Chapter 17 - The Last Guardian
Lily recognized the smell before Victor did.
“Not poison gas.”
Victor looked at her.
“What?”
“Anesthetic.”
“Probably sevoflurane or something similar.”
“Can it kill us?”
“At this concentration?”
“Yes.”
Marco smashed a chair against the shutter.
Nothing.
Victor looked at the ventilation system.
Lily pointed toward the fireplace.
“Chimney.”
Victor understood.
They tore away the decorative screen.
The flue was narrow.
Marco could barely fit.
Lily could.
Victor looked at her.
“You go.”
“No.”
“You get out and call help.”
“You’ll pass out before they arrive.”
Victor grabbed the fireplace tool.
“We don’t have time to argue.”
Lily stared.
Then she climbed.
Halfway up, her vision blurred.
She kept moving.
Below, Victor’s voice faded.
“Keep going.”
Lily reached the roof.
Cold air hit her face.
She screamed for security.
Blackwood guards rushed.
Within minutes the exterior shutters were forced.
Victor and Marco were pulled out unconscious.
Both survived.
Michael Voss disappeared.
Again.
At the hospital, Victor woke eleven hours later.
Lily sat beside the bed.
“You look terrible.”
Victor opened one eye.
“You’re fired.”
Lily smiled.
“You say that every time I save you.”
“I have never said it before.”
“You were unconscious.”
“Then I probably thought it.”
She laughed softly.
Victor looked around.
“Ethan?”
“With Catherine.”
“Marco?”
“Awake.”
“Michael?”
“Gone.”
Victor shut his eyes.
Lily became serious.
“He mentioned a medical guardianship trust.”
Victor nodded.
“I remember.”
Catherine found it two hours later.
A document had been created the week Ethan was born.
If Victor died and Ethan’s primary guardian was unavailable or criminally implicated, a temporary medical guardian could receive authority during any health crisis.
The named guardian was Dr. Michael Voss.
Victor stared.
“Who signed it?”
Isabella.
Lily frowned.
“Why would she choose him?”
“At the time she trusted her uncle.”
Michael had spent decades appearing harmless.
A respected physician.
A quiet family adviser.
Someone outside Blackwood business.
Isabella would have seen him as safe.
Victor understood Michael’s endgame.
He did not need to inherit Blackwood companies directly.
He needed Victor dead.
Serena disqualified.
Catherine compromised.
Marco framed.
Lily blamed.
Then Michael would step in as Ethan’s temporary medical guardian.
A fourteen-month-old child with billions in trusts.
Michael could influence every decision around him.
And if Ethan later “developed complications”…
Lily refused to finish the thought.
Victor called the court.
The guardianship document was suspended within hours.
Michael’s endgame collapsed legally.
But Victor knew something else.
Michael would not stop.
Men who spent twenty years building a plan did not retire when one document was challenged.
Serena asked to speak to Victor.
He visited her under guard.
She looked exhausted.
“Michael.”
Victor said only the name.
Her face changed.
“You found him.”
“He found us.”
Serena nodded slowly.
“Mother hated him.”
“Why?”
“Because he always knew more than she did.”
“Did he control her?”
“No.”
“He encouraged her.”
“How?”
Serena looked toward the window.
“He never said ‘kill Victor.’”
“He asked questions.”
“What happens if Victor refuses?”
“What happens if Ethan inherits?”
“What happens if Isabella files the will?”
Victor understood.
Michael never gave orders.
He cultivated conclusions.
Let others believe the idea was theirs.
Serena continued.
“He told Mother she deserved justice.”
“He told Damien revenge was strength.”
“He told me I deserved the Blackwood name.”
“And Thomas?”
“He told Thomas everyone would discover what he did unless he cooperated.”
Victor stared.
“And Margaret?”
Serena looked ashamed.
“He told Margaret Isabella had been stolen from the Voss family.”
Lily, who had accompanied Victor, whispered.
“He built everyone’s worst belief into a weapon.”
“Yes.”
Victor looked at Serena.
“What did he tell you about Lily?”
Serena hesitated.
“That she wanted your life.”
Lily frowned.
“Why would you believe that?”
“Because I already feared it.”
Serena looked at her.
“You were everything I wasn’t with Ethan.”
“He trusted you.”
“You didn’t need money to make him reach for you.”
“You didn’t need the Blackwood name.”
“And Victor…”
She stopped.
Lily’s face warmed slightly.
Victor remained unreadable.
Serena looked away.
“Michael only needed to point at the fear.”
Victor stood.
“Where would he go?”
Serena looked at him.
“The place he started.”
“St. Matthew’s?”
“No.”
“Isabella.”
Victor froze.
Serena continued.
“He kept saying Isabella ruined everything when she changed the will.”
“Where did she sign it?”
Victor remembered the witness information.
