Chapter 3
Elias didn't confront Richard immediately.
That frightened Richard more than anger would have.
For forty years, Elias Blackwood had been famous for one thing.
He never made important decisions while emotional.
He collected facts.
He watched.
Then he acted.
Richard knew that better than anyone.
So when Elias walked past him in the hospital hallway without saying a word, Richard's confidence began to crack.
"Father."
Elias kept walking.
"Father."
Nothing.
Vivienne touched Richard's arm.
"Let him go."
Richard pulled away.
"What exactly did you tell him?"
"Nothing important."
"That's not an answer."
"He saw the scar."
"And?"
"And he recognized it."
Richard swore under his breath.
Vivienne looked offended.
"You told me Katherine was gone."
"I thought she was."
"You said she couldn't come back."
"Lower your voice."
"I humiliated that little girl in front of fifty people because I thought she was nobody."
Richard stared at her.
"That is your problem?"
"My problem is that if she's Katherine's daughter, the entire inheritance changes."
Richard's eyes moved toward the closed medical doors.
"Not necessarily."
Vivienne understood immediately.
"No."
He looked at her.
"No what?"
"Whatever you're thinking."
"You don't know what I'm thinking."
"I've been married to you for seventeen years."
Richard smiled without warmth.
"Then you should know when to stop asking questions."
Across the hospital, Elias entered an empty consultation room and called Daniel Mercer.
Daniel had served as Blackwood family counsel for twenty-six years.
He was one of the few men Elias trusted completely.
"Tell me everything," Elias said.
Daniel lowered his voice.
"At 4:12 this afternoon, someone logged into the secure estate archive using an authorization token assigned to Richard."
"What did he access?"
"Your will."
"Which version?"
"The current one."
"And?"
"The family trust."
Elias stared at the wall.
The trust was the reason Richard had something to fear.
Elias's late wife, Margaret, had insisted on an unusual rule when they created it.
No single child would automatically inherit control of Blackwood Holdings.
Voting control would be divided among surviving descendants.
If Katherine was dead and childless, Richard eventually received almost everything.
If Katherine was alive, the balance shifted.
If Katherine had a child, it shifted even more.
"Did he change anything?"
"He couldn't. You require biometric authorization."
"What exactly did he view?"
"Beneficiary definitions. Lineal descendant clauses. Emergency succession provisions."
Elias closed his eyes.
"When?"
"Less than twenty minutes after Vivienne left the restaurant."
That was not coincidence.
"Daniel, I need you to do three things."
"I'm listening."
"Freeze every nonessential trust action."
"Done."
"Do not tell Richard."
"Understood."
"And send two independent security teams to the founder's suite at the Blackwood Grand."
Daniel hesitated.
"Why?"
"Because Katherine says she hid something there eleven years ago."
Daniel went silent.
"So it really is her?"
"Yes."
"My God."
"Don't celebrate yet."
"What am I looking for?"
"A music box that belonged to Margaret."
Daniel inhaled sharply.
"I remember it."
"Secure the suite. Touch nothing until I arrive."
Elias hung up.
When he opened the door, Emma was sitting outside.
Alone.
"What are you doing here?"
"The nurse told me Mom will be gone for thirty minutes."
"Where's Richard?"
Emma shrugged.
"I don't know."
Elias sat beside her.
She studied him.
"Are you rich?"
The question surprised him.
"I've been fortunate."
"That means yes."
He almost smiled.
"Yes."
"Very rich?"
"Emma—"
"Mom says rich people never answer that question."
This time he did smile.
"Your mother has always been difficult."
Emma frowned.
"Don't call her difficult."
"She would be offended if I called her easy."
Emma stared at him for a second.
Then, despite everything, she laughed.
It was small.
But Elias felt something inside him break open.
Katherine had laughed exactly like that as a child.
He looked away.
Emma noticed.
"Are you crying?"
"No."
"Your eyes are wet."
"I'm old. Old people's eyes do strange things."
"That's a terrible lie."
"Yes."
She leaned against the wall.
"Why did Mom leave you?"
Elias took a long breath.
"She believes I chose your uncle over her."
"Did you?"
"I thought I was choosing the company."
"That's not what I asked."
He looked at her.
Children could be brutal because they didn't know how to hide behind polite words.
"No," he said. "But I understand why she thought I did."
Emma played with the broken zipper on her backpack.
"Mom cries sometimes."
