
The chairs were empty.
“Where’s my son?”
The officer looked terrified.
“We don’t know.”
Alexander ran into the hallway.
“ETHAN!”
Nothing.
Then he saw Mr. Brown lying on the floor.
The teddy bear’s stomach had been cut open.
A folded note was pinned to it.
Alexander tore it free.
One sentence.
BRING CATHERINE TO BLACKWOOD ESTATE AT MIDNIGHT IF YOU WANT YOUR SON BACK.
At the bottom was a symbol.
A black circle crossed by a silver line.
Catherine saw it.
All the color disappeared from her face.
Alexander looked at her.
“What is it?”
She whispered:
“Meridian.”
Alexander checked the clock.
11:17 PM.
Forty-three minutes.
Catherine stepped beside him.
“Alex.”
He turned.
For the first time in three years, husband and wife stood together with no secrets between them.
Or almost none.
Catherine looked him directly in the eyes.
“If Eleanor has Ethan, she doesn’t want money.”
“What does she want?”
“Something only Ethan can give her.”
Alexander’s voice dropped.
“What?”
Catherine looked toward the burning glow still visible in the distant sky where Blackwood Manor had stood.
“Your grandfather didn’t leave control of Blackwood Industries to you.”
Alexander stared.
“He left it to Ethan.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Catherine shook her head.
“Not when he turns twenty-one.”
She swallowed.
“He gave Ethan control the day he was born.”
Alexander’s face changed.
“That’s impossible.”
“There’s a biometric lock on the original Blackwood Trust.”
“A biometric lock?”
“Your grandfather was paranoid. He created a physical authorization system before he died.”
“Where?”
Catherine looked at the note.
“Blackwood Estate.”
Alexander understood.
Eleanor didn’t need Ethan dead.
Not yet.
She needed him alive long enough to unlock something.
Then his phone rang.
Video call.
UNKNOWN.
Alexander answered.
The screen showed Ethan tied to a chair.
“DADDY!”
Alexander’s blood turned to ice.
Behind Ethan stood a woman.
Silver hair.
Elegant black dress.
A face Alexander had not seen since he was twelve years old.
His mother.
Eleanor Blackwood smiled into the camera.
“Hello, Alexander.”
He could barely speak.
“Let him go.”
“Oh, I will.”
“If you hurt him—”
“You sound like your father.”
“Let my son go.”
Eleanor leaned toward Ethan and gently brushed the hair from his forehead.
The gesture was almost loving.
That made it worse.
“Midnight.”
“What do you want?”
“Bring Catherine.”
“Why?”
Eleanor smiled.
“Because your wife stole something from me.”
Catherine stepped into view.
Eleanor’s smile disappeared.
“There you are.”
Catherine stared at her.
“You lost.”
Eleanor laughed.
“Did I?”
“You’ll never control the trust.”
“I don’t need to.”
She placed one hand on Ethan’s shoulder.
“He does.”
Alexander stepped closer to the screen.
“Mom.”
Eleanor paused.
It was the first time he had called her that.
“Please.”
For one brief second, something human appeared in her eyes.
Then it vanished.
“Forty minutes.”
The video ended.
Alexander looked at Catherine.
Reed checked his weapon.
“We call tactical response.”
“No,” Catherine said.
Reed turned.
“They have a child hostage.”
“And Eleanor owns people inside law enforcement.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I spent three years proving it.”
Alexander looked at Catherine.
“Then what do we do?”
She opened her coat.
Inside were documents.
Maps.
Photographs.
And a small black pistol.
Reed immediately reached for it.
Catherine handed it over.
“I came back tonight because I knew this was coming.”
She removed one final item.
An old brass key.
Alexander recognized the design.
Another Blackwood key.
“What does that open?”
Catherine looked at him.
“The room beneath the estate.”
“What’s inside?”
“The truth.”
“About Meridian?”
“About everything.”
Alexander stared at her.
Catherine took his hand.
“We have thirty-eight minutes to save our son.”
They headed toward the door.
But Maria suddenly appeared at the end of the hallway.
Blood still stained the bandage around her arm.
“Wait.”
Alexander stopped.
Maria was holding a document.
“I found this inside Mr. Brown.”
“What?”
“Another hidden compartment.”
She handed it to Catherine.
Catherine unfolded it.
Her face went white.
“What is it?” Alexander asked.
Catherine didn’t answer.
He took the document.
It was a birth certificate.
ETHAN JAMES BLACKWOOD.
Mother:
Catherine Anne Blackwood.
Father:
The line had been altered.
Alexander stared.
His own name had been crossed out.
Beneath it was another name.
A name Alexander recognized from the missing Blackwood auditor.
GABRIEL DELGADO.
Maria stopped breathing.
“No.”
Alexander looked at Catherine.
The room went silent.
“Tell me this is fake.”
Catherine’s eyes filled with tears.
“Alex…”
“Tell me.”
She couldn’t.
Alexander looked toward Maria.
Then back at Catherine.
“You told me Gabriel was helping you investigate Meridian.”
“He was.”
“Was he Ethan’s father?”
Catherine closed her eyes.
Alexander’s voice broke.
“Was he?”
Outside, thunder rolled across Boston.
Thirty-seven minutes remained before midnight.
Ethan was somewhere inside Blackwood Estate with the grandmother he had never known.
Richard Blackwood was fighting for his life in surgery.
Meridian was closing in.
And Alexander had just discovered that the little boy he would burn down the world to protect…
might not be his son at all.
Catherine finally opened her eyes.
“No.”
Alexander stared.
“Then why does this say Gabriel?”
“Because that document isn’t about Ethan’s father.”
“What does that mean?”
Catherine pointed toward the serial number at the bottom.
“It’s a coded ownership certificate.”
Maria stepped closer.
Catherine looked at both of them.
“Gabriel discovered the final secret before he disappeared.”
“What secret?”
Catherine swallowed.
“Ethan doesn’t own half of Blackwood Industries.”
Alexander waited.
Catherine looked toward Maria.
“Neither does Maria.”
Then she looked back at him.
“Together, they own all of it.”
Alexander’s phone displayed the time.
11:24 PM.
Thirty-six minutes.
May you like
Somewhere in the darkness outside Boston, Ethan Blackwood was waiting for his father.
And beneath the abandoned Blackwood Estate, a secret buried for almost fifty years was about to open a war no one in the family could walk away from.
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