A private chapel.
St. Augustine’s.
On the Blackwood estate.
The old family chapel had not been used since Isabella’s funeral.
Victor looked at Lily.
“That’s where he’ll go.”
They arrived after midnight.
The chapel doors were open.
Candles burned inside.
Michael Voss stood near the altar.
Evelyn Montigue was kneeling in front of him.
Victor froze.
Evelyn was supposed to be in federal custody.
Michael smiled.
“Welcome.”
Victor looked at Evelyn.
“How?”
Michael answered.
“Medical emergency during transport.”
Lily understood.
A physician-controlled extraction.
Michael had planned it.
Evelyn looked weak.
Drugged.
Not free.
Victor’s face hardened.
“You’re using her.”
Michael smiled.
“I’ve always used her.”
Evelyn lifted her head.
For the first time, fear filled her face.
“Victor.”
Michael placed a gun against the back of her neck.
Lily stopped.
“Don’t.”
Michael looked at Lily.
“There’s my hero.”
Victor’s voice became calm.
“What do you want?”
Michael looked around the chapel.
“An ending.”
“To what?”
“To the Blackwoods.”
“You said you needed Ethan alive.”
“I did.”
“Past tense?”
Michael smiled.
“The guardianship was suspended.”
“You made the child useless to me.”
Lily’s blood went cold.
Victor took one slow step.
Michael raised the gun.
“No.”
Victor stopped.
Evelyn began crying.
It was strange seeing her afraid after everything she had done.
Michael looked down at her.
“Tell him.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“Tell him who gave you the digoxin for Alexander.”
Victor froze.
Evelyn whispered.
“Michael.”
“Who told Thomas Isabella had found the Continuity Trust?”
“Michael.”
“Who convinced Damien that Adrian abandoned him?”
“Michael.”
“Who suggested Serena could become Victor’s wife?”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“You.”
Michael smiled.
Victor stared.
The architect.
Not commander.
Architect.
Michael had placed doors in front of damaged people and waited for them to walk through.
Then Michael looked toward Lily.
“And who brought you into the story?”
Lily stared.
“You.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Michael’s eyes sharpened.
“Because Isabella trusted you.”
“I hated that.”
Lily frowned.
“You never knew me.”
“I knew your type.”
“People who believe truth matters.”
“People like Isabella.”
His voice changed.
Personal hatred appeared.
Victor saw it.
“You hated Isabella.”
Michael looked at him.
“She was given everything.”
“Margaret loved her.”
“The Voss fortune favored her.”
“Alexander wanted her family land.”
“You worshipped her.”
“And then she planned to give property away like some saint.”
Victor finally understood.
Michael’s resentment was not only financial.
He had spent his life watching Isabella become the moral center of a family that ignored him.
She threatened his investments.
His status.
His control.
Michael aimed the gun at Victor.
“She should have listened.”
Evelyn suddenly moved.
She struck Michael’s arm.
The gun fired.
Lily screamed.
Evelyn fell.
Victor rushed Michael.
They crashed into the pews.
Michael fought desperately.
Lily pulled Evelyn away.
Blood stained Evelyn’s shoulder.
Not fatal.
Marco’s team entered.
Michael grabbed a second weapon hidden beneath the altar.
Victor froze.
Michael pointed it toward Lily.
Victor moved between them.
Michael smiled.
“There.”
“Your weakness.”
Victor stared.
Michael fired.
A second gunshot answered.
Michael jerked.
His weapon fell.
Serena stood in the chapel doorway.
A police escort behind her.
She had convinced prosecutors she knew Michael’s location.
Her own gun lowered slowly.
Michael collapsed.
Victor stared at her.
Serena looked at Lily.
Then at Victor.
“Don’t make this mean more than it does.”
She surrendered the weapon.
Police restrained her again.
Michael was still alive.
Barely.
As paramedics treated him, he looked at Victor.
“You think this ends because you found me?”
Victor said nothing.
Michael smiled through blood.
“You still haven’t asked who killed your father.”
Victor’s expression changed.
“You gave Evelyn the drug.”
“Yes.”
“But I didn’t administer it.”
Victor slowly looked toward Evelyn.
She shook her head.
“No.”
Michael laughed.
“Not her.”
Victor stared.
“Who?”
Michael whispered.
“Your father poisoned himself.”
Silence.
Victor’s face went blank.
Michael continued.
“He knew the Continuity Trust was compromised.”
“He knew I was watching him.”
“He chose his own death to trigger an investigation.”
Victor shook his head.
“There was no investigation.”
Michael smiled.
“Exactly.”
“Because Thomas buried it.”
Then Michael lost consciousness.
Victor stood motionless.
Alexander’s death.
One final secret.
Even now.
The conspiracy had ended.
May you like
But the Blackwood lies had not.
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