Chapter 7 - THE TRUTH BEHIND CHARLES BLACKWOOD
Ethan did not answer.
For years, he had imagined speaking to his father again.
He had imagined telling him about the expansion of the company.
About Amelia.
About grief.
About how lonely the house had become.
He had never imagined seeing him alive after learning that he had helped destroy everything Ethan loved.
Charles raised his hands.
“I’m not armed.”
“Where is Amelia?”
“Safe.”
“That is not an answer.”
“You always were impatient.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“And you always underestimated what I would do for my family.”
Charles’s expression changed slightly.
“I am your family.”
“No.”
Ethan’s voice was cold.
“You lost the right to say that seven years ago.”
Charles looked toward the security officers behind Ethan.
“If I wanted Amelia dead, she would have died.”
“That is supposed to reassure me?”
“I kept Victor from killing her.”
Ethan stared at him.
Charles gestured toward the study.
“Come inside.”
“No.”
“Then you may never understand why any of this happened.”
Ethan wanted to drag the location of Amelia from him.
But Charles knew something.
Ethan could see it.
So he entered.
The study looked almost exactly as it had during Ethan’s childhood.
Charles sat behind the old walnut desk.
“Amelia discovered that Victor had been laundering money through Blackwood subsidiaries.”
Ethan said nothing.
“She also discovered that I knew.”
Charles continued.
“I had allowed it.”
“Why?”
“Because those accounts financed operations the board could never know about.”
“What operations?”
“Bribery.”
“Intelligence.”
“Political influence.”
“Everything that made Blackwood Holdings impossible to attack.”
Ethan laughed bitterly.
“You committed crimes to protect the company.”
“To protect you.”
“Do not put my name on your corruption.”
Charles’s eyes hardened.
“When your grandfather died, this company had enemies everywhere.”
“I did what was necessary.”
“And Amelia found proof.”
“Yes.”
“So you tried to murder her.”
“No.”
Charles slammed one hand on the desk.
“Victor did.”
For the first time, Ethan saw genuine anger in his father.
“I ordered Reed to frighten Amelia into silence.”
“Victor decided silence was not enough.”
“The fire was his decision.”
“And afterward?”
Charles looked away.
“I should have gone to the police.”
“But that would have exposed your crimes.”
“Yes.”
“So you let me believe she was dead.”
Charles’s silence was his confession.
Ethan felt no satisfaction.
Only disgust.
“Where is she?”
Charles stood.
“I can take you to her.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
Charles removed a key from his pocket.
“But you should trust this.”
He opened a hidden safe behind the bookshelf.
Inside were old ledgers, passports, flash drives, and medical records.
One folder contained Amelia’s name.
Another contained Victor’s.
A third contained Ethan’s.
Ethan opened it.
Inside was a life insurance policy he had never signed.
Beneficiary: Victor Blackwood.
Effective date: six months before the hospital fire.
Ethan looked up.
Charles’s face was grim.
“Victor was never planning to stop with Amelia.”
“He has been trying to kill you for seven years.”
A gunshot shattered the study window.
Charles collapsed.
Security pulled Ethan to the floor.
A second shot tore through the wall.
The shooter was outside.
Charles pressed one hand against his bleeding shoulder.
Before Ethan’s guards carried him away, he grabbed Ethan’s sleeve.
“Victor knows she remembers.”
“Who?”
“Amelia.”
May you like
Charles coughed.
“And if she remembers the account number, he will kill her tonight.”
