Chapter 5 - THE MAN CLAIRE FEARED Adrian stared at Elias.
“Say that again.”
Elias didn’t blink.
“Victor Blackwood is Noah’s biological father.”
Reed lowered his gun slightly.
Adrian didn’t move.
“That would mean Claire—”
“Was forced into something she spent years trying to escape.”
The anger disappeared from Adrian’s face.
“What do you mean forced?”
Elias looked toward the security camera.
“We shouldn’t discuss this here.”
“You’re going to discuss it right now.”
“Victor owns this building.”
“I don’t care.”
“You should.”
Elias pointed upward.
“Because he knows you’re here.”
The vault door suddenly began closing.
Reed spun.
“Move!”
They ran.
The massive steel door continued sliding.
Adrian barely cleared it.
Elias jumped through.
Reed rolled beneath it seconds before it slammed shut.
Then alarms erupted.
“Go!” Elias shouted.
They ran toward the elevator.
Dead.
“Stairs!”
Elias led them through a maintenance corridor.
Adrian grabbed him.
“You knew this would happen.”
“I knew it might.”
“You used us.”
“I needed you to open 317.”
Adrian shoved him against the wall.
“You could have killed my son tonight.”
Elias’s expression hardened.
“If I wanted Noah dead, he would already be dead.”
Adrian nearly hit him.
Reed stepped between them.
“Save it.”
Footsteps echoed behind them.
Armed security.
Elias opened a service door.
“Through here.”
They entered an underground parking structure.
A black sedan waited.
Adrian stopped.
“I’m not getting in your car.”
Elias tossed him the keys.
“Then you drive.”
Minutes later they were moving through the city.
Reed sat in the back, still holding his weapon.
Adrian drove.
“Talk.”
Elias looked through the window.
“Twenty years ago, Victor Blackwood discovered that power was easier to maintain when respectable people owed him favors.”
“Claire found the ledger.”
“Yes.”
“What does Noah have to do with it?”
“Everything.”
Elias looked at Adrian.
“Victor created heirs like insurance policies.”
Adrian’s stomach tightened.
“What does that mean?”
“He had children outside his marriage.”
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
“And Claire?”
Elias’s jaw tightened.
“She discovered what he was doing.”
Adrian waited.
“She was investigating the foundation when Victor noticed her. He realized she was intelligent and, more importantly, married to you.”
“Why was I important?”
“Your companies controlled shipping infrastructure Victor needed.”
Adrian understood.
“Claire became leverage.”
“Yes.”
Adrian’s hands tightened on the steering wheel.
“Did he assault her?”
Elias looked away.
That was answer enough.
Adrian slammed the brakes.
The car stopped in the empty street.
Reed nearly flew forward.
“What the hell?”
Adrian turned toward Elias.
“Did Victor assault my wife?”
Elias answered quietly.
“Yes.”
Adrian stopped breathing.
The betrayal he had felt listening to Claire’s recording collapsed beneath something far darker.
She hadn’t betrayed him.
She had been protecting him from a truth she could barely survive herself.
Adrian remembered her apologies.
Her fear.
Her statement:
I betrayed you.
She had blamed herself.
For what someone else had done.
Adrian’s eyes filled with rage.
“Why did she say Julian was Noah’s father?”
“Because Julian helped her escape.”
Elias explained.
Julian had discovered Victor’s crimes years earlier.
He had staged his death and begun gathering evidence.
When Claire became trapped in Victor’s network, Julian helped her disappear long enough to collect proof.
“Claire knew Victor would kill Noah if he believed the child was his.”
“So she invented Julian.”
“She made Noah appear to be Julian’s heir.”
“But that still gave Noah the Blackwood inheritance.”
“Exactly.”
Adrian stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because Julian changed the trust.”
Elias leaned forward.
“He made any verified Blackwood descendant eligible to unlock the evidence.”
Adrian understood.
Claire had transformed Noah’s greatest danger into his protection.
If Victor killed Noah, suspicion might expose the trust.
If Noah lived, he could eventually destroy Victor.
A deadlock.
Until now.
“Why Phase Two?”
“Because Noah is approaching nine.”
“What happens at nine?”
“The trust begins independent DNA verification.”
