Chapter 3 - The Trust
Victor replayed the final ten seconds three times.
Thomas Reed appeared in the nursery each time.
Same gray suit.
Same silver tie clip.
Same unmistakable voice.
Victor had known Thomas since he was twenty-one.
Thomas had negotiated Victor’s first legitimate shipping acquisition.
He had defended the company during investigations.
He had stood beside Victor at Isabella’s funeral.
He had signed Ethan’s birth certificate as a witness.
And now he was standing in a secret video beside Serena and Damien.
“The child isn’t the only target.”
Victor stared at those words as though they were carved into stone.
Marco stood beside him.
“Thomas is due here tomorrow.”
Victor looked at him.
“Was.”
Marco understood.
“You want him picked up?”
“No.”
Victor closed the laptop.
“I want him comfortable.”
Lily frowned.
“Comfortable?”
Victor looked at her.
“Men reveal more when they believe they’re safe.”
Serena laughed bitterly.
“You really think Thomas is involved?”
Victor turned.
“You were standing beside him.”
“That video could be edited.”
“So could your memory.”
“I was drugged.”
Lily stared at her.
Serena continued quickly.
“I don’t remember that conversation.”
Victor’s expression did not change.
“You remember enough to lie about it.”
“I am trying to understand what happened.”
“You were trying to frame Lily thirty minutes ago.”
“Because I thought she had been spying on us.”
“Us?”
Serena froze.
Victor stepped closer.
“Who is us?”
She looked away.
Victor nodded once to the guards.
“Take her to the east sitting room.”
Serena pulled back.
“Victor.”
“No phone.”
“No laptop.”
“No visitors.”
“You cannot lock me up.”
“I’m not locking you up.”
He looked toward the front doors.
“You’re free to leave.”
Serena stared.
“But if you leave, you never come back.”
That stopped her.
Victor knew it would.
The Blackwood name meant everything Serena valued.
The houses.
The private flights.
The invitations.
The access.
The marriage scheduled for five weeks later was meant to make her one of the most powerful women in the city.
Walking out meant surrendering all of it.
She looked at Lily.
For the first time, hatred overcame strategy.
“This is because of her.”
Victor’s voice sharpened.
“This is because of my son.”
Serena was escorted away.
Lily watched until the doors closed.
Then she looked at Victor.
“What happens now?”
“Ethan goes to the hospital.”
“I’m coming.”
Victor studied her.
“You don’t have to.”
“Yes.”
There was no hesitation.
Victor gave a small nod.
“Pack what he needs.”
The hospital used a private entrance for the Blackwoods.
Ethan’s blood was drawn.
Urine samples were taken.
X-rays confirmed his wrist had been sprained but not fractured.
The physician ordered a full toxicology panel.
Victor stood behind the glass as Ethan slept.
Lily sat beside the crib.
She had not left him once.
At 2:13 in the morning, the first toxicology result arrived.
The doctor asked Victor to step into the corridor.
Lily followed.
“We found traces of clonazepam.”
Victor’s eyes hardened.
“How much?”
“Not enough to cause severe respiratory depression.”
“But enough to make a child his age unusually sleepy.”
“How long has he been exposed?”
“We cannot determine that from one test.”
“Could repeated doses explain the vomiting?”
“Yes.”
“The appetite changes?”
“Yes.”
“The episodes where he seemed unsteady?”
“Yes.”
Lily shut her eyes.
She had thought Ethan was teething.
She had thought his sleep schedule had changed.
She had trusted Serena when Serena said the pediatrician was not concerned.
Victor looked at Lily.
She immediately understood what he was thinking.
“I never gave him medication.”
“I know.”
The answer came without hesitation.
Lily looked at him.
Victor continued.
“The recording told me who was trying to frame you.”
She swallowed.
“I should have come to you sooner.”
“Yes.”
The word hurt.
Victor saw it.
“But I understand why you didn’t.”
Lily looked down.
“No, you don’t.”
Victor was silent.
Lily continued.
“You are Victor Blackwood.”
“People disappear from jobs when they annoy you.”
“Men stop talking when you enter rooms.”
