Chapter 17 - AMELIA’S MEMORY
Amelia’s memories continued returning.
Some arrived through smells.
Smoke from a fireplace brought back the hospital corridor.
Peppermint soap brought back Grace’s hands.
The sound of a train returned a night at Ravenscroft.
One memory came while Lily played music in the kitchen.
A classical piano piece filled the house.
Amelia dropped a plate.
She remembered Conrad visiting the hospital the morning before the fire.
He was not alone.
A woman accompanied him.
She wore a white scarf and carried hospital credentials.
Amelia had seen her before.
The woman worked inside Blackwood legal affairs.
Her name was Margaret Vale.
Margaret had signed several foundation transfers.
She disappeared after Conrad’s reported death.
Investigators believed she died abroad.
Amelia remembered Margaret taking a blood sample from newborn Lily.
“She said it was for routine screening.”
Ethan contacted Detective Ruiz.
The original hospital laboratory record had been altered.
Lily’s blood sample was sent to a private genetics company owned by Conrad.
Why would Conrad need testing if Ethan’s paternity was never questioned?
The answer appeared inside a sealed Greyhaven file.
Conrad had been testing for a hereditary marker linked to a medical patent.
Amelia’s father created the treatment.
The patent produced hundreds of millions in annual royalties.
Under the original agreement, the rights transferred to Amelia’s biological descendants.
Lily did not merely inherit company shares.
She inherited control of the patent.
Conrad needed her alive until he could alter the genetic ownership records.
That explained why he opposed Victor’s attempts to kill her.
Lily had been leverage, evidence, and intellectual property in their eyes.
Amelia closed the file.
“They never saw her as a child.”
Ethan looked toward the yard where Lily chased gulls.
“We do.”
“That is where their power ends.”
Margaret Vale’s death record was reopened.
The photograph belonged to a living woman using another name.
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She had recently entered the United States.
Her destination was Boston.
