Chapter 7 - The Woman Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Evelyn disappeared before Victor’s men reached the upper walkway.
She had known the building.
She had known the emergency exits.
She had known which external gate had not been used in years.
By the time Marco’s team surrounded the warehouse, she was gone.
Victor stood beside Dr. Ames’s body.
Lily watched his expression.
No shock remained.
Only calculation.
“Find every file on Evelyn Montigue.”
Marco nodded.
“Officially she died in 2007.”
“I know.”
“Car accident?”
“That’s what my father told everyone.”
Victor looked toward the doorway Evelyn had used.
“Apparently my family believed too many car accidents.”
They returned to the hospital just before midnight.
Ethan was asleep.
Victor stood beside the crib for a long time.
Then Lily approached.
“Your father knew her?”
Victor nodded.
“Evelyn worked in accounting for Blackwood Maritime.”
“How long?”
“Almost nine years.”
“What happened?”
Victor’s mouth tightened.
“My father accused her of embezzling.”
“Was she?”
“I never looked.”
“You believed him.”
“I was twenty-six.”
“My father said she stole.”
“I believed my father.”
Lily looked toward Ethan.
“And Serena grew up believing your family destroyed hers.”
“Yes.”
“Could Evelyn have been innocent?”
Victor was quiet.
“That’s what I’m going to find out.”
At 1:40 a.m., Catherine found the first irregularity.
The old embezzlement file claimed Evelyn transferred 2.8 million dollars from company accounts.
But the receiving account was not in her name.
It belonged to a shell corporation.
Catherine traced it.
Then looked at Victor.
“The shell company belonged to your father.”
Victor stared.
“He transferred his own money?”
“It looks that way.”
“To frame Evelyn.”
Catherine nodded.
“Why?”
They kept searching.
The answer appeared in an old board memo.
Evelyn had discovered illegal transfers involving port contracts.
She had threatened to report them.
Victor’s father, Alexander Blackwood, had destroyed her credibility before she could.
Victor sat back.
“My father framed her.”
Catherine whispered.
“Yes.”
Lily looked at Victor.
“And then she disappeared.”
Victor’s expression hardened.
“Maybe she was forced to.”
Marco entered.
“We found something else.”
He placed an old photograph on the table.
Evelyn stood beside Alexander Blackwood.
Very close.
Too close for employer and accountant.
Lily looked at Victor.
“Were they…”
Victor stared.
“I don’t know.”
Catherine found another photograph.
Then another.
Finally a letter.
Alexander’s handwriting.
Evelyn, I will not leave my wife.
Catherine stopped reading.
Victor closed his eyes.
The room became silent.
Evelyn had not only worked for Victor’s father.
She had been his mistress.
Serena and Damien had been children when Evelyn vanished.
Victor looked at Catherine.
“Birth certificates.”
Marco searched.
Damien Montigue.
Father listed as unknown.
Serena Montigue.
Father listed as unknown.
Victor stared.
Lily understood before anyone said it.
“No.”
Catherine whispered.
“Victor…”
He stood.
“DNA.”
Marco looked at him.
“You think—”
“Test it.”
If Alexander Blackwood was Serena’s father, Serena was Victor’s half-sister.
The woman he had planned to marry.
The forged marriage certificate suddenly became even more grotesque.
Lily covered her mouth.
“Did Serena know?”
Victor’s voice was cold.
“If she did, she never showed it.”
Marco sent the request.
They could not wait for laboratory results.
Victor searched his father’s personal archive.
He found monthly payments to an account associated with Evelyn.
They continued for nineteen years.
Long after her supposed death.
Victor looked at the final transfer date.
Four months ago.
Someone inside Blackwood financial operations had still been paying her.
“Thomas.”
Catherine nodded.
“He controlled legacy disbursements.”
Victor stared at the ledger.
Thomas had known Evelyn was alive.
Thomas had known for years.
Lily sat beside Ethan while Victor worked.
At 3:12 a.m., Ethan woke crying.
Lily lifted him.
Victor immediately came over.
Ethan reached toward his father.
Victor took him.
Lily looked at the man holding his child.
“Whatever your father did is not Ethan’s responsibility.”
Victor looked at her.
