Chapter 2 - NORA’S FIRST CONFESSION
The helicopter lifted from the Blackwood estate six minutes later.
Ethan sat across from Nora while Lily remained strapped beside Dr. Hayes.
Marcus coordinated three ground teams through his headset.
Nora stared at the floor.
Ethan placed the poisoned tea bag on the seat between them.
“You tried to kill me.”
“I was ordered to.”
“You still poured the digitalis.”
“Yes.”
“Why did Lily know enough to stop me?”
Nora’s hands tightened.
“She heard Victor on the phone.”
“He said the dose had to be stronger this time.”
“This time?”
Nora closed her eyes.
“There were other attempts.”
Ethan remembered the unexplained fainting spells.
The irregular heartbeat after business dinners.
The private physician Victor always recommended.
“Who treated me?”
“Dr. Malcolm Voss.”
“He works for Victor.”
“He created the medical records showing you had a hereditary heart condition.”
Ethan had believed the condition came from his father.
Now he understood the records may have been created to explain a future death.
Nora began speaking faster.
Seven years earlier, she had been a maternity nurse at Blackwood Memorial Hospital.
Victor paid hospital administrator Charles Dane to move Amelia into an isolated room after delivery.
The official chart claimed the baby had died from smoke inhalation.
Lily had not been near the fire.
A nurse named Grace Holloway carried her through a maintenance stairwell.
Grace planned to take Lily directly to Ethan.
Victor’s men intercepted her.
“What happened to Grace?” Ethan asked.
Nora looked toward Lily.
“She died protecting the baby.”
Lily’s eyes filled with tears.
“She was the lady in the blue coat?”
Nora nodded.
The child remembered fragments.
A blue coat.
Smoke.
A woman singing while alarms screamed.
Victor forced Nora to take Lily.
He threatened Nora’s younger son, who was serving time for a crime Victor’s attorneys had arranged.
For years, Nora raised Lily in different apartments under false names.
When Victor realized Ethan remained emotionally broken and childless, he changed the plan.
He brought Lily into the mansion as Nora’s niece.
He wanted to observe whether Ethan would recognize her.
“Why keep Amelia alive?” Ethan asked.
Nora’s voice fell.
“Because Amelia owns twenty-six percent of Blackwood Industries.”
“Her shares transfer to Lily only after Amelia’s natural death.”
“If Amelia dies under suspicious circumstances, the shares enter court supervision.”
“Victor needed her alive long enough to sign them away.”
“Did she sign?”
“No.”
“She refused every time.”
The helicopter began descending.
Below them, St. Catherine Recovery Center appeared among winter trees.
Three black vehicles were already leaving through the rear gate.
May you like
Marcus leaned toward the window.
“Victor is moving her.”
