CHAPTER 12 â The Son She Hid From Everyone
The room fell into stunned silence.
No one spoke.
No one moved.
My eyes remained fixed on the file in Detective Bennett's hands.
ELIAS BLACKWOOD
Relationship: Biological Son of Margaret Carter
I looked at my mother.
For the first time in my life...
I didn't recognize her.
"You had another child?"
She didn't answer.
Her expression remained calm.
Almost amused.
The silence itself was an answer.
Ryan slowly lowered his head.
"I found out three years ago."
I turned toward him.
"You knew?"
He nodded.
"I didn't believe it at first."
"Mom told me never to mention his name."
"She said Daniel could never know."
My pulse quickened.
"Why?"
Ryan swallowed.
"Because..."
"...Elias was always supposed to inherit everything."
The words hit harder than I expected.
Not because of the money.
Because my entire childhood suddenly made sense.
The distance.
The impossible expectations.
The constant comparisons.
The feeling that I was never enough.
I hadn't been competing with Ryan.
I'd been competing...
With a ghost.
Detective Bennett opened the FBI file.
"Elias Blackwood."
"Age: Thirty-four."
"Former military contractor."
"Current owner of Blackwood Strategic Holdings."
"No criminal convictions."
"Multiple offshore accounts."
"Frequent travel under different aliases."
She paused.
"And..."
She looked directly at me.
"He entered the country four days ago."
My chest tightened.
Four days.
The same day Emily collapsed.
A knock interrupted the meeting.
An FBI agent stepped inside carrying a sealed evidence envelope.
"We recovered this from Victor Kane's apartment."
He handed it to Bennett.
Inside were several photographs.
The first showed Victor standing beside Margaret.
The second...
Ryan.
The third...
A tall man wearing sunglasses.
His face was partially hidden beneath a baseball cap.
Bennett flipped the picture over.
On the back, someone had written one word.
Elias.
"Can you enhance this?" Bennett asked.
The forensic analyst nodded.
Ten minutes later...
The image appeared on the large monitor.
The sunglasses disappeared through digital enhancement.
The cap was corrected.
The face sharpened.
I stopped breathing.
The man looked...
Familiar.
Not because I knew him.
Because he looked like someone else.
Ryan leaned closer.
"Oh my God..."
I whispered,
"He looks like..."
"...Dad."
The resemblance was unmistakable.
The same jawline.
The same eyes.
The same smile.
Only colder.
Much colder.
"How is that possible?" I asked.
Bennett answered quietly.
"The DNA report explains it."
She opened another folder.
"Elias isn't Richard Carter's son."
Silence.
"He and Ryan share the same mother."
"But not the same father."
I stared at the report.
"So..."
"My mother had another child before marrying Dad."
Bennett nodded.
"And she gave him away."
Ryan closed his eyes.
"Not exactly."
Everyone looked at him.
"What do you mean?"
He took a deep breath.
"She told me Elias died."
Another pause.
"That was a lie."
The FBI had already begun digging into Elias Blackwood's history.
Within hours, a clearer picture emerged.
He hadn't been abandoned.
He'd been raised by one of the wealthiest industrialists on the East Coast.
Harold Blackwood.
A billionaire with no biological children.
When Harold died...
Elias inherited nearly half a billion dollars.
Yet...
He had still been receiving money from Margaret.
Millions.
Quietly.
For years.
Detective Bennett spread the financial charts across the table.
"Every stolen dollar eventually reached one destination."
She tapped the final account.
"Elias."
I frowned.
"Why would someone worth hundreds of millions need more?"
Thomas Whitmore, who had been brought under police protection after the attack on his cabin, answered quietly.
"Greed isn't measured by what people have."
"It's measured by what they believe they deserve."
Late that afternoon, Emily finally left intensive care.
She had been moved into a secure rehabilitation suite.
Her strength was returning.
Slowly.
She smiled as Noah crawled across the blanket toward her.
He reached up.
Wrapped both little arms around her neck.
Emily cried softly.
"I missed this."
I knelt beside them.
"So did he."
Noah looked at me.
Then back at Emily.
"Mama."
His voice was stronger than before.
Emily laughed through tears.
"Yes."
"Mama's here."
For the first time in weeks...
The room felt peaceful.
Then Emily's smile faded.
"Daniel..."
"What is it?"
"I remembered something."
Every instinct inside me awakened.
"What did you remember?"
She stared toward the window.
"The day before I collapsed..."
"Your mother wasn't alone."
Detective Bennett immediately joined us.
"Who was with her?"
Emily closed her eyes.
Trying to piece the memory together.
"I never saw his face."
"Only..."
"What?"
"His voice."
She frowned.
"He called her..."
"...Mother."
The room went silent.
Bennett leaned forward.
"Are you certain?"
Emily nodded slowly.
"He asked..."
"'Is she ready to sign?'"
My pulse quickened.
"The same words Ryan used."
Emily nodded.
"Your mother answered..."
"'Not yet.'"
Another pause.
"Then he laughed."
"What else do you remember?"
Emily squeezed her eyes shut.
"He said..."
"'If Daniel refuses...'"
"'I'll handle him myself.'"
No one spoke.
Detective Bennett quietly closed her notebook.
"That wasn't Ryan."
"No."
Emily whispered.
"The voice was deeper."
Older.
Calmer.
More dangerous.
At that exact moment, an FBI analyst burst into the room carrying a laptop.
"We've got a facial recognition match."
Everyone stood.
The enhanced image from Victor Kane's apartment had finally been processed.
The analyst turned the screen toward us.
Match confidence:
99.8%
Name:
Elias Blackwood
Current status:
Chief Executive Officer â Blackwood Strategic Holdings
Last confirmed location...
Three hours earlier.
I read the address.
My blood froze.
He wasn't hiding.
He wasn't overseas.
He wasn't running.
He was sitting...
Inside the executive boardroom of Carter Industries.
Holding an emergency shareholders' meeting.
Using forged proxy votes.
Attempting to remove me as CEO.
While I sat in the hospital protecting my family...
May you like
Someone was stealing my company.
Again.