Adrian looked toward the sealed report beside him.
“And Victor can’t manipulate that test.”
“No.”
“So he needs Noah gone before then.”
“Yes.”
Adrian started driving again.
“Where is Victor?”
Elias laughed without humor.
“You don’t find Victor.”
“Then he finds me.”
“He already has.”
Adrian’s phone rang.
Vanessa.
He answered.
Her voice was frantic.
“Adrian, Noah’s gone.”
The world stopped.
“What?”
“Police were with us. The lights went out for maybe thirty seconds. When they came back—”
“WHERE IS MY SON?”
“I don’t know!”
Adrian turned the car around so violently Reed grabbed the seat.
Vanessa sobbed.
“There’s something here.”
“What?”
“A phone.”
It rang while they were speaking.
Vanessa answered on speaker.
Victor Blackwood’s voice entered Adrian’s world for the first time.
Deep.
Controlled.
Almost grandfatherly.
“Adrian.”
Adrian felt hatred unlike anything he had known.
“Where is Noah?”
“Safe.”
“If you touch him—”
“You’ve spent your entire life threatening men who fear you. I don’t.”
Adrian’s voice became cold.
“You should.”
Victor chuckled.
“I understand why Claire loved you.”
Adrian nearly broke the phone.
“Don’t say her name.”
“Why? We shared something very important.”
Elias closed his eyes.
Adrian whispered, “I’m going to kill you.”
“No.”
Victor remained calm.
“You’re going to bring me what Claire left in Box 317.”
Adrian looked at the flash drive.
“What do you want?”
“The drive.”
“For Noah.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Midnight tomorrow.”
“Where?”
“I’ll tell you.”
Adrian looked at Elias.
Victor continued.
“And Adrian?”
“What?”
“Don’t trust my son.”
Elias stared at the phone.
“He has always been jealous of his younger brother.”
Adrian frowned.
“What younger brother?”
Victor laughed.
Then the call ended.
Adrian looked at Elias.
Elias had gone pale.
“Explain.”
Elias said nothing.
“EXPLAIN!”
Finally, Elias whispered:
“Victor isn’t talking about Julian.”
“Then who?”
Elias looked Adrian directly in the eyes.
“Noah.”
Silence.
“He considers Noah his son.”
Adrian’s expression became lethal.
“He’s wrong.”
Meanwhile, twenty miles away, Noah opened his eyes.
He was lying on a bed.
The room was enormous.
Bookshelves.
Fireplace.
Tall windows.
No ropes.
No guards.
A chessboard sat nearby.
The door opened.
An elderly man entered.
Silver hair.
Expensive suit.
Victor Blackwood.
Noah sat up.
“Where’s my dad?”
Victor smiled.
“Which one?”
Noah’s fear became anger.
“I only have one.”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
“Interesting.”
“Take me home.”
Victor approached.
Noah backed away.
“You look like Claire.”
“Don’t talk about my mom.”
Victor stopped.
Something flickered in his eyes.
“She taught you courage.”
“My dad did too.”
Again.
Dad.
Every time Noah said it, Victor seemed irritated.
Victor sat opposite him.
“Adrian isn’t your biological father.”
“I know.”
Victor hadn’t expected that.
Noah continued.
“But he’s still my dad.”
Victor studied him.
“Blood matters.”
“Not more than showing up.”
The words hit Victor harder than the boy could understand.
Noah had heard Adrian say them once.
Victor leaned back.
“You’re going to inherit something extraordinary.”
“I don’t want it.”
“You don’t know what it is.”
“If people have to die for it, I don’t want it.”
Victor stared at the child.
For the first time, Noah saw uncertainty in the old man’s eyes.
Then Victor smiled.
“You really are Claire’s son.”
He stood.
At the doorway, Noah called after him.
“Mr. Blackwood?”
Victor stopped.
“My mom left me something.”
Victor slowly turned.
Noah held up his empty hand.
“You’ll never find it.”
Victor’s expression changed.
Noah smiled despite his fear.
Because the silver key to Box 317 was no longer in his pocket.
Before entering the bank, Noah had slipped it into Adrian’s coat.
May you like
And Victor Blackwood had just realized something terrifying.
Claire had prepared her eight-year-old son for this war.
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