Chapter 6 - The Safe-Deposit Box
Victor ordered the driver to turn around.
Lily grabbed his arm.
“No.”
“My son is exposed.”
“That is why we need the evidence.”
“He could be dead before we reach the bank.”
“Dr. Marino would have called.”
“Unless he cannot.”
Marco attempted to contact the cabin.
No answer.
The guards’ encrypted radios were also silent.
Victor’s control began to crack.
Lily saw it in his eyes.
He was no longer the composed head of an empire.
He was a father imagining the worst.
“Gabriel wants us to panic,” she said.
“He knows where my son is.”
“And he wants the key.”
Victor looked toward the brass key around her neck.
“We give it to him.”
“No.”
“He can have every secret in that box.”
“He will kill Ethan afterward.”
“You do not know that.”
“My brother knew men like Gabriel.”
“So do I.”
“Then you know a witness is more dangerous than evidence.”
Victor turned toward the driver.
“Bank first.”
They reached the First Chicago Trust building at 9:18 a.m.
Marco’s teams surrounded the block.
Lily entered through the underground garage wearing a dark wig and a nurse’s uniform.
Victor used a private entrance connected to the executive offices.
The branch manager led them to a secure vault.
Lily’s fingerprint opened the first lock.
The brass key opened the second.
Inside the box lay a black flash drive, a folded letter and a small silver necklace.
Victor recognized the necklace.
He had given it to Elena on their fifth anniversary.
His hand hovered above it.
Lily picked up the letter.
Victor’s name was written across the front.
“You should read it.”
He unfolded the paper.
Victor,
If you are reading this, then I failed to protect our son.
Gabriel has been working with Adrian Montigue for years.
He launders money through Blackwood Holdings and uses your name to protect routes you never approved.
Serena is part of the plan.
They want a marriage between the families because it gives them access to everything you built.
But Ethan is the obstacle.
As long as our son lives, Serena can never control the Blackwood estate without you.
Samuel Harper has copies of the financial records.
I gave him a recording that proves Gabriel ordered the bombing at the East Harbor warehouse.
That bombing killed seven people.
Gabriel believes one of the dead men carried the only copy.
He is wrong.
The recording is on this drive.
Please believe Samuel.
Please do not turn this into another war.
Take Ethan and leave.
Do what I was too afraid to do.
Choose our son.
Elena
Victor read the letter twice.
His hands remained steady.
But Lily saw the grief in the way he held the paper.
Marco inserted the flash drive into an offline laptop.
Folders appeared.
Bank transfers.
Shipping manifests.
Photographs.
Recorded conversations.
One file carried Elena’s name.
Marco opened it.
Elena appeared on the screen.
She sat inside a parked car.
Her eyes were swollen from crying.
“If anything happens to me, Gabriel Blackwood ordered it.”
Victor stopped the video.
He could not watch more.
Lily touched the silver necklace.
“My brother had this?”
“Elena must have given it to him.”
A phone rang inside the vault.
Victor’s private number.
Only seven people possessed it.
He answered.
Gabriel’s voice came through clearly.
“Did you enjoy your wife’s final letter?”
Victor’s face became empty.
“Where is my son?”
“Safe.”
“For now.”
“You had access to the cabin.”
“I have access to everything bearing the Blackwood name.”
Lily stepped closer so she could hear.
Gabriel continued.
“Bring the drive and the key to the Halsted Street chapel.”
“The key is useless now.”
“It still proves Lily opened the box.”
“Why does that matter?”
“Because when her body is discovered beside the stolen evidence, the police will conclude the desperate nanny fabricated everything.”
Lily felt cold.
Victor’s voice remained calm.
“You touch her and I will—”
“You will what?”
Gabriel laughed softly.
“Start a war? Kill my men? Burn the city?”
His tone sharpened.
“You are still thinking like your father.”
“What do you want?”
“The drive.”
“And Ethan?”
“When I confirm the files are intact, the child will be returned.”
Victor looked at Marco.
Marco shook his head.
Gabriel was lying.
“Let me speak to him.”
A faint rustling sound followed.
Then Ethan cried.
Lily gripped the edge of the table.
“Ethan!”
The baby continued crying.
Dr. Marino’s voice sounded in the background.
“Do not give him anything. He is injured.”
A blow silenced the doctor.
Victor’s eyes filled with something lethal.
Gabriel returned to the phone.
“Forty minutes.”
The call ended.
Marco checked the signal.
“Burner phone. West Side tower.”
Victor closed the laptop.
“We go to the chapel.”
“That is suicide,” Marco said.
“We have forty minutes.”
Lily reached for the flash drive.
Victor caught her wrist.
“You are not coming.”
“Gabriel asked for me.”
“He asked for the key.”
“He needs someone to blame.”
“Exactly.”
Lily pulled free.
“If I stay here, he kills Ethan.”
“If you go, he kills both of you.”
She looked directly into his eyes.
“Then make sure he does not.”
Victor studied her for a long moment.
He removed a small pistol from his jacket and placed it on the table.
“Have you ever fired one?”
“My brother taught me.”
“Then remember what he taught you.”
Lily checked the weapon.
“Do not point it unless I am prepared to use it.”
Victor nodded.
Marco copied the flash drive.
He placed the original inside a protective case.
The second copy went to a federal contact Samuel Harper had named in his records.
For the first time, Victor allowed evidence against his own organization to leave his control.
He sealed Elena’s letter inside his jacket.
Then he looked at Lily.
“From this moment, you follow every instruction I give.”
“No.”
His eyes narrowed.
“I will follow the ones that keep Ethan alive.”
Victor almost smiled.
It was not amusement.
It was recognition.
“Samuel must have hated arguing with you.”
“He usually lost.”
They left the vault together.
May you like
Neither noticed the branch manager quietly send a text message.
They have the drive.
