Chapter 18: The Blackwood Bloodline
Chapter 18: The Blackwood Bloodline
The words echoed through the conference room.
"Miss Blackwood."
No one moved.
Marcus slowly turned toward Khloe.
She stood motionless, her face drained of color.
"I don't understand..."
"I was raised in foster care."
"I never knew my parents."
Samuel looked back at the recovered file.
"The document identifies you as a direct Founder Descendant."
Rebecca folded her arms.
"If it's authentic..."
"...someone erased your identity decades ago."
Across the street...
The black sedan disappeared before federal agents noticed it.
Inside, the younger Evelyn Cross removed the binoculars and smiled.
Her driver glanced into the rearview mirror.
"They know."
She nodded.
"They were supposed to."
"Should we proceed?"
She looked toward the Manhattan skyline.
"Not yet."
"They still believe this is about inheritance."
The woman smiled faintly.
"They haven't realized..."
"...it's about succession."
Meanwhile...
Marcus insisted on seeing every file connected to Khloe's past.
Samuel requested emergency access to sealed adoption records.
Most of them had already been destroyed.
Or so it appeared.
Then...
One archive responded.
A children's hospital in Boston.
Date:
Twenty-seven years earlier.
Patient:
Baby Jane Doe
Daniel frowned.
"No surname."
Rebecca continued reading.
"Female infant."
"Approximately six months old."
"Found after a vehicle accident."
Marcus looked at Khloe.
"You were adopted at six months."
She nodded slowly.
"That's what I was always told."
Samuel enlarged the accident report.
His expression hardened.
"This wasn't an accident."
The police photographs appeared on the screen.
A luxury sedan rested upside down beside a mountain road.
The driver's seat had absorbed most of the impact.
The passenger door had been forced open from the outside.
Rebecca whispered,
"Someone pulled the baby out."
Daniel looked closer.
"No..."
"Someone took the baby..."
"...before emergency crews arrived."
Another attachment opened.
Witness statement.
A truck driver.
He reported seeing two women arguing beside the wrecked car.
One carried a baby wrapped in a white blanket.
The other woman remained trapped inside the vehicle.
Marcus frowned.
"Did the witness identify them?"
Samuel scrolled lower.
"He identified one."
Silence filled the room.
Evelyn Cross.
Khloe slowly sat down.
Her hands began shaking.
"So she knew me..."
"...my entire life."
Daniel nodded.
"Long before Isabella attacked you."
Rebecca quietly added,
"You weren't discovered."
"You were monitored."
At that same moment...
Deep beneath the abandoned railway station...
Adrian Blackwood unlocked a heavy steel case.
Inside lay dozens of family photographs.
He carefully removed one.
A young woman stood smiling beside him.
She held a baby girl.
On the back...
One handwritten sentence.
Our daughter — Khloe
Leonard stared at the photograph.
"You kept it all these years."
Adrian gently touched the faded picture.
"I promised her mother..."
"...I would find our daughter."
Leonard looked stunned.
"Khloe..."
"...is your child?"
Adrian nodded.
"My daughter."
"The child everyone believed died."
Leonard stepped backward.
"Marcus can never know."
Adrian looked up.
"He deserves to."
Leonard shook his head.
"If he discovers you're Khloe's father..."
"...he'll believe every accusation against you."
Adrian smiled sadly.
"He probably will."
"But truth doesn't stop being true..."
"...because it hurts."
Back at FBI headquarters...
Rebecca entered quietly.
"Marcus."
"We found something else."
Samuel displayed another restored document.
Hospital DNA records.
Originally classified.
Two infant blood samples.
One identified only as:
Child B
The second...
Adrian Blackwood
Marcus looked confused.
"Why compare their DNA?"
Samuel answered softly.
"Because someone already knew."
He clicked one final page.
Probability of biological parentage: 99.98%.
The room became completely silent.
Marcus stared at the screen.
Then looked toward Khloe.
Neither of them spoke.
Finally...
Khloe whispered,
"My father..."
"...is Adrian?"
Daniel immediately stood.
"We need to find him."
Marcus remained silent.
Rebecca watched him carefully.
"You okay?"
Marcus looked at the DNA report.
"I've spent weeks hunting the man who framed my family."
He swallowed hard.
"And now..."
"...he's my wife's father."
Late that evening...
Marcus entered Khloe's hospital room alone.
She sat beside the window watching snow drift across the city.
Neither spoke for a long time.
Finally...
Khloe broke the silence.
"If it's true..."
"What does that make me?"
Marcus walked toward her.
"It makes you..."
"...the same woman I married."
She looked up with tears in her eyes.
"You don't hate me?"
Marcus gently held her hands.
"You didn't choose your parents."
"You chose me."
Khloe rested her forehead against his.
"And our baby?"
Marcus smiled softly.
"Our baby chooses the future."
Across Manhattan...
Adrian quietly entered an old cemetery.
He stopped before a weathered headstone.
Elena Blackwood
1980–1999
He placed white roses beneath the stone.
"I'm sorry."
"I couldn't protect you."
"I couldn't protect Khloe."
He lowered his head.
"But I can still protect our granddaughter."
A voice echoed behind him.
"You've always been sentimental."
Adrian turned slowly.
Standing beneath the bare winter trees...
An elegant older woman stepped from the darkness.
The original Evelyn Cross.
Not the younger woman.
Not the disguise.
The real architect.
She smiled calmly.
"It's been a long time..."
"...Adrian."
Adrian's eyes hardened.
"Evelyn."
She glanced toward Elena's grave.
"You should have stayed dead."
Adrian answered quietly.
"You tried to make sure of that."
Several armed figures emerged silently from the shadows.
Weapons aimed at Adrian.
Evelyn remained perfectly calm.
"I didn't come to kill you."
"Not tonight."
"I came to offer peace."
Adrian laughed once.
"After twenty-five years?"
She nodded.
"Give me the Founder File."
"And I'll let Marcus..."
"...raise your daughter in peace."
Adrian's smile disappeared.
"You still don't understand."
Evelyn tilted her head.
"What?"
Adrian looked directly into her eyes.
"I don't have the Founder File anymore."
"I made sure Marcus found it."
For the first time...
Evelyn Cross lost her composure.
Her expression darkened.
"You fool."
Adrian answered with quiet certainty.
"No."
"You've underestimated Edward's son."
Evelyn turned toward her security team.
"Find Marcus."
"Find Khloe."
"And this time..."
"...bring me the child."
The agents disappeared into the darkness.
Adrian watched them leave.
Then reached into his coat.
He pressed a concealed transmitter.
A green light blinked once.
Daniel Carter's secure phone vibrated across the city.
The message contained only six words.
May you like
Protect Khloe. Evelyn has returned.
End of Chapter 18
