Chapter 6 — The Woman Who Knew Too Much
Chapter 6 — The Woman Who Knew Too Much
Victor had never seen Samuel Crane afraid.
Not when Victor's father died.
Not when the Blackwood corporation nearly collapsed twenty years earlier.
Not even when Victor confronted him about the secret accounts that had appeared after his father's death.
But now Samuel was shaking.
He stood at the entrance to the hidden basement beneath the Blackwood estate, staring at the steel door as though it were a grave.
Victor stood beside him.
“Hurry.”
Samuel swallowed.
“You don't understand what is behind this door.”
“My son is missing.”
“I know.”
“Then open it.”
Samuel looked at him.
“If we open that vault, there is no going back.”
Victor's jaw tightened.
“There was no going back the moment Ethan disappeared.”
Samuel closed his eyes.
Then reached into his coat.
He removed an old brass key.
Victor stared.
“You had it all these years?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your father made me promise never to use it.”
Victor looked at the door.
“And now?”
Samuel's hand trembled.
“Now I think he knew this day would come.”
He inserted the key.
The lock clicked.
A second mechanism turned.
Then a third.
The steel door slowly opened.
Cold air rushed into the corridor.
Victor stepped inside.
The room was almost completely dark.
There were no jewels.
No money.
No weapons.
Only shelves.
Hundreds of files.
Photographs.
Old videotapes.
Hard drives.
Medical records.
And one enormous black cabinet secured by a combination lock.
Victor stopped.
“What is this?”
Samuel whispered:
“Your family's history.”
Victor looked around.
“This is a private archive.”
“No.”
Samuel shook his head.
“This is an insurance policy.”
“For what?”
Samuel looked at him.
“For the day someone tried to erase the Blackwoods.”
Victor walked toward the nearest shelf.
A label caught his attention.
PROJECT ETHAN.
His heart stopped.
He pulled the file free.
Samuel immediately stepped forward.
“Victor, don't.”
Victor opened it.
The first page contained a photograph.
Ethan.
A photograph taken before he was born.
Victor stared at it.
Then turned the page.
There was a medical report.
His son's name appeared on the top.
ETHAN VICTOR BLACKWOOD.
Date of birth.
Weight.
Blood type.
Genetic profile.
Victor's hands began to shake.
“This was created before he was born.”
Samuel said nothing.
“Who made it?”
Silence.
Victor turned another page.
A handwritten note appeared.
Subject carries the final genetic marker.
Victor looked up.
“What marker?”
Samuel wouldn't answer.
Victor grabbed his arm.
“What marker?”
Samuel finally whispered:
“The one your father spent his life protecting.”
Victor released him.
He looked at the file again.
A second photograph appeared.
It was Serena.
Standing beside a doctor.
Victor recognized the doctor.
Dr. Marcus Vale.
His family's private physician.
Victor's stomach tightened.
“Why is Serena in this file?”
Samuel looked away.
“Because she was part of the plan.”
“What plan?”
Samuel shook his head.
“I don't know everything.”
“You know enough.”
“I know she was instructed to marry you.”
Victor stared at him.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“For Ethan?”
Samuel nodded.
Victor felt sick.
“So she never loved me.”
Samuel didn't answer.
Victor looked back at the photograph.
The truth hurt more than he expected.
Every dinner.
Every kiss.
Every promise.
Every conversation about a future together.
Was it all an act?
He turned another page.
There was a list of names.
Serena.
Adrian.
Marcus Vale.
Several people Victor didn't recognize.
At the bottom was one name circled in red.
Elena Blackwood.
Victor froze.
“My mother.”
Samuel closed his eyes.
“Not your mother.”
Victor looked at him.
“You said that.”
“She was your father's second wife.”
“And Elena?”
Samuel hesitated.
“Your biological mother.”
Victor couldn't breathe.
“What?”
Samuel looked at him.
“Your mother was Elena.”
Victor stared.
“But she died when I was three.”
“No.”
Samuel's voice broke.
“She disappeared.”
Victor felt the room tilt.
“Where?”
“We never found her.”
“Then who died?”
Samuel looked down.
“A woman your father hired to protect you.”
Victor stared at him.
“My entire childhood was staged.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Alexander was hunting you.”
Victor frowned.
“Alexander?”