“Every person in that house is afraid of giving you bad news.”
Victor stared through the glass at Ethan.
“And that almost cost my son.”
Lily said nothing.
Victor’s voice became quieter.
“I built a house where people were more afraid of me than they were afraid for him.”
“That was my mistake.”
It was the first time Lily had ever heard Victor Blackwood admit one.
Before she could answer, Marco approached.
“Thomas called.”
Victor turned.
“What did he want?”
“He heard Ethan was hospitalized.”
“From whom?”
“He wouldn’t say.”
Victor looked toward Lily.
Only a handful of people knew.
“Serena has no phone.”
Marco nodded.
“I checked.”
“Damien?”
“No signal.”
“Dr. Ames?”
“Still at the mansion.”
Victor’s gaze hardened.
“Then somebody else is feeding information.”
Marco handed him the phone.
“Thomas asked whether the trust documents were safe.”
Victor gave a cold smile.
“There it is.”
He took the phone.
Thomas answered instantly.
“Victor.”
“You called.”
“I heard about Ethan.”
“From whom?”
“Someone at the hospital.”
“Name.”
Thomas paused.
“I don’t remember.”
“You called because you were worried about Ethan?”
“Of course.”
Victor looked at Marco.
“And the trust?”
Another pause.
“I heard there might have been a break-in.”
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“I hadn’t told you that.”
Silence.
Thomas recovered.
“Serena called me earlier.”
“She has no phone.”
“I meant before.”
“Before what?”
Thomas became irritated.
“Victor, what exactly are you accusing me of?”
“Nothing.”
Victor’s voice remained smooth.
“I need you at the mansion tomorrow morning.”
“I have court.”
“Cancel it.”
“I can’t simply—”
“Thomas.”
The single word stopped him.
Victor continued.
“Ten o’clock.”
Thomas exhaled.
“Fine.”
Victor ended the call.
Marco looked at him.
“He knows.”
“Yes.”
“Will he come?”
Victor stared toward the hospital window.
“If he thinks running makes him look guilty, yes.”
Lily stepped closer.
“What did the trust have to do with Ethan?”
Victor was quiet.
Then he motioned toward a private waiting room.
Once the door closed, he explained.
“Isabella inherited land from her family.”
“Manhattan.”
“Queens.”
“Ports in New Jersey.”
“Worth hundreds of millions.”
Lily stared.
“When she died, everything went into Ethan’s trust.”
“Until he turns twenty-five, I control it.”
“And if something happens to you?”
“Three trustees take control.”
“Who?”
“Thomas.”
“Marco.”
“And my sister, Catherine.”
Lily frowned.
“Then Serena gains nothing.”
“Not under the current trust.”
“Current?”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“Thomas suggested an amendment eight months ago.”
“What amendment?”
“If I married again, my wife would become temporary guardian of Ethan if I died.”
Lily felt cold.
“And control the trust?”
“Indirectly.”
“Thomas said it would make estate administration easier.”
“Did you sign it?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Isabella wrote the original arrangement.”
“I wasn’t changing it for convenience.”
Lily looked toward Ethan’s room.
“So Serena needed you to change it.”
“Yes.”
“And if you refused?”
Victor remembered Damien’s words.
“We go to the second plan.”
Lily whispered.
“What is the second plan?”
Victor looked at her.
“That’s what we’re going to find out.”
At 4:30 a.m., another toxicology result arrived.
The doctor looked more concerned than before.
“There’s something else.”
Victor stood.
“What?”
“Low levels of digoxin.”
Lily’s face went blank.
She knew the drug from her nursing days.
“That’s a heart medication.”
The doctor nodded.
“It can be extremely dangerous in the wrong dose.”
Victor stared.
“Why would anyone give that to a healthy child?”
“They wouldn’t.”
Lily gripped the back of a chair.
“Could it kill him?”
“Yes.”
The room went silent.
Victor’s phone rang.
Marco looked at the screen.
“Catherine.”
Victor answered immediately.
His sister’s voice was frantic.
“Victor, where are you?”
“At the hospital.”
“Is Ethan okay?”
