Chapter 3 - THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
Adrian had spent his life learning to recognize fear.
Fear in businessmen pretending not to be intimidated.
Fear in politicians trying to negotiate.
Fear in men who realized too late that they had betrayed the wrong family.
Marcus Vale showed almost none of it.
Almost.
But Adrian had seen his eyes touch the key.
And that was enough.
“Close the door,” Adrian said.
Marcus did.
“What’s going on?”
Adrian leaned against his desk.
“You tell me.”
Marcus smiled faintly.
“That sounds like your father.”
“My mother says you knew Thomas Bennett.”
Nothing changed in Marcus’s face.
“Should I?”
“Accountant. Twenty years ago. Died in a car accident.”
Marcus looked thoughtful.
“Twenty years is a long time.”
“Not long enough.”
Victoria’s fingers tightened around Clara’s hand.
Marcus noticed.
His gaze settled on Clara.
“And who is this?”
“You know exactly who she is,” Victoria said.
Marcus’s smile vanished.
Adrian watched him carefully.
“Do I?”
Victoria’s voice hardened.
“Eleanor Bennett’s daughter.”
The silence that followed answered more than words could.
Marcus slowly turned toward Adrian.
“I think your mother needs rest.”
“My mother needs answers.”
“Adrian—”
“Did my father order you to kill Thomas Bennett?”
Clara stopped breathing.
Marcus stared at Adrian for several seconds.
Then he laughed quietly.
“Is that what this is about?”
“Answer.”
“No.”
Victoria struck the arm of her wheelchair.
“Liar.”
Marcus looked at her almost sadly.
“Victoria, you were never supposed to hear that conversation.”
Adrian straightened.
Clara whispered, “So it’s true.”
Marcus looked at her.
“Nothing about your mother was as simple as she told you.”
Adrian stepped between them.
“Careful.”
Marcus raised both hands.
“I didn’t kill Thomas.”
“But my father ordered you to.”
“Yes.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
“And?”
“I refused.”
Adrian studied him.
“My father tolerated refusal?”
“Not usually.”
“Then why were you still alive?”
Marcus walked toward the bar and poured himself water without asking.
“Because I gave Richard another solution.”
“What solution?”
“I told him to frighten Bennett.”
Clara’s face hardened.
“My father died.”
“Yes.”
“Convenient.”
Marcus turned.
“I didn’t kill him.”
“Who did?”
Marcus hesitated.
Adrian saw it.
“You know.”
“I have suspicions.”
“Give me a name.”
Marcus looked at Victoria.
She understood before Adrian did.
“No,” she whispered.
Marcus said it anyway.
“Samuel Blackwood.”
Adrian’s uncle.
Richard’s younger brother.
The man Adrian had been taught died in Europe when Adrian was fifteen.
Adrian stared at him.
“Samuel was dead.”
Marcus shook his head.
“No.”
Victoria’s face had become gray.
“You told me he died.”
“Richard told everyone.”
Adrian slammed his palm against the desk.
“Stop talking in riddles.”
Marcus exhaled.
“Your father and Samuel built the original organization together. Richard wanted power. Samuel wanted money. For years, those interests aligned.”
“Until?”
“Until Eleanor discovered Samuel was stealing from Richard.”
Clara frowned.
“My mother’s files?”
“Contained proof.”
Adrian suddenly understood.
“Thomas wasn’t killed because he knew about my father.”
Marcus looked at him.
“He was killed because he knew about Samuel.”
Clara shook her head.
“No.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You expect me to believe Richard Blackwood was innocent?”
“I said nothing of the kind.”
Marcus’s voice became colder.
“Your father threatened Eleanor. He terrorized her. He forced her into hiding. Richard committed enough sins without giving him Samuel’s.”
Victoria stared at Marcus.
“Why didn’t Richard expose him?”
“Because Samuel had insurance.”
“What insurance?”
Marcus looked toward Adrian.
“Evidence tying Richard to murders, bribery, judges, police officers, federal agents. If Samuel fell, Richard fell with him.”
Adrian felt sick.
“So they made a deal.”
“Yes.”
“Samuel disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“And everyone believed he was dead.”
“Yes.”
Clara stepped forward.
“My mother?”
Marcus looked uncomfortable.
“She knew Samuel survived.”
“And that got her killed?”
“I believe so.”
“Believe?”
“I tried to find her after Richard died. She was already gone.”
Clara stared at him with hatred.
“You expect sympathy because you arrived too late?”
“No.”
Marcus put down his glass.
“I expect nothing from you.”
Adrian’s phone vibrated.
He ignored it.
Then it vibrated again.
He glanced down.
Security alert.
Motion detected in the east archive.
That wing was restricted.
Nobody entered without Adrian’s permission.
He opened the security application.
Camera 14 showed static.
Camera 15 was black.
Camera 16 showed a figure moving through the hallway.
Adrian enlarged the image.
A man wearing the uniform of his private security team.
“Who’s on east-wing duty?” Adrian asked.
Marcus frowned.
“Tonight? Ramirez and Cole.”
Adrian called security.
No answer.
Then the mansion lights went out.
Clara gasped.
Emergency lights came on three seconds later, bathing the office in dim red.
Adrian moved immediately.
“Lock the door.”
Marcus did.
Adrian opened a drawer and removed a handgun.
Clara stared at it.
“You keep that in your desk?”
“This is not the moment to discuss interior decorating.”
Even Victoria almost smiled.
Then came a sound from the hallway.
A heavy impact.
Someone falling.
Adrian moved toward the door.
“Stay here.”
Clara grabbed his arm.
“What if they’re looking for the key?”
Adrian looked at her necklace.
“Give it to me.”
She hesitated.
“No.”
“Clara.”
“My mother died protecting this.”
“And you might die wearing it.”
Their eyes locked.
Finally, Clara removed the chain.
Instead of giving it to Adrian, she walked toward Victoria.
“Hold out your hand.”
Victoria did.
Clara placed the key into her palm.
“Why me?”
“Because nobody would search the dying woman.”
Victoria’s expression hardened.
“Don’t underestimate men like these.”
Adrian heard footsteps.
He opened the door.
The corridor was empty.
Marcus followed.
They moved toward the east wing.
At the corner, Adrian found Ramirez unconscious.
Alive.
Cole was missing.
The archive door stood open.
Inside, drawers had been pulled apart.
Old files covered the floor.
Then Adrian saw the broken display case.
His father’s personal effects had been kept there.
One item was missing.
Richard Blackwood’s signet ring.
Marcus swore quietly.
“What?”
Marcus pointed at the empty space.
“The vault requires two keys.”
Adrian stared at him.
“One is Clara’s.”
“And the second?”
Marcus looked at the missing ring.
“That.”
A sound came from behind them.
Adrian turned.
Cole stood in the doorway.
His pistol was aimed directly at Adrian’s chest.
“I’m sorry, boss.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“Who paid you?”
Cole swallowed.
Then another voice came from the darkness behind him.
An older voice.
Familiar somehow, although Adrian had not heard it since childhood.
“Technically, I did.”
Cole stepped aside.
A tall man emerged from the shadows.
Gray hair.
A scar along his left cheek.
Blackwood eyes.
Victoria appeared at the far end of the corridor in her wheelchair, Clara pushing her.
The moment Victoria saw the man, all color left her face.
“Samuel.”
Adrian stared at the uncle who had supposedly been dead for twenty-three years.
Samuel Blackwood smiled.
“Hello, nephew.”
May you like
Then his eyes moved to Clara.
“And hello, little girl.”
