Chapter 16 - The Forgotten Account
Peace lasted six months.
Then Agent Shaw called.
Victor’s supervision period had progressed without incident.
The Blackwood companies were restructuring.
Former captains worked under legitimate contracts.
Marco managed a private security division.
Lucas remained in federal prison, where he cooperated with investigators and wrote letters to his brother every week.
Serena had begun serving her sentence in a maximum-security facility.
Gabriel had lost his final appeal.
Adrian Montigue remained under federal protection after testifying against several international partners.
The city was changing.
But one account connected to Elena’s evidence remained active.
Agent Shaw met Victor and Lily at the mansion.
Ethan played in the garden under Marco’s supervision.
Shaw placed a statement on the table.
The account held twelve million dollars.
Gabriel had opened it under Samuel Harper’s name.
Lily stared at the document.
“My brother never had that money.”
“We know,” Shaw said.
“But someone made a withdrawal three days ago.”
Victor studied the transaction.
“Who has authority?”
“That is the problem. The withdrawal used Samuel’s biometric authorization.”
Lily’s face went pale.
“Samuel is dead.”
Shaw nodded.
“We confirmed his body after the explosion through dental records.”
Victor looked at her.
“Were DNA tests performed?”
“No. The remains were badly burned.”
Lily stood.
“You think my brother could be alive?”
“I think someone wants us to believe it.”
A security image showed a man entering a private bank in Toronto.
He wore a baseball cap.
His face remained turned from the camera.
But his height and build resembled Samuel.
Lily’s hands trembled.
Victor touched her arm.
“Do not assume anything yet.”
“He could be alive.”
“He could.”
“Why would he hide from me?”
“Because Gabriel believed he was dead.”
Shaw continued.
“The account paid for apartments, medical care and travel documents over eighteen months.”
“For whom?” Lily asked.
“We traced one payment to a rehabilitation clinic in Quebec.”
Lily’s heart raced.
“What kind of clinic?”
“Neurological trauma.”
The three of them flew to Canada with federal authorization.
Victor’s travel restrictions were temporarily modified.
At the clinic, a doctor confirmed that an unidentified American man had been treated under the name Stephen Hale.
He had suffered burns, memory loss and damage to his left leg.
“He arrived eighteen months ago,” the doctor said.
“Who brought him?” Shaw asked.
“A woman.”
The doctor displayed the admission record.
The woman signed the name Elena Rossi.
Victor stared at it.
Elena’s maiden name.
Lily gripped the table.
“Elena was already dead.”
The doctor shook his head.
“The woman never entered the clinic. She arranged transportation and payment remotely.”
Samuel had created the Elena Rossi identity before the bombing.
He had prepared an escape route for anyone targeted by Gabriel.
“Where is Stephen Hale now?” Lily asked.
“He left three days ago.”
“Did he remember his real name?”
“Pieces of it.”
“What pieces?”
The doctor opened a file.
“He repeatedly said the name Lily.”
Lily began crying.
Victor stood beside her.
“He also mentioned a baby,” the doctor continued. “And a black house.”
Ethan.
Blackwood.
Samuel was alive.
The investigators traced his route to a train station.
Security footage showed him boarding a train toward Chicago.
Lily called every number connected to her brother.
No answer.
When they returned home, the door to Lily’s apartment stood open.
Victor entered first.
The rooms had been searched.
Nothing valuable was missing.
On the mantel, Samuel’s photograph had been turned face down.
A note rested beneath it.
Lily unfolded the paper.
Do not trust Agent Shaw.
Meet me where Mom taught us to skate.
Come alone.
The handwriting was Samuel’s.
Lily knew every curve of the letters.
Victor read the message.
“You are not going alone.”
“It says—”
“I can read.”
“If Samuel believes Shaw is involved—”
“Then we tell Marco.”
“No.”
Victor looked at her.
Lily folded the note.
“For six months, you have been learning to let me choose.”
“That does not mean I let you walk into a trap.”
“You do not let me do anything.”
The words struck both of them.
Victor stepped back.
“You are right.”
Lily softened.
“I will meet him. Marco can watch from a distance.”
“And me?”
“If Samuel sees you, he may run.”
Victor understood.
The skating pond was in a public park on the northwest side.
Lily arrived at dusk.
Snow covered the ice.
A man stood near the empty warming house.
He leaned on a cane.
His face carried burn scars.
His hair had turned partly gray.
But Lily recognized him.
“Samuel.”
He turned.
For one second, he looked uncertain.
Then he smiled.
“Little sister.”
Lily ran to him.
Samuel held her with one arm.
She cried against his coat.
“You were dead.”
“I almost was.”
“Why didn’t you come home?”
“I could not remember where home was.”
Lily pulled back.
“Why can’t I trust Agent Shaw?”
Samuel looked toward the dark trees.
“Because Gabriel was not the highest person in the network.”
“Who was?”
Samuel’s expression became grave.
“Someone inside the federal investigation.”
A gunshot struck the warming-house wall beside them.
Samuel pushed Lily to the ground.
From the tree line, Marco returned fire.
Victor appeared behind a parked vehicle despite Lily’s instructions.
Samuel looked at him.
“Blackwood.”
Victor raised his weapon toward the trees.
“Detective.”
Another shot shattered a window.
Samuel pulled Lily behind the concrete foundation.
“The shooter is not here for me.”
Lily looked at him.
“Then who?”
May you like
Samuel stared toward Victor.
“They are here because Victor is about to testify against the last person Elena exposed.”
