Chapter 9
The airfield became a crime scene.
Rourke survived.
The bullet had struck his shoulder.
Serena was transported under heavy guard.
This time, Hayes personally watched the vehicle leave.
Victor stayed with Ethan and Lily inside an ambulance.
Ethan had no serious injuries.
Lily had bruised ribs, a cut near her eyebrow, and rope burns around both wrists.
Victor watched paramedics clean the wounds.
Every time Lily winced, guilt tightened his chest.
She noticed him staring.
“I’m okay.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because I am.”
“You were kidnapped.”
“So were you, technically.”
Victor almost laughed.
“You’re terrible at comforting people.”
“So are you.”
For one brief moment, the nightmare lifted.
Then Victor remembered Serena’s words.
Ask your detective who really paid Rourke.
Hayes stood outside.
Victor handed Ethan to Lily.
“I’ll be back.”
“Victor.”
He stopped.
“Don’t do something stupid.”
He looked at her.
“I’m going to talk.”
“That usually means something different when you say it.”
Despite himself, he smiled faintly.
Then he left the ambulance.
Hayes saw him coming.
“We need privacy.”
They walked toward an empty hangar.
Victor closed the door behind them.
“What did Serena mean?”
Hayes sighed.
“We found another payment.”
“To Rourke?”
“Yes.”
“From Serena?”
“No.”
Victor waited.
“From who?”
Hayes took out his phone.
He opened a financial report.
“The payment came through a private account connected to Blackwood Holdings.”
Victor stared at it.
“My company?”
“Yes.”
“Whose account?”
“That’s where it gets complicated.”
“Make it simple.”
“It was authorized under Claire’s credentials.”
Victor laughed once.
Impossible.
“Claire was dead.”
“The payment was made four months ago.”
Victor stared.
“Then someone used her credentials.”
“Yes.”
“Who had them?”
“We’re investigating.”
Victor’s anger returned.
“You knew this.”
“I found out this afternoon.”
“And didn’t tell me.”
“Because I didn’t know what it meant.”
Victor paced.
“How much?”
“Two hundred thousand.”
“For what?”
“We don’t know.”
Victor stopped.
“Serena knows.”
“Probably.”
Victor remembered her final smile.
“You think someone else is involved.”
Hayes nodded slowly.
“I know someone else had access.”
Victor immediately thought of Daniel.
Then hated himself for it.
Daniel had worked for the family for years.
Had protected Claire.
Had helped search for Serena.
But so had others.
Executives.
Lawyers.
Accountants.
Family office employees.
Victor’s empire suddenly looked like a maze filled with unlocked doors.
“Could Serena have stolen Claire’s credentials?”
“Possibly.”
“But she wanted me to think it was someone else.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To create suspicion.”
Victor looked at him.
“Or because it’s true.”
Hayes didn’t disagree.
They returned to the temporary command center.
Daniel was reviewing security logs.
Victor watched him.
Daniel noticed.
“What?”
“Who could access Claire’s corporate credentials?”
Daniel frowned.
“When she was alive?”
“Now.”
“No one should.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Daniel thought.
“Her old executive assistant.”
“Name?”
“Rebecca Sloan.”
Victor remembered her.
Rebecca had worked closely with Claire for almost five years.
She left Blackwood Holdings after Claire died.
“Where is she?”
Daniel searched.
“Lives in Boston.”
Hayes made a call.
Minutes later, he returned.
“She’s missing.”
Victor looked at him.
“For how long?”
“Her employer hasn’t seen her in a week.”
Victor felt cold.
“Family?”
“None nearby.”
Daniel said, “Rebecca loved Claire.”
Victor looked at him.
“That doesn’t mean anything.”
“No. But I can’t imagine her helping Serena.”
Hayes asked, “Did she have access to Claire’s passwords?”
“Some.”
Victor remembered something.
“At Claire’s funeral…”
They both looked at him.
“Rebecca came to me.”
“What did she say?”
Victor tried to remember through the fog of grief.
“She said Claire had been worried before she died.”
Hayes stepped closer.
“Worried about what?”
“I didn’t ask.”
Daniel stared.
“You didn’t ask?”
Victor’s face tightened.
“I had just buried my wife.”
Daniel lowered his eyes.
Victor continued.
“Rebecca gave me an envelope.”
Hayes’ attention sharpened.
“What envelope?”
“She said Claire asked her to hold it.”
“Where is it?”
Victor froze.
He had put it somewhere.
