Chapter 5 - The Blackwood Uncle
Gabriel Blackwood had been Victor’s father’s younger brother.
He had taught Victor how to shoot.
How to detect a lie.
How to enter a room without exposing his back.
After Victor’s father died, Gabriel became the closest thing he had to an adviser.
He never sought public attention.
He never appeared in newspaper photographs.
Most people outside the organization believed he was retired.
In reality, Gabriel controlled Blackwood money across Europe.
“He blessed my marriage to Elena,” Victor said.
Lily stood beside the fireplace.
“Could you be mistaken about the voice?”
“No.”
Marco replayed the recording.
Gabriel’s tone was calm and precise.
He told Serena to retrieve the safe-deposit key.
He referred to Elena’s recording.
He knew Samuel Harper had failed to recover it.
Victor moved away from the table.
“Gabriel was in Rome when Elena died.”
“Was he?” Lily asked.
Marco looked through archived travel records.
“His plane landed in Rome the day before the bombing.”
“That proves nothing,” Lily said.
Victor stared at her.
“You believe he killed my wife?”
“I believe my brother died because he tried to prove someone killed her.”
Ethan began crying softly.
Lily sat beside him.
The baby had awakened from the medication.
His eyes were confused.
She touched his cheek.
“You’re safe.”
Victor remained near the window.
The word safe felt like an accusation.
Marco closed the laptop.
“We should open Elena’s box.”
Lily removed the brass key from beneath her dress.
“The bank is in Chicago.”
Victor checked the time.
“It opens at nine.”
“The police will be watching.”
“So will Serena.”
Marco looked toward the dark woods outside.
“We can send someone else.”
“No,” Lily said. “The box requires my fingerprint.”
Victor turned.
“You knew that?”
“My brother included the bank documents with the key.”
“Why did you tell me you did not know what it opened until two weeks ago?”
“I did not trust you.”
“And now?”
Lily looked toward Ethan.
“I trust that you want your son alive.”
Victor accepted the answer.
It was more than he deserved.
Dr. Marino entered from the bedroom.
“Ethan’s temperature is rising.”
Lily stood.
“Is that normal?”
“Possibly from the stress, but I want to watch him closely.”
Victor approached the crib.
Ethan looked at him.
For several seconds, father and son stared at each other.
Then Ethan reached out.
Victor lifted him carefully.
The baby rested his head against Victor’s shoulder.
Victor’s expression softened.
Lily watched the change.
She wondered how a man could love a child so completely and still choose a life that placed the child in constant danger.
Victor looked at her.
“What did your brother tell you about Elena?”
“Very little.”
“Did they know each other?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Samuel received an anonymous message six months before her death.”
“What message?”
“That someone inside the Blackwood organization was financing Montigue operations.”
Victor’s face hardened.
Lily continued.
“Elena met Samuel in secret. She gave him financial documents and told him she was afraid for Ethan.”
“She never told me.”
“She believed someone was monitoring you.”
“Gabriel.”
“Maybe.”
Victor walked toward the fireplace with Ethan in his arms.
“Elena argued with me the night before she died.”
“About what?”
“She wanted to leave Chicago.”
Lily waited.
“I told her leaving would make us look weak.”
“Did she tell you she was afraid?”
“She said Ethan would never be safe in my world.”
Lily’s voice softened.
“She was right.”
Victor closed his eyes.
The truth seemed to hurt more than any threat.
At dawn, Marco prepared the plan.
Lily would enter Chicago in the back of a medical transport vehicle.
Victor would approach the bank from another entrance.
Three teams would monitor the surrounding streets.
Dr. Marino and four guards would remain with Ethan at the cabin.
Lily hated leaving the child.
But Elena’s evidence might be the only way to end the threat permanently.
Before Lily entered the vehicle, Ethan began crying.
She returned to the cabin and kissed his forehead.
“I’ll come back.”
Victor stood behind her.
“Do not make promises you cannot control.”
Lily faced him.
“Children need promises.”
“They need truth.”
“Then here is the truth. I will fight to come back.”
Ethan held her finger.
Victor watched them.
“Why did you become his nanny?”
“At first?”
“Yes.”
“To search the house.”
“And after?”
Lily looked at the baby.
“To protect the only person in that mansion who had never lied to me.”
They left Galena before sunrise.
The journey to Chicago took nearly three hours.
As the skyline appeared through the gray morning, Marco received an encrypted message.
A single photograph.
The cabin.
Taken from the tree line.
The image showed Dr. Marino standing near a window with Ethan in his arms.
Beneath it were six words.
THE KEY FOR THE CHILD. NO POLICE.
Lily stared at the photograph.
“We were followed.”
Victor looked toward Marco.
“No.”
May you like
His voice was cold.
“Someone already knew where the cabin was.”
