Chapter 10 - The Photograph
Marcus identified the location in the photograph.
An abandoned Blackwood warehouse twenty miles outside the city.
Victor arrived with police nearby.
He refused to storm inside blindly.
Fortunately, there was no kidnapping.
Maria was sitting inside Daniel’s car.
Her son Mateo sat beside her.
Both were frightened but unharmed.
Daniel stood several feet away.
Victor approached him.
“You have thirty seconds before I call the detectives.”
Daniel did not run.
“I didn’t take them.”
Maria spoke quickly.
“He helped us.”
Victor stopped.
Daniel explained.
Someone had sent Maria photographs of Mateo leaving school.
Then came a message telling her to withdraw her statement.
Daniel had intercepted another warning after Serena called him.
He moved Maria and Mateo before anyone else could reach them.
Victor stared at him.
“Why disappear?”
“Because Adrian watches everything connected to you.”
“Then why leave that note?”
Daniel’s expression became strange.
“Because Adrian isn’t the Blackwood I meant.”
Victor felt a chill.
Daniel opened a folder.
Inside was an old photograph from a charity gala.
Serena stood beside Adrian.
The date was three years before Victor had supposedly met her.
Victor stared at it.
“They knew each other.”
“For years.”
Victor looked closer.
Someone else stood behind them.
Grace Blackwood.
Victor’s late wife.
She was watching Serena and Adrian from across the ballroom.
Her expression was tense.
Daniel produced another photograph.
Grace was speaking to Serena near an exit.
Then another.
Grace appeared angry.
Victor’s pulse accelerated.
“What was happening?”
Daniel shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“But Grace started investigating Adrian afterward.”
Victor’s voice dropped.
“Investigating what?”
“Trust manipulation.”
Daniel looked toward Ethan.
“She believed somebody was preparing to use her shares after her death.”
Victor stared at him.
“Grace was thirty-one.”
“She wasn’t expecting to die.”
“No.”
Daniel’s next words landed like ice.
“She was afraid she might.”
Victor stepped closer.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because after Grace died, you barely survived.”
Daniel lowered his eyes.
“And because your father told me never to mention it.”
Victor froze.
“My father?”
Daniel nodded.
Charles Blackwood had been dead for eighteen months.
He had founded the company.
Controlled the family.
Protected the Blackwood name at any cost.
Victor looked down at the photograph again.
May you like
On the back, Grace had written one sentence.
If anything happens to me, do not let Adrian control Ethan’s shares.
