Chapter 6 The Trap at Blackwood Manor
The address arrived without a name.
No coordinates.
No explanation.
Just six words beneath an abandoned property outside the city.
"Come alone if you want answers."
I read the message three times before locking my phone.
Leo took it from my hand.
"Absolutely not."
"I have to go."
"No."
He looked at Marcus.
"Tell her."
Marcus didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he enlarged the photograph Brooke had sent.
"There."
He pointed to the background.
A grandfather clock.
A stained-glass window.
An antique fireplace.
"I've seen this architecture before."
Leo frowned.
"Where?"
Marcus zoomed in further.
"The fireplace crest."
Seconds passed.
Then his expression changed.
"Blackwood Manor."
Blackwood Manor had been abandoned for almost fifteen years.
It sat forty miles outside the city, hidden behind dense woods and rusted iron gates.
Once owned by one of the state's wealthiest families, it had become little more than a forgotten estate after a devastating fire claimed three lives decades earlier.
Locals believed it was haunted.
Marcus believed something else.
"People like Nathan choose abandoned places because no one asks questions."
Leo folded his arms.
"Then we're calling the police."
Marcus shook his head.
"Not yet."
"Why not?"
"If Brooke is alive, whoever sent these messages will disappear before officers arrive."
"I still think it's a trap," Leo said.
"It probably is," Marcus replied.
"But traps work both ways."
Two hours later...
Three vehicles approached Blackwood Manor with their headlights switched off.
Marcus parked half a mile away.
Leo stayed beside him.
I remained inside the third SUV until Marcus gave the signal.
"No heroics," he whispered.
"If anything feels wrong, you leave."
I nodded.
Although deep inside...
I already knew I wouldn't.
The mansion looked frozen in time.
Broken windows.
Cracked stone walls.
Overgrown ivy swallowing the front entrance.
The massive oak doors stood slightly open.
As though someone expected visitors.
Marcus quietly tested the handle.
Unlocked.
Inside...
The air smelled of dust and damp wood.
Moonlight spilled through shattered windows, illuminating faded portraits hanging crooked along the walls.
Every footstep echoed.
Every shadow seemed alive.
Marcus held up a hand.
"Listen."
Faintly...
Somewhere upstairs...
A woman screamed.
I didn't wait.
I ran.
"Amelia!" Leo shouted behind me.
The staircase groaned beneath our weight.
The scream came again.
This time weaker.
We followed the sound to a locked bedroom door.
Marcus kicked it once.
Nothing.
Twice.
The frame splintered.
On the third strike...
The door burst inward.
The room was empty.
No Brooke.
No chair.
No ropes.
Only an old projector sitting in the center of the floor.
Its motor suddenly started.
A beam of light filled the far wall.
Then...
A video began playing.
Nathan appeared on the screen.
Alive.
Calm.
Perfectly dressed.
He looked directly into the camera.
"If you're watching this..."
He smiled.
"...you've already walked exactly where I wanted."
Marcus immediately searched the room.
"No exits."
"No hidden doors."
Nathan's recorded voice continued.
"Dominic believes this story began with betrayal."
"It didn't."
"It began twenty-eight years ago."
A photograph appeared.
A much younger Olivia Vance.
Standing beside a distinguished older woman.
Nathan continued.
"Meet Evelyn Blackwood."
Another photograph.
The elegant woman smiled confidently beside politicians and business leaders.
"The founder."
"The architect."
"The woman who taught us that every fortune has a weakness."
Leo stared at the screen.
"Evelyn Blackwood?"
Marcus frowned.
"The Matriarch."
Nathan smiled again.
"You've been looking for her."
"You won't find her."
"Because you've already met her."
The projector shut off.
Darkness filled the room.
For three long seconds...
Silence.
Then...
The entire mansion shook.
Marcus shouted.
"Everyone move!"
An explosion thundered somewhere below.
Dust filled the hallway.
The staircase collapsed behind us.
Wood splintered.
Glass shattered.
The old manor groaned like it was dying.
Marcus grabbed my arm.
"Window!"
We crashed through a side bedroom, forcing open an ancient sash window.
Leo climbed out first.
I followed.
Marcus jumped last.
The moment his feet hit the ground...
Half of Blackwood Manor collapsed behind us in a cloud of smoke and stone.
The explosion wasn't large enough to destroy the estate completely.
Only enough to erase the room containing the projector.
Every piece of evidence...
Gone.
Firefighters arrived twenty minutes later.
Police sealed the property.
Investigators found only burned electrical equipment.
No fingerprints.
No DNA.
No trace of Brooke.
No trace of Nathan.
Whoever orchestrated the meeting had planned every second.
Back at Sinclair & Black, Marcus replayed the video from a backup recording captured on his body camera.
Frame by frame.
Then he paused.
"There."
A reflection inside a broken mirror.
A woman stood behind Nathan for less than one second.
Only part of her face was visible.
Silver hair.
Pearl earrings.
A familiar posture.
Leo's eyes widened.
"No..."
I leaned closer.
My heart stopped.
I recognized her.
Not because I'd met her often.
But because I'd seen her photographs my entire life.
She had attended charity galas.
University fundraisers.
Historical preservation events.
One of the city's most respected philanthropists.
Margaret Ashcroft.
An eighty-year-old widow celebrated for donating millions to children's hospitals.
Marcus slowly looked at us.
"If that's really her..."
Leo finished the sentence.
"Then the Matriarch has been hiding in plain sight."
At the same moment...
Across the city...
Dominic sat alone inside his office.
His assistant entered quietly.
"Sir..."
"What?"
"There's someone here insisting on seeing you."
"I don't have time."
The assistant swallowed.
"He says he's your father."
Dominic froze.
"My father died twenty-six years ago."
The assistant looked confused.
"That's what I told him."
She stepped aside.
An elderly man walked into the office.
Weathered face.
Gray beard.
Faded work jacket.
He looked directly at Dominic.
Then quietly said—
"No, son."
May you like
"I've been alive all along."
Dominic's world tilted.