The mansion.
His study.
No.
He remembered.
Claire’s safe.
He had opened it after the funeral and placed several personal papers inside without reading them.
“It might still be in Claire’s safe.”
Hayes looked at Daniel.
“Can anyone access it?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Only Victor.”
They returned to the mansion before dawn.
Police still occupied much of the property.
Serena’s belongings had been removed as evidence.
Victor walked upstairs to Claire’s room.
The door stood open now.
For the first time in eighteen months.
He entered alone.
Everything still smelled faintly familiar.
Her books.
Perfume bottles.
A scarf on the chair.
Victor stood there silently.
Then he crossed to the wall safe.
Entered the code.
Opened it.
Documents.
Jewelry.
Ethan’s birth certificate.
And at the bottom, an envelope.
Rebecca’s handwriting.
For Victor. Claire wanted you to have this if anything happened.
Victor’s hands shook.
He opened it.
Inside was a flash drive and a letter.
Victor,
If Rebecca gives you this, something has happened to me.
His breathing stopped.
He kept reading.
I don’t know if I’m being paranoid. I hope I am. But I’ve been feeling sick after Serena visits. I found tablets in her bag yesterday. I photographed them.
Victor swallowed.
I also discovered withdrawals from one of our charitable accounts. The authorization appears to be mine, but I never approved them.
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
The money went through an internal system controlled by someone at Blackwood Holdings.
He read faster.
I don’t think Serena is working alone.
Victor looked up.
Hayes and Daniel waited outside.
He continued.
I haven’t told Victor because he’s already carrying too much, and I need proof before I accuse anyone.
Victor closed his eyes.
Claire had tried to protect him.
Even while someone was trying to kill her.
The final lines were worse.
If I’m wrong, burn this and laugh at me later.
If I’m right, protect Ethan.
And don’t trust anyone simply because they have been with us a long time.
Victor slowly looked toward the doorway.
Daniel stood there.
He had been with them a long time.
Very long.
Victor hated the thought.
He inserted the flash drive into Claire’s old laptop.
Several folders appeared.
Bank records.
Photographs.
Audio.
Emails.
One folder was named D.
Victor clicked it.
Inside were dozens of screenshots.
Messages between Serena and someone identified only as D.
The earliest dated back three years.
One message read:
Claire is getting suspicious.
Another:
Keep Victor traveling. I’ll handle her.
Victor stopped breathing.
Hayes moved closer.
Daniel stared at the screen.
Victor opened another.
After Claire is gone, Serena gets close to Victor. Everything else follows.
Another.
We need access to Ethan’s trust before his second birthday.
Victor’s face went pale.
This had never just been about Claire.
Or Serena marrying Victor.
They wanted Ethan’s inheritance.
Victor looked at Daniel.
“What?”
Daniel stared at the screen.
“The letter D.”
Victor said nothing.
Daniel understood.
“You think it’s me.”
“I don’t know what I think.”
“Victor.”
Hayes stepped between them.
“Nobody leaves.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“I’ve protected this family for twelve years.”
Claire’s warning echoed in Victor’s head.
Don’t trust anyone simply because they have been with us a long time.
Victor looked back at the screen.
Then another file appeared.
A photograph.
Claire had taken it through a restaurant window.
Serena sat at a table.
Across from her was a man.
Victor leaned closer.
He recognized him.
His stomach dropped.
“No.”
Hayes looked at the image.
“Who is that?”
Victor couldn’t speak for several seconds.
Daniel answered for him.
“That’s Adrian Blackwood.”
Hayes frowned.
“Your brother?”
Victor stared at the photograph.
His older half brother.
The man who had vanished from Victor’s life after their father’s death.
The man who believed the Blackwood empire should have been his.
The man Victor hadn’t spoken to in six years.
Hayes looked at Victor.
“Where is Adrian now?”
Victor whispered:
“I have no idea.”
Then a voice came from the doorway.
“You should.”
They turned.
Rebecca Sloan stood there.
Pale.
Exhausted.
Terrified.
Victor stared at her.
“Rebecca?”
She stepped inside.
“Adrian is the reason I disappeared.”
Hayes moved toward her.
“Where have you been?”
“Hiding.”
“From who?”
Rebecca looked at Victor.
“Your brother.”
Victor’s chest tightened.
“Why?”
Rebecca started crying.
“Because he knows Claire left me evidence.”
May you like
She pointed toward the laptop.
“And because he knows I can prove he helped Serena murder her.”