“For now.”
There was a pause.
“Victor.”
Catherine sounded frightened.
“Someone broke into my house.”
Victor became still.
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“My security scared him off.”
“What did he take?”
“Nothing valuable.”
“What did he go after?”
Catherine hesitated.
“The safe.”
Victor knew what was inside.
Her trustee copy of Ethan’s original trust.
Victor closed his eyes.
“They are removing the trustees.”
Lily looked at him.
Catherine heard.
“What?”
Victor stood.
“Get out of your house.”
“I already called police.”
“Not police.”
“Come here.”
“Now.”
Catherine did not argue.
Victor ended the call.
Marco’s phone buzzed.
He read a message.
His face darkened.
“What?”
“We found the rope used at the mansion.”
“And?”
“There’s DNA.”
“Damien?”
“No.”
Victor stared.
Marco looked genuinely unsettled.
“It belongs to Charles Avery.”
Victor knew the name.
Their head of digital security.
The man with administrator access to every camera in the mansion.
Marco continued.
“Charles hasn’t answered his phone since midnight.”
Victor looked toward the hospital room.
“Find him.”
Marco started away.
Then Lily remembered something.
“Wait.”
Marco stopped.
“Charles was at the mansion yesterday.”
Victor looked at her.
“What time?”
“Late afternoon.”
“He said Serena had asked him to repair the nursery camera.”
Victor’s expression changed.
“There is no nursery camera.”
Lily nodded slowly.
“I know.”
“He seemed surprised when I told him.”
Marco cursed.
Victor looked at Lily.
“Did he enter the nursery?”
“No.”
“Where did he go?”
“The service corridor.”
Victor pulled out his phone.
“Show me the mansion plans.”
Marco opened them.
Lily pointed toward the nursery.
“This wall.”
“What about it?”
“There’s a maintenance access panel behind the linen cabinet.”
Victor and Marco exchanged a look.
“Where does it lead?”
Marco enlarged the blueprint.
Then he stopped.
A narrow service shaft ran behind Ethan’s room.
It connected the nursery to Victor’s private office.
And continued down to the basement.
Victor’s face hardened.
“Someone could move through the house without entering the halls.”
Marco nodded.
“Without appearing on most cameras.”
Victor called the security team.
“Open the nursery service shaft.”
The call remained connected.
They heard movement.
Metal scraping.
Then a guard spoke.
“There’s something inside.”
“What?”
“A backpack.”
Victor waited.
The guard unzipped it.
“Documents.”
“Medication bottles.”
“A burner phone.”
Then silence.
Victor’s voice sharpened.
“What else?”
The guard answered slowly.
“Photographs.”
“Of what?”
“Mr. Blackwood…”
The guard sounded disturbed.
“They’re photographs of you.”
“Hundreds of them.”
“Your car.”
“Your office.”
“Restaurants.”
“Airport.”
“Your bedroom window.”
Victor looked at Lily.
The guard continued.
“And there’s a calendar.”
“Several dates are circled.”
“What dates?”
The guard read the first.
“September eighteenth.”
Victor froze.
His wedding day.
The second.
“September nineteenth.”
The day after.
Then the third.
“October second.”
Lily looked toward Ethan.
“What happens October second?”
Victor said nothing.
Marco knew.
“That’s when the board transfers control of Blackwood Maritime to Victor personally.”
Victor stared at the floor plan.
Three dates.
Wedding.
Day after wedding.
Corporate transfer.
A marriage.
A death.
An empire.
Suddenly the plan looked much larger than Ethan’s trust.
Victor spoke into the phone.
“Do not touch anything else.”
Then the guard interrupted.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“There’s a handwritten note inside the calendar.”
“Read it.”
The guard hesitated.
“Sir…”
“Read it.”
The voice came quietly through the phone.
“Baby first.”
“Father second.”
“Empire last.”
Lily stared at Victor.
Victor’s expression did not change.
But his hand closed around the phone until his knuckles went white.
Someone had not merely been trying to hurt Ethan.
Someone was planning to erase the entire Blackwood family.
May you like
And the wedding was only twenty-three days away.
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