Chapter 8 - THE THIRD FATHER “YOU TOLD ME MICHAEL WAS HIS FATHER.”
Claire stood in the dark hallway while police moved through the estate.
“I believed he was.”
Adrian stared at her.
“You believed?”
“Adrian—”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“We’re finished with half-truths.”
Claire looked toward the staircase where Noah had been taken.
Then she lowered her voice.
“The night Noah was conceived is not what you think.”
Adrian laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“I’m starting to realize nothing is.”
Claire swallowed.
“Michael helped me disappear from Victor’s network years before you met me.”
“Why?”
“Because I had discovered something.”
“What?”
“That Victor was looking for a child.”
Adrian frowned.
“What child?”
“The last direct descendant of Gabriel Blackwood.”
Elias stepped forward.
“That would be Michael.”
“No.”
Claire looked at him.
“Michael was adopted by Gabriel.”
Silence.
Evelyn nodded.
“My father protected him. Gave him the Hart name.”
Adrian stared at Claire.
“Then who was Gabriel’s biological son?”
Claire whispered:
“That’s what Victor never discovered.”
Rain struck the windows.
Reed entered.
“We need to move. If Victor is headed for Maine, state police can coordinate—”
“No police.”
Everyone looked at Evelyn.
Reed frowned.
“Excuse me?”
“The island has people inside law enforcement.”
Reed’s expression hardened.
“So do we.”
“You don’t understand.”
Evelyn looked at the flash drive.
“Some of the names on that drive are federal.”
Reed stopped.
That changed everything.
Adrian looked at Claire.
“Who can we trust?”
Claire answered immediately.
“No one Victor knows.”
Adrian glanced toward Reed.
“I know Reed.”
“Then trust him.”
Reed sighed.
“Great. Nice to finally get invited into the conspiracy.”
Adrian ignored him.
“When does the tide allow access to the island?”
Elias checked his watch.
“Boat access? Any time. But there’s one dock.”
“Victor will control it.”
“Yes.”
“Other way?”
Evelyn answered.
“Sea cave.”
Elias stared at her.
“What sea cave?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“The one your father never knew existed.”
For the first time, Elias smiled.
“Now I like you.”
Hours later, they were moving north.
Noah slept in the back of Reed’s unmarked SUV with Claire beside him.
Adrian sat in front.
He kept looking in the mirror.
Claire.
Alive.
Every time he saw her, his mind rejected the image.
At one point, Noah woke.
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“Is Mom coming home?”
Adrian couldn’t answer immediately.
Claire looked down.
Noah noticed.
“Did she do something bad?”
Adrian turned slightly.
“No.”
Claire looked at him.
Adrian continued.
“Adults made choices because they were scared.”
“Are you mad?”
“Yes.”
“At Mom?”
Adrian looked through the windshield.
“At a lot of people.”
Noah thought about that.
Then:
“Can you be mad later?”
Adrian looked back.
“Why?”
“Because she just came back.”
Claire covered her mouth.
Adrian closed his eyes.
Children had a cruel way of simplifying what adults spent years destroying.
“Yes.”
His voice softened.
“I can be mad later.”
Noah took Claire’s hand.
Within minutes, he was asleep again.
At dawn, they reached a private marina outside Rockland.
Elias had arranged a boat.
Vanessa was waiting beside it.
Adrian stopped.
“I told you to stay with police.”
“You also told me not to do anything alone.”
“That wasn’t an invitation.”
“I know.”
She held out a folder.
“But you need this.”
Inside were old photographs.
Michael Hart.
Gabriel.
Victor.
One photograph showed three young men standing beside the Blackwood mansion.
Gabriel.
Victor.
And another man.
Adrian stared.
“Who’s that?”
Vanessa pointed to handwriting on the back.
SAMUEL VALE.
Claire froze.
Adrian noticed.
“You know him.”
Claire nodded slowly.
“Samuel was Gabriel’s closest friend.”
“Was?”
“No one knows what happened to him.”
Vanessa pulled out another photograph.
Samuel standing beside a young woman.
Adrian’s heart stopped.
He knew her.
His mother.
“Where did you get this?”
Vanessa looked at him.
“Victor’s private archive.”
Adrian stared at the photograph.
His mother had died when he was sixteen.
She had never mentioned Blackwoods.
Never mentioned Samuel Vale.
“What does this mean?”
Claire whispered:
“Oh God.”
Adrian turned.
“What?”
Claire looked at him as if seeing him for the first time.
“Your mother’s maiden name.”
“Vale.”
Elias swore quietly.
Adrian’s pulse began hammering.
“No.”
Claire stepped closer.
“Adrian…”
“No.”
He already understood.
But understanding something and accepting it were different things.
Evelyn arrived from the marina office.
She saw the photograph.
Then Adrian.
And stopped.
“You found it.”
Adrian stared at her.
“You knew.”
Evelyn said nothing.
