Chapter 10 — The Man Victor Trusted
Chapter 10 — The Man Victor Trusted
Victor did not open the door.
Not immediately.
He stood inside the abandoned Saint Mercy Bank with his hand hovering inches from the handle.
Behind it was Ethan.
His son.
And behind Ethan was a voice Victor had spent twenty years believing he would never hear again.
His mother.
Yet somehow, the person standing directly in front of him was the man Victor had buried six years ago.
Alexander Blackwood.
His father.
Victor looked at him.
“You said my mother abandoned me.”
Alexander smiled.
“She did.”
“Then why is she here?”
“Because she wants you to hear the truth.”
Victor's jaw tightened.
“What truth?”
Alexander stepped closer.
“The truth about the man you've trusted all these years.”
Victor frowned.
“Who?”
Alexander didn't answer.
He simply looked over Victor's shoulder.
Toward Daniel.
Victor turned.
His attorney was standing several feet behind him.
Daniel's face was pale.
Victor stared at him.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then Victor whispered:
“No.”
Daniel lowered his eyes.
Lily's heart dropped.
Victor looked between them.
“What is this?”
Daniel swallowed.
“Victor…”
“Don't.”
Victor's voice was quiet.
“Say nothing until I ask.”
Daniel nodded.
Victor looked at Alexander.
“You're saying Daniel is involved?”
Alexander smiled.
“Not involved.”
He paused.
“He's the architect.”
Victor's mind refused to accept it.
Daniel had been beside him for fifteen years.
He had handled the family companies.
His father's estate.
Victor's contracts.
His mother's affairs.
The trust.
The legal structure of Blackwood Holdings.
He had stood beside Victor at funerals.
At business meetings.
At court hearings.
At the birth of Ethan.
He had been the person Victor called when he didn't know what else to do.
And now Alexander was telling him that man had engineered the kidnapping of his son.
Victor turned toward Daniel.
“Tell me he's lying.”
Daniel said nothing.
Victor's eyes hardened.
“Tell me.”
Daniel finally looked up.
“I can't.”
Lily stepped backward.
“Oh my God.”
Victor's voice became almost a whisper.
“How long?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Years.”
Victor laughed once.
A hollow sound.
“How many?”
“Fourteen.”
Victor stared.
“Fourteen years?”
“Yes.”
“You've been working against me for fourteen years?”
Daniel nodded.
“Why?”
Daniel looked toward Alexander.
“Because your father gave me a choice.”
Victor's expression changed.
“What choice?”
“My family or yours.”
The room seemed to shrink.
Victor took one step toward Daniel.
“What did my father have on you?”
“My brother.”
Victor frowned.
“Your brother died.”
Daniel nodded.
“That's what everyone believed.”
Victor went still.
“Another fake death.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your father controlled him.”
Daniel's voice shook.
“He controlled all of us.”
Victor looked at Alexander.
“You built this.”
Alexander smiled.
“I built the empire.”
“No.”
Victor's voice hardened.
“You built a prison.”
Alexander's smile faded.
“And you were supposed to inherit it.”
Lily looked toward the locked door.
Ethan cried again.
“Daddy!”
Victor immediately moved toward it.
Alexander stepped in front of him.
“Sign first.”
Victor stared.
“You think I'll sign anything?”
“You will.”
“No.”
Alexander pointed toward the door.
“You heard him.”
Victor's hands clenched.
“Give me my son.”
“Sign the transfer.”
“What transfer?”
“The voting shares.”
Victor shook his head.
“You don't need them.”
Alexander smiled.
“I need your signature.”
Victor understood.
The documents had already been prepared.
The forged ones.
The financial transfers.
The trust modifications.
Everything.
They had spent months creating a legal trail that made it appear Victor had voluntarily transferred control.
Daniel stepped forward.
“Victor…”
Victor turned on him.
“You stay where you are.”
Daniel stopped.
Victor looked at him.
“Did you forge my signature?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Yes.”
Lily covered her mouth.
Victor's eyes hardened.
“How many?”
“Thirty-two documents.”
“Thirty-two?”
“Yes.”
“What did they authorize?”
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Corporate transfers.”
“Accounts?”
