Chapter 8 - THE SINS OF THE FATHER
Ethan refused to believe it.
Not because his father had been perfect.
Thomas Blackwood had been demanding.
Emotionally distant.
Obsessed with legacy.
But criminal?
A partner in Harold Crane’s schemes?
Ethan needed proof.
Ruiz gave it to him.
The ledger contained thirty years of handwritten transactions.
Payments to officials.
Acquisitions conducted through hidden companies.
Political influence campaigns.
Industrial sabotage.
Some entries included Thomas Blackwood’s initials.
T.B.
Margaret compared signatures.
They matched.
Ethan sat beside Amelia’s hospital bed reading page after page.
She remained sedated but stable.
Lily was being brought under police escort.
Ethan wanted her to see Amelia only after doctors confirmed it would be safe.
“What if my father started all of this?”
He asked.
Margaret sat opposite him.
“Then you deal with the truth.”
“Simple.”
“No.”
“But necessary.”
Ethan closed the ledger.
“I spent my entire life protecting the Blackwood name.”
Margaret looked at Amelia.
“Maybe that’s the problem.”
He frowned.
“What?”
“You were taught the family name mattered more than the people carrying it.”
She pointed toward Amelia.
“She almost died because someone wanted control of that name.”
“Lily lost seven years because someone wanted control of that name.”
“Maybe you should stop protecting it.”
The words stayed with him.
Amelia woke near sunset.
Ethan gave her water.
She looked toward the door repeatedly.
“Where is Lily?”
“On her way.”
“Does she remember me?”
“Some things.”
Amelia closed her eyes.
“I tried.”
“I know.”
“No.”
“You don’t.”
Her voice cracked.
“They brought her to me when she was three.”
“She was so little.”
“She thought Nora was her mother.”
Ethan said nothing.
“I wanted to tell her everything.”
“But Victor said if I used your name, they would move her where I could never see her again.”
“So I told her stories.”
“What stories?”
Amelia almost smiled.
“About a brave king who didn’t know he had a princess.”
Ethan’s throat tightened.
“She remembered.”
Amelia looked at him.
“What?”
“She called me Daddy before she knew why.”
Tears filled Amelia’s eyes.
“Then she remembered the story.”
A knock came.
Lily stood in the doorway.
For once, the child had no words.
Amelia’s entire face broke.
“Lily.”
The girl stared.
Ethan feared she might run.
Instead, Lily whispered.
“Mommy?”
Amelia opened her arms.
Lily crossed the room slowly.
Then faster.
She climbed onto the edge of the hospital bed.
Amelia held her.
Seven years collapsed into one embrace.
Ethan turned away for several seconds because the sight was too painful and too beautiful to watch directly.
Lily cried into Amelia’s shoulder.
“You were real.”
Amelia kissed her hair.
“I was always real.”
“Aunt Nora said you were a dream.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Why didn’t you come get me?”
The question destroyed Amelia.
Ethan stepped forward.
But Amelia answered.
“Because bad people kept me away.”
“Did you try?”
“Every day.”
Lily nodded.
That mattered.
She rested her head against Amelia.
For the first time since Ethan met her, the child looked completely still.
Not cautious.
Not waiting for punishment.
Safe.
Later, when Lily fell asleep in a chair, Amelia told Ethan the truth about Harold Crane.
“Harold’s father worked with your grandfather.”
“James Crane.”
Ethan knew the name.
“He died before I was born.”
“He killed himself.”
“That’s what your family said.”
Amelia shook her head.
“William Blackwood framed him.”
Ethan stared.
“For what?”
“Embezzlement.”
“James discovered William was using company money to bribe officials during expansion.”
“When James threatened to expose him, William shifted the evidence.”
“James lost everything.”
“His reputation.”
“His home.”
“His marriage.”
“Harold was seventeen.”
Ethan looked at the ledger.
“So Harold came after the family for revenge.”
“Yes.”
“But Thomas became his partner?”
“At first.”
Amelia explained.
Thomas had learned the truth about William’s corruption as a young executive.
Instead of exposing it, he and Harold used the hidden system for their own deals.
For years they made money together.
Then Thomas changed.
Ethan struggled with that part.
“What changed him?”
“You.”
Ethan frowned.
“When you were born, Thomas started talking about ending it.”
“He wanted to clean the company before you inherited it.”
“Harold considered that betrayal.”
“So he poisoned him.”
Amelia nodded.
“Slowly.”
“With what?”
“I don’t know.”
“Medical records were altered.”
“Victor helped.”
“Why would Victor help kill his own brother?”
“Because Harold promised him control after Thomas died.”
Ethan stood at the window.
His father had been both criminal and victim.
There was no simple version.
No clean hero.
Amelia watched him.
“You can’t change what Thomas did.”
“I know.”
“But you can decide what Lily inherits.”
He looked toward their daughter.
Not the company.
The truth.
That was what she would inherit unless Ethan changed something.
A knock interrupted them.
Ruiz entered.
“We have Victor.”
Ethan turned.
“Where?”
“The warehouse.”
“He actually went there.”
“With Marcus’s son?”
“Yes.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Ethan exhaled.
“And Harold?”
“Missing.”
Ruiz hesitated.
“There’s more.”
She opened an evidence folder.
“Victor gave us a deal proposal.”
Ethan laughed coldly.
“Of course he did.”
“He says Harold Crane has enough evidence to destroy Blackwood Industries.”
“Let him.”
Ruiz studied him.
“You might want to hear what it is.”
“What?”
“According to Victor, Crane didn’t just record old crimes.”
“He created new ones in your name.”
Ethan stared.
“Fraud.”
“Bribery.”
“Illegal transfers.”
“All authenticated using executive credentials.”
Margaret entered behind Ruiz.
“That could collapse the company before we prove they’re forged.”
Ruiz nodded.
“And Crane scheduled the entire file archive for automatic release.”
“When?”
Ruiz looked at the clock.
“Tomorrow at noon.”
Ethan glanced toward Amelia and Lily.
Harold did not want Blackwood Industries.
He wanted to destroy the family name.
May you like
And in less than eighteen hours—
he intended to make the entire world believe Ethan was just as corrupt as the men before him.