“You knew who Samuel Vale was.”
“Yes.”
“Tell me.”
“Samuel wasn’t Gabriel’s friend.”
Adrian waited.
“He was Gabriel’s biological son.”
The marina disappeared around Adrian.
Claire covered her mouth.
Elias whispered:
“Then Adrian’s mother…”
“Was Samuel’s daughter.”
Evelyn nodded.
Adrian looked toward Noah sleeping in the SUV.
Claire’s earlier statement returned.
The last direct descendant of Gabriel Blackwood.
Not Michael.
Not Victor.
Adrian.
Adrian whispered:
“That means…”
Claire finished it.
“Noah is a Blackwood through you.”
Adrian looked at her sharply.
“But the DNA—”
“I never said you weren’t Noah’s biological father.”
Adrian stared.
“What?”
Claire began crying.
“The recorder said Julian.”
“The video said Michael.”
“The video said Michael because Victor needed another target.”
Adrian could barely breathe.
“Then why did Michael just say Noah isn’t his?”
“Because he knows.”
“Knows what?”
Claire stepped closer.
“The truth.”
She took Adrian’s hand.
“Noah is your biological son.”
Adrian froze.
The words entered him slowly.
Painfully.
Then all at once.
“My son?”
“Yes.”
“He’s mine?”
“Yes.”
Adrian looked away.
For days, every person around him had ripped pieces of his identity away.
Victor.
Julian.
Michael.
Now Claire was giving one back.
But anger followed immediately.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe otherwise?”
“I had to make Victor believe Noah’s bloodline came through someone else.”
“Why?”
“Because if Victor discovered you were Samuel Vale’s grandson, he would understand who you really were.”
Adrian stared at her.
“And who am I?”
Evelyn answered.
“The legitimate heir to everything Gabriel Blackwood built before Victor stole it.”
Elias went silent.
Adrian looked at him.
Elias’s face had changed.
Not jealousy.
Shock.
“Victor isn’t the rightful head of the family,” Elias whispered.
“No,” Evelyn said.
“Gabriel was the eldest.”
“And Samuel was his son.”
“Yes.”
“Which makes Adrian…”
Elias looked at him.
“The rightful Blackwood heir.”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“I don’t want it.”
Evelyn stepped closer.
“That’s exactly why Gabriel wanted your line protected.”
Adrian shook his head.
“I’m not interested in an empire.”
“Neither was Gabriel.”
“Then why does Victor care?”
“Because legitimacy matters to men like Victor.”
Claire added:
“And because Gabriel created a trust.”
Adrian looked at her.
“What trust?”
Evelyn answered.
“A controlling trust over Blackwood Holdings.”
Elias stared.
“My father controls the company.”
“Temporarily.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“The trust activates when Gabriel’s living heir presents proof.”
Adrian looked toward the sea.
Blackwood Island waited somewhere beyond the horizon.
“What proof?”
Evelyn looked at him.
“The ledger.”
Of course.
Everything led back to the grave.
A horn sounded from the marina.
Reed came running.
“We need to leave.”
“Why?”
He held up his phone.
“Victor’s people found us.”
Across the parking lot, two black SUVs entered the marina.
Men stepped out.
Armed.
Elias started the boat.
“Everyone aboard!”
Gunfire erupted.
Adrian pulled Claire and Noah behind a concrete barrier.
Vanessa fired toward the SUVs with Reed.
“MOVE!”
They ran.
Bullets struck the dock.
Wood exploded around their feet.
Noah screamed.
Adrian lifted him.
“I’ve got you!”
Claire ran beside him.
They jumped onto the boat.
Elias pushed the throttle.
The boat tore away from the dock.
Gunshots followed them across the water.
Then Reed looked behind.
“They’re launching another boat.”
Elias smiled grimly.
“Good.”
Adrian looked at him.
“Good?”
“They’ll follow us.”
“That’s not good.”
“It is if Victor believes we’re coming through the main channel.”
Elias turned hard toward open water.
“Because we aren’t.”
Claire looked ahead.
Black clouds covered the horizon.
Somewhere beneath them waited a sea cave.
Somewhere on the island waited Victor.
And somewhere inside a grave waited proof that Adrian had inherited an empire he never wanted.
Noah touched his shoulder.
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“If you’re really a Blackwood…”
Adrian looked at him.
Noah frowned.
“Does that mean I have to be one?”
Adrian held him tighter.
“No.”
“Good.”
“Why?”
Noah looked toward the island.
“Because everybody in that family seems crazy.”
Despite everything, Adrian laughed.
Claire did too.
For one brief second, they sounded like a family again.
Then Elias pointed ahead.
The island appeared through the fog.
And on the cliffs above the water—
a single figure stood waiting.
Victor.
He had reached the island first.
And beside him stood a man Adrian recognized immediately.
May you like
Michael Hart.
With a gun pressed against Victor’s head.
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