Samuel nodded.
“Your father's brother.”
“But you said Alexander is my father.”
“I was wrong.”
Victor stared.
Samuel continued.
“There were three men.”
Victor's face hardened.
“Three?”
“Your father. His twin Alexander. And a third man.”
“Who?”
Samuel shook his head.
“I never learned his name.”
Victor looked at the archive.
“Then why does everyone act like there were only two?”
“Because the third man wanted it that way.”
Victor's phone vibrated.
Harris.
Victor answered.
“Tell me.”
“We found Lily.”
Victor's heart jumped.
“Where?”
“Basement level two.”
“Is she alive?”
“Yes.”
Victor closed his eyes.
“Ethan?”
Silence.
“Tell me.”
“We haven't found him.”
Victor opened his eyes.
“Then keep searching.”
“There is something else.”
“What?”
“The security footage.”
“What about it?”
“It shows someone entering the nursery.”
Victor froze.
“Who?”
Harris hesitated.
“Your mother.”
Victor stared at Samuel.
“What?”
“The woman in the footage looks exactly like the woman from your childhood photographs.”
Victor's blood turned cold.
“My mother is alive?”
“We don't know.”
“Send me the footage.”
Harris did.
Victor opened the file.
The footage was grainy.
A woman walked through the corridor.
She wore a dark coat.
Her hair was gray.
She stopped outside Ethan's nursery.
Then turned toward the camera.
Victor froze.
He knew that face.
He had seen it in photographs.
In dreams.
In memories that no longer made sense.
Elena.
His mother.
She looked directly into the camera.
Then she smiled.
The footage ended.
Victor whispered:
“She was here.”
Samuel looked horrified.
“No.”
“What?”
“She shouldn't be alive.”
Victor turned.
“Why?”
Samuel stared at him.
“Because I buried her.”
Lily woke twelve minutes later.
Her eyes opened slowly.
She immediately tried to sit up.
“Ethan.”
Victor was beside her.
“Lily.”
“Where is he?”
“We're looking.”
She began crying.
“I couldn't stop them.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“Tell me what happened.”
She closed her eyes.
“I heard the door.”
“Which door?”
“The nursery.”
“Then?”
“I turned.”
“What did you see?”
“A woman.”
Victor froze.
“What woman?”
Lily looked at him.
“She was old.”
“Gray hair?”
“Yes.”
“Did she say anything?”
Lily nodded.
“One thing.”
“What?”
“She called Ethan by another name.”
Victor's expression changed.
“What name?”
Lily whispered:
“Alexander.”
Victor stared.
“Did she take him?”
“I don't know.”
“What happened next?”
“She touched my shoulder.”
“Then?”
“Everything went dark.”
Victor looked at Samuel.
Samuel was already pale.
“Victor…”
“What?”
Samuel whispered:
“She wasn't taking Ethan.”
Victor turned.
“What do you mean?”
“She was checking whether he was alive.”
Victor's heart stopped.
“Why?”
Samuel looked at the archive.
“Because she was his grandmother.”
That evening, Victor returned to the vault.
He opened every file related to Elena.
There were hundreds.
Medical records.
Letters.
Photographs.
Travel documents.
And one recording.
The label read:
ELENA — FINAL TESTIMONY.
Victor inserted the tape.
Static filled the room.
Then a woman's voice.
Elena.
Victor had never heard her voice before.
He sat completely still.
“If Victor is hearing this, then I failed.”
Victor's throat tightened.
“My son…”
The recording continued.
“I need you to understand something. Your father wasn't protecting you from Alexander.”
Victor frowned.
“He was protecting Alexander from you.”
Victor stared at the screen.
“What?”
Elena's voice continued.
“Alexander isn't the danger.”
Victor leaned forward.
“The danger is the man who controls both of you.”
The recording crackled.
“I never learned his true name.”
Victor's eyes widened.
“He calls himself the Architect.”
The recording stopped.
Victor waited.
Then the voice returned.
“Your father believed he could defeat him.”
A pause.
“He was wrong.”
Victor whispered:
“Who is the Architect?”
Elena's voice continued.
“He built your family fortune.”
Victor's face changed.
“He created the Blackwood empire.”
Victor sat back.
“No.”
“He created the inheritance system.”
“No.”
“He chose the heirs.”