His chest tightened.
"About what?"
"She thinks I don't know."
Emma's voice became quieter.
"But sometimes at night she takes out that picture of Uncle Richard."
"The one you showed me?"
"Yes."
"What does she do?"
"She stares at it."
"Does she say anything?"
Emma nodded.
"What?"
"She says, 'You took everything from me.'"
Elias's stomach twisted.
Emma looked at him.
"What did he take?"
"I intend to find out."
A shadow moved across the hall.
A man wearing hospital scrubs turned quickly around the corner.
Elias stood.
Something felt wrong.
"Emma, stay here."
He walked to the corner.
The man was gone.
Elias called his driver.
"Thomas, where are you?"
"Main entrance."
"Come upstairs. Now."
He returned to Emma.
"Did you see that man?"
"What man?"
"The one in blue scrubs."
She shook her head.
Elias looked toward Katherine's room.
Suddenly alarms sounded somewhere beyond the double doors.
Nurses started moving quickly.
A doctor ran past.
Emma stood.
"What's happening?"
"I don't know."
Then a hospital employee rushed through the doors.
"Code Blue, radiology."
Emma went pale.
"Mom is in radiology."
Elias's heart stopped.
She ran.
"Emma!"
He caught her before she reached the doors.
"Let me go!"
"We don't know if it's her."
"Mom!"
She fought him.
A nurse appeared.
"Mr. Blackwood?"
"Is it Katherine?"
The nurse hesitated.
That hesitation was enough.
Emma screamed.
Elias held her as she broke down.
"Mom!"
Doctors rushed down the corridor.
Five minutes passed.
Then ten.
Then fifteen.
No one came out.
Elias felt helpless in a way money had never prepared him for.
Finally a physician emerged.
"Mr. Blackwood?"
"Yes."
"She experienced a serious cardiac arrhythmia during imaging."
Emma stopped breathing.
"Is she alive?"
The doctor crouched slightly.
"Yes."
Emma burst into tears.
"We stabilized her."
Elias exhaled.
"What caused it?"
"We're not sure."
"Was she given medication?"
"Only standard contrast."
"Any sedative?"
The doctor frowned.
"No."
A nurse standing behind him looked uncertain.
Elias noticed.
"What?"
She glanced at the doctor.
Then at Elias.
"There was a medication vial on the floor beside the imaging table."
"What medication?"
"We haven't confirmed it."
The physician's face hardened.
"Why wasn't I told?"
"I just found it."
Elias felt cold.
"Where is it now?"
"Security has it."
Emma whispered, "Someone hurt my mom?"
"No one knows that," the doctor said quickly.
Elias looked through the glass doors.
Richard was gone.
Vivienne was gone.
"Lock down the floor."
The doctor blinked.
"You can't order—"
"Call hospital administration and tell them Elias Blackwood is requesting immediate security review."
The doctor's expression changed.
Although this wasn't a Blackwood hospital, everyone in New York knew the name.
Elias pulled out his phone.
He called Daniel.
"Change of plan."
"What happened?"
"Katherine nearly died."
Daniel went silent.
Elias continued.
"Get the evidence from the hotel now."
"I've already dispatched security."
"Call them."
A pause.
Then Daniel said, "Hold on."
Elias heard typing.
Then silence.
"What?"
Daniel's voice changed.
"The founder's suite door opened seven minutes ago."
"Who entered?"
"I'm checking."
Elias looked at Emma.
She was hugging herself.
"Daniel?"
"You're not going to like this."
"Tell me."
"The electronic key belongs to Richard's executive office."
Elias's face went still.
"Are your security men there?"
"They're two minutes away."
"Tell them nobody leaves that floor."
Daniel spoke quickly to someone else.
Then he returned.
"Done."
Elias ended the call.
At the same moment, Emma's cracked phone buzzed.
She looked down.
Unknown Number.
A message.
She opened it.
Her face drained of color.
Elias took the phone.
There were seven words on the screen.
YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED OUT OF THIS.
Underneath was a photograph.
It had been taken less than a minute earlier.
Katherine unconscious in her hospital bed.
Elias looked toward the room.
Someone had taken the picture from inside.
He ran.
The door was open.
Katherine was still there.
But the window beside her bed was raised.
And on the floor beneath it lay a small black button.
Elias picked it up.
May you like
He recognized it immediately.
It had come from one of Richard's custom-made suits.
