Chapter 6 - The Price of a Blackwood Name
Cole disappeared before Adrian’s men could close the perimeter.
By sunrise, every airport, private airfield and highway connection Adrian could influence was being watched.
But Cole had spent six years protecting Adrian.
He knew exactly how Adrian searched for people.
Which meant he also knew how to disappear.
Victoria returned to the mansion weaker than before.
Her doctor wanted her hospitalized.
She refused.
“I’m dying in my own bed.”
Nobody argued.
Not even Adrian.
Samuel was placed under armed guard in a secure guest room until authorities could take custody of him.
Adrian sat alone in his office at dawn.
On his desk lay the photograph of Eleanor Bennett.
A second family destroyed by the Blackwood name.
A father murdered.
A mother hunted.
A child forced to spend twenty years chasing answers.
There was a knock.
Clara entered.
“You wanted to see me?”
Adrian stood.
“No.”
She frowned.
“Then why did Marcus—”
“I told him I needed to speak to you. That’s different.”
Clara almost smiled.
He noticed.
It was the first time he had seen her smile at him.
“I owe you an apology,” Adrian said.
“For which part?”
That actually made him laugh.
“Apparently several.”
Clara sat.
Adrian remained standing.
“I judged you before I knew why you came here.”
“You had reason.”
“I treated you like an intruder.”
“I was searching your house.”
“You were?”
Clara looked guilty.
“Only the old rooms.”
Adrian stared at her.
She shrugged.
“Fine. Mostly the old rooms.”
“Anything else?”
“Your father’s study.”
“My office?”
“Once.”
“When?”
“The second week I worked here.”
“And?”
“You have terrible taste in whiskey.”
Adrian laughed again.
Clara looked surprised.
So was he.
The laughter disappeared quickly.
“Your father deserves justice,” Adrian said.
“So does my mother.”
“Yes.”
“And your father?”
Adrian looked toward Richard’s portrait.
“He deserves the truth.”
Clara studied him.
“You’re willing to destroy the Blackwood name?”
“If the name deserves destroying.”
Before she could answer, Marcus entered.
“We found Cole.”
Adrian stood.
“Where?”
“We didn’t find him physically. We found his message.”
Marcus handed him a phone.
A video began playing.
Cole sat in an unknown room.
Behind him stood shelves filled with metal boxes.
“Mr. Blackwood,” he said into the camera. “I have the key.”
Clara moved closer.
Cole continued.
“Samuel promised me five million dollars. Unfortunately for him, I’ve reconsidered my price.”
Adrian’s expression darkened.
“Twenty million. In cryptocurrency. Once payment clears, you receive the key.”
Cole leaned toward the camera.
“One more thing. Samuel lied to all of you.”
The video changed.
A scanned document appeared.
Birth certificate.
Clara Bennett.
Mother: Eleanor Bennett.
Father—
The image blurred before the name could be read.
Clara grabbed the phone.
“What?”
Cole returned onscreen.
“You want the unedited certificate? Twenty million.”
The video ended.
Clara stared at Adrian.
“What was he implying?”
“I don’t know.”
Marcus looked troubled.
“What?”
Adrian asked.
Marcus hesitated.
“Richard believed Clara was his daughter for several years.”
Victoria had said she was not.
“Why?”
“Eleanor let him believe it.”
Clara looked sick.
“My mother?”
“To keep you alive,” Marcus said. “Richard wouldn’t hurt his own child.”
“But I wasn’t his.”
“No.”
“Then who was?”
Marcus shook his head.
“I never knew.”
Adrian took the phone.
“Trace the video.”
“We’re trying.”
Clara stood.
“I need to speak with Victoria.”
They found her awake.
When Clara explained the certificate, Victoria closed her eyes.
“You know,” Clara said.
Victoria remained silent.
“Please.”
“I promised Eleanor.”
“She’s dead.”
“I know.”
“I’m her daughter.”
Victoria looked at her.
“That’s why I kept the promise.”
Clara’s voice broke.
“I have spent my whole life wondering why people died around me. Please don’t make me wonder who I am too.”
Victoria began crying.
Adrian had seen his mother cry only twice in his life.
When Richard died.
And now.
“Your father was Daniel Mercer.”
Clara frowned.
“I’ve never heard that name.”
Adrian had.
“Assistant U.S. attorney.”
Marcus stared at Victoria.
“No.”
Victoria nodded.
“He was investigating Richard.”
Adrian remembered old newspaper reports.
Daniel Mercer had disappeared twenty-six years earlier.
His body was never found.
Clara sat down slowly.
“My father was a federal prosecutor?”
“Yes.”
“Then Thomas Bennett—”
“Raised you.”
Victoria took Clara’s hand.
“He loved Eleanor. He knew you weren’t his biological daughter. He married her anyway. He gave you his name.”
Clara began crying.
“Did Richard kill Daniel?”
Victoria shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
A knock interrupted them.
Marcus opened the door.
One of Adrian’s security men entered.
“Sir, Samuel is gone.”
Adrian spun around.
“What?”
“The guard outside his room is unconscious.”
“Lock down the house.”
“We did.”
“Then he’s still here.”
The security man looked uncomfortable.
“That’s not all.”
He held out an envelope.
Adrian opened it.
Inside was a single photograph.
Clara at age five.
Standing beside Eleanor.
Behind them was Daniel Mercer.
On the back someone had written:
ASK VICTORIA WHO PULLED THE TRIGGER.
Clara read it.
Then slowly looked toward Victoria.
The dying woman’s face revealed pure terror.
“Victoria?”
Clara whispered.
“Who pulled the trigger?”
May you like
Victoria’s lips trembled.
“I did.”