“Yes.”
“Properties?”
“Yes.”
“Trust modifications?”
“Yes.”
Victor's face became expressionless.
“And Ethan?”
Daniel looked away.
“What did you do to my son?”
“I never touched him.”
Victor stepped closer.
“You arranged it.”
Daniel nodded.
“I gave them the security schedules.”
Lily's eyes widened.
“The night Ethan disappeared…”
Daniel nodded.
“I gave Serena the access codes.”
Victor stared.
“You betrayed us.”
Daniel's voice broke.
“I was trying to survive.”
Victor answered coldly:
“You made a choice.”
Suddenly, the locked door behind them opened.
Lily turned.
A woman stepped out.
She was thin.
Older.
Her hair was streaked with gray.
Her face was pale.
But her eyes—
Victor knew them.
His mother's eyes.
“Victor.”
He froze.
The woman began crying.
“I'm sorry.”
Victor stared.
“Mom?”
She nodded.
He couldn't move.
For twenty years, he had dreamed of hearing that word.
Now that it had happened, it hurt more than silence.
“Why?”
His mother covered her mouth.
“I tried to come back.”
“When?”
“Many times.”
“Why didn't you?”
She looked at Alexander.
“Because he threatened you.”
Victor's expression changed.
“My father?”
She nodded.
“He told me that if I returned, you would die.”
Victor stared at Alexander.
“You let me believe she abandoned me.”
Alexander's face remained calm.
“You were easier to control that way.”
Victor's voice became quiet.
“You destroyed my childhood.”
“I built your strength.”
“You destroyed my family.”
“I built your empire.”
Victor shook his head.
“You built nothing.”
His mother stepped toward him.
“Victor…”
He backed away.
“Don't.”
She stopped.
“I don't know what you want from me.”
“I want you alive.”
“Why?”
“Because your father is not the only one who wants the Blackwood fortune.”
Victor looked at her.
“Who else?”
She glanced toward Daniel.
“Daniel.”
Victor turned.
Daniel looked exhausted.
His mother's voice trembled.
“He wasn't working for your father.”
Victor frowned.
“Then who?”
Daniel answered.
“For the board.”
Victor stared.
“What board?”
“The original Blackwood board.”
Victor shook his head.
“They've been gone for years.”
“No.”
Daniel looked at him.
“They've been waiting.”
The Blackwood empire had never been controlled by one man.
Victor knew that.
But he had always believed his father had consolidated everything.
That the old families had disappeared.
That the trusts had been dissolved.
That the private shareholders had surrendered their voting rights.
He had been wrong.
Daniel opened his briefcase.
Inside were documents Victor had never seen.
Names.
Shareholders.
Private agreements.
Voting blocks.
Trust structures.
Hidden partnerships.
He placed them on the table.
“The Blackwood companies are controlled by seven families.”
Victor stared.
“Seven?”
“Seven original shareholders.”
“And my father?”
“Chairman.”
Victor looked at the documents.
“Then who controls the majority?”
Daniel pointed.
“You.”
Victor froze.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Through the trust.”
Victor understood.
Ethan wasn't merely the heir.
He was the mechanism through which Victor's voting power would eventually pass to the next generation.
Daniel continued.
“Your father couldn't legally remove you.”
“So he used the trust.”
“Yes.”
“Then Serena…”
“Was supposed to become trustee.”
Victor's eyes narrowed.
“And you?”
“I was supposed to make the transfer appear voluntary.”
Lily whispered:
“And the kidnapping?”
Daniel looked at her.
“That was the final pressure.”
Victor's expression darkened.
“They wanted me to sign.”
“Yes.”
“And if I refused?”
Daniel didn't answer.
Victor looked toward the room where Ethan had been held.
“Ethan would disappear.”
Daniel nodded.
Victor finally understood the entire plan.
Serena had been the public face.
Evelyn had been the family connection.
Alexander had been the hidden architect.
Daniel had been the legal mechanism.
But there was still something missing.
“Why now?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Because the trust activates completely when Ethan turns two.”
Victor frowned.
“That's next year.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“The trust will become irrevocable.”
Victor's eyes widened.
“Then nobody can change it.”
“Correct.”