“Evelyn disagrees.”
“She is wrong.”
“She lost everything.”
“That doesn’t give her the right to hurt him.”
Victor was silent.
Lily continued.
“Pain does not become justice because you carry it for twenty years.”
Victor studied her.
“You sound certain.”
“I am.”
“Why?”
Lily looked away.
“My father drank.”
Victor waited.
“When I was ten, he lost our apartment.”
“When I was twelve, he blamed my mother for leaving.”
“When I was fourteen, he started blaming me.”
Victor said nothing.
Lily looked at Ethan.
“I learned early that people can turn old pain into permission.”
“And?”
“And it is still a choice.”
Victor looked down at his son.
For several moments the only sound was Ethan’s breathing.
Then Marco entered.
“We have a match.”
Victor looked up.
“That fast?”
“An older sample from Alexander was already stored after his heart investigation.”
“And Serena?”
“We have a hair sample from the mansion.”
Marco handed him the report.
Probability of half-sibling relationship: 99.78%.
Victor stared at the numbers.
Catherine sat down hard.
“My God.”
Serena Montigue was Alexander Blackwood’s daughter.
Victor’s half-sister.
Damien’s sample had not been tested yet.
Victor’s face became cold.
“If Serena knew…”
Lily whispered.
“She might have hated you before she ever met you.”
Victor remembered their first meeting.
A charity gala.
Serena had seemed surprised by him.
Had laughed easily.
Had asked almost nothing about his family.
Too little, now that he thought about it.
Catherine looked sick.
“She targeted you.”
Victor nodded.
“She never happened to meet me.”
Marco’s phone rang.
He answered.
Then looked at Victor.
“We found Thomas.”
“Where?”
“He walked into the federal courthouse.”
Victor narrowed his eyes.
“Why?”
“He requested protective custody.”
Catherine laughed bitterly.
“So now he’s afraid.”
Marco nodded.
“He says he’ll cooperate.”
“With whom?”
“Federal prosecutors.”
Victor stared.
Thomas was protecting himself.
Which meant he was ready to trade names.
Victor called his attorney.
“Get me into that interview.”
“You won’t be allowed.”
“Then get me the transcript.”
Two hours later, portions of Thomas Reed’s statement reached them.
Thomas admitted creating false trust amendments.
He admitted helping Evelyn conceal her identity.
He admitted paying Charles to manipulate cameras.
He admitted forging Victor’s marriage documents.
But when investigators asked about Isabella’s death, Thomas stopped.
Victor read the line.
COUNSEL REQUESTED.
Victor almost tore the paper.
Then came a second page.
Investigators asked who ordered the operation against Ethan.
Thomas answered.
Evelyn Montigue.
Who ordered the plan against Victor?
Evelyn.
Who was the final beneficiary?
Thomas refused to answer.
Lily frowned.
“Why?”
Victor understood.
“Because Evelyn isn’t the top.”
A federal prosecutor had written a handwritten note in the margin.
Witness repeatedly references “A.B.”
Catherine stared.
“A.B.?”
Victor felt something cold move through him.
Alexander Blackwood.
His father.
Impossible.
Alexander had died fifteen years earlier.
Lily saw his face.
“What?”
Victor looked at the initials again.
“My father.”
Catherine shook her head.
“No.”
“He is dead.”
Victor’s phone rang.
The caller identification made him stop breathing.
A number disconnected fifteen years ago.
His father’s private line.
Catherine stared.
“That’s impossible.”
Victor answered.
Silence.
Then a recording played.
Alexander Blackwood’s voice.
“If you are hearing this, Victor, then you finally started asking the right questions.”
Victor gripped the phone.
The recording continued.
“Do not trust Thomas.”
“Do not trust Evelyn.”
“And whatever you do…”
A long pause.
“Do not trust Catherine.”
The call ended.
Nobody moved.
Victor slowly turned toward his sister.
Catherine stared back at him.
Her face had gone white.
“I swear to you…”
Victor said nothing.
Catherine stepped backward.
“I have never heard that recording.”
Victor’s hand tightened around the phone.
Lily looked between them.
The conspiracy had just reached the last person Victor thought he could trust.
May you like
His own sister.
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