Chapter 13 - Isabella’s House
Victor called Lily while the car was still moving.
She answered immediately.
“Victor?”
“Get out of the house.”
Silence.
“What?”
“Take Ethan.”
“Leave everything.”
“Go outside now.”
Lily heard his tone.
She did not ask why.
She grabbed Ethan and ran.
The security team followed.
They reached the driveway.
Lily looked back.
Nothing happened.
Then Victor shouted through the phone.
“Keep moving.”
She crossed the gate.
Thirty seconds later, every downstairs window exploded.
The blast rolled through the coastal house.
Lily dropped behind a stone wall and covered Ethan.
Security shielded them.
Flames climbed through Isabella’s old living room.
Victor heard the explosion through the phone.
“Lily.”
“I’m here.”
“Ethan?”
“Safe.”
Victor closed his eyes.
Only for one second.
“Do not move until Marco’s team reaches you.”
Lily looked at the burning house.
“Someone knew we were here.”
Victor opened his eyes.
“Yes.”
That was the problem.
The move had been decided less than an hour earlier.
Only four people knew.
Victor.
Lily.
Marco.
And Catherine.
Victor stared at Marco.
Marco understood.
“Catherine.”
Victor called.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
They reached the remains of the house before sunrise.
Bomb technicians confirmed two devices had been placed days earlier.
Not tonight.
Someone had anticipated Ethan might eventually be moved there.
Lily stared at the wreckage.
“This was planned before we went to Europe.”
Victor nodded.
“Isabella bought this place under a trust.”
“Almost nobody knew.”
“Who?”
“Thomas.”
“Catherine.”
“Marco.”
“Me.”
“And Isabella.”
Lily looked at him.
“Serena knew.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Victor remembered.
Catherine once mentioned the house at a family dinner.
Years ago.
Maybe Serena had overheard.
Maybe Thomas told her.
Or maybe someone else knew.
Marco received a call.
“Catherine’s missing.”
Victor turned.
“When was she last seen?”
“Two hours ago.”
“Vehicle?”
“Found near Battery Park.”
“Phone?”
“Inside.”
Victor’s expression hardened.
“Abducted?”
“Maybe.”
Lily watched him.
“You think she ran.”
“I think I don’t know.”
At the hospital, Serena survived surgery.
Damien was taken into custody.
Victor questioned him personally with attorneys present.
Damien looked exhausted.
“You almost killed your sister.”
“She stopped being my sister when she sided with you.”
Victor sat opposite him.
“You set the bomb.”
“Yes.”
“How did you know Ethan might be moved there?”
Damien smiled.
“Because someone told me.”
“Who?”
“You’ll figure it out.”
Victor leaned forward.
“Catherine?”
Damien laughed.
“You want it to be Catherine.”
Victor stared.
“Why?”
“Because betrayal hurts more when it has a face you love.”
Victor’s voice became cold.
“Where is she?”
Damien’s smile disappeared slightly.
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
For the first time, Damien looked confused.
Victor noticed.
“You didn’t take her.”
“No.”
“Evelyn?”
“She’s locked up.”
“Serena?”
“Was with me.”
Damien frowned.
“Then Catherine moved herself.”
Victor stood.
Damien called after him.
“Ask Lily.”
Victor stopped.
Marco looked at Damien.
“What does that mean?”
Damien smiled again.
“Ask your precious nanny why Catherine visited her apartment before she started working for you.”
Lily froze when Victor told her.
“What?”
“Did Catherine ever meet you before the interview?”
“No.”
“Think.”
Lily tried.
Then something returned.
A woman.
Three years earlier.
After Lily was fired from St. Matthew’s.
A stranger had approached her outside a legal aid office.
Brown coat.
Dark glasses.
She had said she worked with a charitable foundation helping dismissed healthcare workers.
Lily had never seen her again.
Lily went pale.
“I don’t know.”
Victor showed Catherine’s photograph from three years ago.
Lily stared.
Hair shorter.
Different color.
But the face.
“Yes.”
Victor felt cold.
“She approached me.”
“What did she say?”
“She asked about Dr. Ames.”
“She asked why I thought the medication was planted.”
“She gave me five hundred dollars.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“For what?”
“She said emergency assistance.”
“I returned it later.”
“How?”
“She gave me an address.”
“Do you remember?”
“Yes.”
Marco searched.
The address belonged to a charity.
Blackwood Women’s Initiative.
Chairperson at the time: Catherine Blackwood.
Victor stared at the screen.
Lily shook her head.
“She never told me who she was.”
Victor looked toward the ocean.
Why would Catherine secretly investigate Dr. Ames three years ago?
Before Lily entered Victor’s home.
Before Ethan’s poisoning.
Before Serena’s engagement.
Unless Catherine had been investigating the conspiracy too.
Victor searched Catherine’s private files.
He found nothing.