“So they had until then.”
Daniel nodded.
“They needed Ethan removed before the deadline.”
Lily understood.
“They didn't need to kill him.”
“No.”
“They needed control.”
“Yes.”
“And once Victor signed…”
“Everything would be transferred.”
Victor looked at the documents.
“And Serena would become trustee.”
Daniel nodded.
“Unless you stopped her.”
A sound came from outside.
Car doors.
Footsteps.
Many footsteps.
Alexander smiled.
Victor looked toward the entrance.
“Who did you call?”
Alexander answered:
“The people who own this city.”
Victor reached for his weapon.
His mother stepped toward him.
“Don't.”
He looked at her.
“Why?”
“They'll kill you.”
Victor stared.
“Who?”
“The board.”
Silence.
Victor looked at Daniel.
“Is that true?”
Daniel nodded.
“They've been waiting for this moment.”
“How many?”
“Too many.”
Victor looked toward Lily.
“Take Ethan.”
She froze.
“What?”
“Take my son and leave.”
“No.”
“Lily.”
“I won't leave you.”
“You have to.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I've already watched people try to take him once.”
Her eyes hardened.
“They won't do it again.”
Victor stared at her.
Then smiled faintly.
For the first time that night.
“You're stubborn.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
The doors of the bank exploded inward.
Armed men entered.
Victor pushed Lily behind the desk.
Gunfire erupted.
Glass shattered.
Daniel dropped to the floor.
Alexander disappeared through a side door.
Victor fired back.
Lily grabbed Ethan.
His cries filled the building.
Victor shouted:
“RUN!”
She ran.
Through the corridor.
Past the vault.
Past the old offices.
Toward the emergency exit.
Then a man stepped into her path.
Lily froze.
He raised his gun.
“Give me the child.”
She backed away.
“No.”
“Now.”
A gunshot echoed.
The man dropped.
Victor stood behind him.
“Keep moving.”
Lily ran.
They reached the parking lot.
A car waited.
Victor opened the door.
“Get in.”
Lily climbed inside with Ethan.
Victor got behind the wheel.
The engine roared.
They sped away.
For ten minutes, neither spoke.
Ethan cried softly.
Lily held him against her chest.
Victor drove.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A man's voice spoke.
“Congratulations.”
Victor recognized it.
Daniel.
“Where are you?”
“Safe.”
“You betrayed us.”
“No.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“I gave you a chance.”
“To do what?”
“To leave the empire.”
Victor's grip tightened.
“You kidnapped my son.”
“I saved his life.”
Victor's eyes narrowed.
“What?”
“Your father doesn't want Ethan dead.”
“Then what does he want?”
“Protection.”
Victor was silent.
Daniel continued.
“You don't understand who is coming.”
“Who?”
“The person your father has been hiding from everyone.”
Victor frowned.
“Who?”
Daniel's voice dropped.
“Your grandfather.”
The line went dead.
Victor stared at the phone.
Lily looked at him.
“What happened?”
Victor slowly answered.
“Daniel says my grandfather is alive.”
Lily's face went pale.
“Your grandfather?”
Victor nodded.
“The man who supposedly died thirty years ago.”
Ethan suddenly stopped crying.
The car became silent.
Victor looked into the rearview mirror.
A black vehicle was following them.
Then another.
Then a third.
His expression hardened.
“They found us.”
Lily looked behind them.
“How many?”
Victor counted.
“Five.”
“What do we do?”
Victor pressed the accelerator.
“We disappear.”
But they didn't know that Daniel had already made another call.
To someone Victor had never suspected.
A woman sat in a penthouse overlooking Chicago.
She watched Victor's car disappear into the night.
Serena stood beside her.
“Did he take the child?”
“Yes.”
Serena smiled.
“And Victor?”
“Alive.”
The woman turned.
She was elegant.
Calm.
Powerful.
And very familiar.
Serena lowered her head.
“Mother.”
The woman looked toward the city.
“Not yet.”
She smiled.
“First, let him discover who really owns the Blackwood empire.”
Serena nodded.
“And if he refuses?”
The woman turned toward her.
“Then we take everything.”
May you like
She paused.
“Starting with his son.”
