Chapter 10 - THE MAN IN THE HELICOPTER
The helicopter landed on the warehouse roof.
A tall man descended the external staircase.
Victor recognized him immediately.
Anthony Blackwood.
Victor’s uncle.
Anthony had disappeared fifteen years earlier after being accused of betraying Victor’s father.
The family believed he had been killed overseas.
He was alive.
Older.
Heavier.
Still wearing the Blackwood signet ring.
Victor looked at him.
“My father said you were dead.”
“Your father said many useful things.”
Anthony approached Serena.
She handed him a folder.
Ethan’s forged guardianship order rested inside.
Anthony examined Victor.
“You have your mother’s eyes.”
“You have my father’s cowardice.”
Anthony smiled.
“He stole the family from me.”
“I was the oldest.”
“I built the shipping routes.”
“He married the right woman and received the money.”
Victor understood.
Anthony had funded Crane.
He had financed Price.
He had used Serena to eliminate Isabella and gain access to Ethan.
Why Ethan?
Because Victor’s father had changed the original Blackwood trust.
If Victor and Ethan died, control did not pass to Anthony.
It dissolved into charitable foundations.
But if Anthony became Ethan’s guardian, he could control the empire without triggering the dissolution clause.
Anthony looked at the case.
“The witness ledger contains the original trust amendment.”
“Give it to me.”
Victor held the handle tighter.
“Release Ethan.”
Anthony nodded toward Price.
The doctor pressed a syringe against Ethan’s leg.
Lily watched from behind a stack of cargo containers.
Her body went cold.
Serena said quietly,
“One dose will make him sleep.”
“Two will slow his heart.”
Victor placed the case on the ground.
“Do not touch him.”
Anthony smiled.
“There is the obedient boy I remember.”
He moved toward the case.
Lily slipped behind the yacht’s loading ramp.
Marlene saw her.
For one second, their eyes met.
Marlene looked toward the rope around her wrists.
Then toward a broken metal edge near the dock.
Lily understood.
She moved closer while Anthony opened the case.
He immediately realized the ledger was false.
“This is a copy.”
Victor did not deny it.
Anthony raised his gun.
At the same moment, Marlene threw herself sideways.
The rope caught against the sharp metal.
It snapped.
She struck Price from behind.
The syringe fell.
Lily rushed toward Ethan.
Serena turned.
“You.”
Lily grabbed the child carrier.
Serena pulled back.
Ethan began crying.
His injured arm shifted.
Victor crossed the distance between them.
Anthony fired.
The bullet struck Victor high in the shoulder.
He did not fall.
He seized Serena’s wrist and forced her away from Ethan.
Lily pulled the child into her arms.
Price ran toward the helicopter.
Marlene blocked him with a cargo hook.
Police sirens approached.
Anthony moved toward the yacht.
May you like
Then Cole stepped from the darkness.
“Going somewhere, Uncle?”