Then Lily remembered the five hundred dollars.
“I mailed it back.”
“To the charity.”
“Do you still have the receipt?”
“Maybe.”
Her belongings from her old apartment were stored in a small rental unit.
They went that afternoon.
Lily opened dusty boxes.
At the bottom of a folder she found the receipt.
Attached was an old handwritten note.
Thank you for telling the truth even when nobody believes you.
Initials: C.B.
Victor read it.
Catherine had believed Lily.
Three years ago.
Lily looked at him.
“She was trying to help.”
Victor’s phone rang.
Catherine.
He answered.
Her voice was weak.
“Victor.”
“Where are you?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because somebody is listening.”
Victor signaled Marco to trace.
Catherine continued.
“Dad’s recording was right.”
Victor froze.
“About what?”
“You shouldn’t trust me.”
Lily stared.
Victor’s voice remained calm.
“Explain.”
“I knew about Evelyn before Isabella died.”
Victor went still.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“I found the payments.”
“I confronted Dad before he died.”
“He made me promise not to tell you until I found proof.”
“You kept that from me for fifteen years.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because every time I got close, someone died.”
Victor closed his eyes.
“Isabella?”
Catherine’s voice broke.
“I tried to warn her.”
“She investigated anyway.”
“I think my warning made them accelerate the plan.”
Victor felt grief twist inside him.
Catherine continued.
“I found something today.”
“What?”
“A ledger.”
“Dad kept a second ledger.”
“Where?”
“In the foundation archive.”
“Who is listed?”
Catherine breathed shakily.
“Payments to Thomas.”
“Evelyn.”
“Dr. Ames.”
“Rachel.”
“Charles.”
“Who else?”
Silence.
“Catherine.”
She whispered.
“Marco.”
Victor slowly turned toward his security chief.
Marco stared back.
His face emptied.
Catherine continued through the phone.
“Payments began twelve years ago.”
Victor’s gaze never left Marco.
Marco shook his head.
“I have never taken money from Evelyn.”
Victor held up one hand.
Catherine said.
“There’s more.”
“Marco Velez received three million dollars the month before Isabella died.”
Marco went white.
Victor spoke slowly.
“Marco.”
“I didn’t.”
“Victor, I swear.”
Lily looked between them.
Marco pulled out his phone.
“Check everything.”
“Every account.”
“Every transfer.”
Victor did.
The account existed.
Marco Velez.
Three million dollars.
Opened in the Cayman Islands.
Never touched.
Marco stared.
“That is not mine.”
Victor remembered Lily’s forged medical account.
Someone knew how to build paper guilt.
Catherine continued.
“That’s why I disappeared.”
“I needed to see whether Marco followed me.”
Marco whispered.
“I didn’t.”
Catherine heard.
“Good.”
Victor frowned.
“Where are you?”
“I’m coming in.”
“No.”
“It isn’t safe.”
“No.”
Catherine’s voice became urgent.
“You don’t understand.”
“The ledger has one final payment.”
“To whom?”
Catherine inhaled.
“Lily Harper.”
The storage unit went silent.
Lily stared at Victor.
Victor did not move.
Catherine continued.
“Two hundred thousand dollars.”
“Deposited yesterday.”
Lily’s face went white.
“I don’t have two hundred thousand dollars.”
Victor looked at her.
She reached for her phone.
Her banking app.
Her savings account showed $8,419.
No unusual deposit.
Marco searched deeper.
The payment went to a second account.
Opened under Lily’s Social Security number.
Same address.
Same birth date.
Two hundred thousand dollars.
Lily covered her mouth.
“They’re doing it again.”
Victor stared at the transfer.
Another frame.
Another attempt to poison trust.
Then he noticed the transaction memo.
PAYMENT UPON DELIVERY OF E.B.
Ethan Blackwood.
Lily looked at him.
Her eyes filled with disbelief.
“They want you to think I sold him.”
Victor met her gaze.
“And they want you to think I’ll believe it.”
Lily’s voice shook.
“Will you?”
Victor did not answer immediately.
Not because he doubted her.
Because he finally understood Alexander’s warning.
The person closest to Victor will be the one they use last.
Not Catherine.
Not Marco.
Lily.
They had spent years building her as the perfect betrayal.
Victor stepped toward her.
“No.”
Lily breathed.
“No?”
Victor handed the phone back.
“They chose the wrong person.”
“Why?”
Victor looked at the woman who had protected Ethan when everyone else failed.
“Because I already watched you choose him when you thought nobody was watching.”
Lily stared at him.
Before either could say more, the storage-unit lights went out.
Metal doors slammed outside.
Marco drew his gun.
Then a voice echoed through the dark corridor.
Female.
Familiar.
“Touching.”
Serena.
Victor turned.
She was supposed to be in the hospital.
Yet her footsteps came closer.
May you like
And she was not alone.
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