Victor stared at the screen.
“He chose Ethan.”
The recording ended.
Victor stood abruptly.
He needed air.
He walked out of the vault.
Samuel followed.
“Victor.”
“Why was Ethan chosen?”
“I don't know.”
“You do.”
Samuel shook his head.
“I don't.”
“Then who does?”
Samuel looked toward the stairs.
“The woman who knows too much.”
Victor frowned.
“Who?”
Samuel whispered:
“Your mother.”
Across the city, Serena sat in a dark room.
She was no longer smiling.
Adrian stood across from her.
“He took Ethan.”
Serena looked at him.
“I know.”
“And the plan?”
“Changed.”
“How?”
“He opened the vault.”
Adrian's face tightened.
“He wasn't supposed to.”
“He knows about Alexander.”
Adrian swore.
“What about the Architect?”
Serena looked at him.
“He doesn't know yet.”
“Good.”
“What are you going to do?”
Adrian smiled.
“We'll give him the answer.”
“What answer?”
“The wrong one.”
Serena stared.
“How?”
Adrian placed a photograph on the table.
Victor's mother.
Elena.
Serena looked at it.
“You found her?”
Adrian smiled.
“No.”
He tapped the photograph.
“We found someone who looks exactly like her.”
Serena's face changed.
“You're going to use an impostor.”
“Yes.”
“To make Victor believe his mother is alive.”
Adrian nodded.
“And while he's chasing her…”
Serena whispered:
“We take the company.”
Adrian smiled.
“And the child.”
At 11:55 p.m., Victor stood alone in the nursery.
The room was silent.
Too silent.
He looked at Ethan's empty crib.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
Victor answered.
The voice was female.
Soft.
Old.
Familiar.
“Victor.”
He froze.
He knew that voice.
He had never heard it before.
But somehow he knew it.
“Mom?”
Silence.
Then:
“Yes.”
Victor's heart pounded.
“Where are you?”
“I can't tell you.”
“Where is Ethan?”
“With me.”
Victor's blood ran cold.
“Give him back.”
“He's safe.”
“Let me hear him.”
“He's sleeping.”
Victor closed his eyes.
“Why did you leave me?”
A pause.
“Because your father made me.”
“Why?”
“To keep you alive.”
“Who is the Architect?”
The line went silent.
Victor's eyes narrowed.
“You know.”
“Yes.”
“Tell me.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because he's listening.”
Victor looked around the empty nursery.
“Who?”
A whisper came through the phone.
“Everyone.”
The line went dead.
Victor stared at the phone.
Then he heard something behind him.
A soft click.
He turned.
The nursery door was open.
A small envelope lay on the floor.
Victor picked it up.
Inside was a single photograph.
Ethan.
Alive.
Sleeping.
And beside him stood a woman with gray hair.
Elena.
On the back of the photograph were six words:
COME ALONE IF YOU WANT HIM.
Victor stared at the picture.
For the first time since Ethan disappeared, hope appeared.
Then he noticed something.
The woman standing beside Ethan wasn't looking at the camera.
She was looking at someone else.
Someone outside the frame.
Victor zoomed in.
A reflection appeared in the window behind her.
A man's face.
Victor's breath caught.
He knew that face.
It was his own.
But older.
Much older.
Victor whispered:
“Dad?”
The phone rang again.
He answered.
The man on the other end said:
“Now you understand.”
Victor gripped the phone.
“You have my son.”
“No.”
“Then who does?”
The voice became almost gentle.
“Your mother.”
Victor's eyes filled with fury.
“You're lying.”
“Then come find out.”
The call ended.
Victor stood in the empty nursery.
He had spent his entire life searching for answers about his father.
Now he had discovered a mother he thought was dead.
A brother who might not be his enemy.
A mysterious Architect who appeared to control the entire Blackwood bloodline.
And a child whose existence had apparently been planned long before he was born.
But there was one truth Victor still didn't know.
The woman in the photograph was not Elena.
And the man in the reflection was not his father.
Someone had carefully constructed the image to make Victor believe exactly what they wanted him to believe.
And somewhere in the city, the real woman who knew too much was being held against her will.
She had one secret left.
A secret that could destroy the Architect.
May you like
A secret about Victor's birth.
And a secret about Ethan.
