Chapter 8 - Catherine’s Secret
Victor did not accuse Catherine.
That frightened her more than if he had.
He simply watched.
“Victor.”
She held both hands where he could see them.
“I have no idea why Dad said that.”
“Maybe you do.”
“No.”
“When did you last speak to him?”
“The night before he died.”
“What did he say?”
Catherine looked away.
Victor noticed.
“There.”
“What?”
“You remembered something.”
Catherine swallowed.
“He wanted me to sign a document.”
“What document?”
“I don’t know.”
“You signed things without reading them?”
“I was nineteen.”
Victor stared.
Catherine’s voice shook.
“He said it was for a family foundation.”
“Did Thomas witness it?”
“Yes.”
Victor’s face hardened.
“Of course.”
Marco pulled old corporate records.
Catherine’s signature appeared repeatedly around the week Alexander died.
One document established something called the Blackwood Continuity Trust.
Victor had never seen it.
The trust activated only under one condition.
If Alexander’s direct male descendants died before a designated corporate transfer.
Lily looked at Victor.
“That means you and Ethan.”
“Yes.”
“Who inherits control?”
Marco scrolled.
Then stopped.
Catherine whispered.
“Me?”
Marco shook his head.
“No.”
Victor looked over his shoulder.
The beneficiary line contained an old charitable entity.
THE ALEXANDER BLACKWOOD LEGACY FOUNDATION.
Victor frowned.
“Who controls the foundation?”
Marco searched.
The current chairperson was hidden through nominee directors.
They traced layer after layer.
Finally one name appeared.
Evelyn Montigue.
Catherine stared.
“Dad gave Evelyn control?”
Victor shook his head.
“Not intentionally.”
“Then how?”
“Thomas altered it.”
Marco examined the metadata.
“No.”
Victor looked at him.
“What?”
“This document predates Thomas’s authority.”
“Who filed it?”
Marco turned the screen.
Alexander Blackwood himself.
Silence.
Victor stared at his father’s signature.
Lily whispered.
“Your father created a structure that could eventually give Evelyn the empire.”
“Why?”
Nobody answered.
Then Catherine remembered.
“Because she had his children.”
Victor looked at her.
Catherine’s face changed as the thought formed.
“Dad may have known Serena and Damien were his.”
“If he wanted to provide for them without acknowledging them…”
“He could use Evelyn’s foundation.”
Victor finished.
Lily looked sick.
“But why would Victor and Ethan have to die?”
“They weren’t supposed to.”
Victor studied the old language.
“The clause was designed for a catastrophic family event.”
“Plane crash.”
“War.”
“Something that killed all heirs.”
Marco nodded.
“Evelyn turned a contingency into a plan.”
Victor’s phone buzzed.
Another anonymous message.
Video.
He opened it.
Serena sat in a dark room.
Her hands were tied.
Her lip was bleeding.
Lily stared.
Serena looked terrified.
Evelyn stepped behind her.
“Tell your brother the truth.”
Serena whispered.
“No.”
Evelyn grabbed her hair.
Victor’s expression hardened despite everything Serena had done.
Evelyn spoke into the camera.
“Victor, your fiancée has been lying to both of us.”
Serena shouted.
“Don’t believe her.”
Evelyn smiled.
“Tell him who warned you he was coming home early.”
Serena looked at the floor.
Evelyn tightened her grip.
“Tell him.”
Serena finally whispered.
“Catherine.”
Victor slowly looked toward his sister.
Catherine’s face went blank.
“No.”
The video ended.
Marco took Catherine’s phone immediately.
She did not resist.
Victor stared at her.
“Did you warn Serena?”
Catherine’s eyes filled with anger.
“No.”
“Did you contact her yesterday?”
“No.”
Marco checked the phone.
There were deleted messages.
Victor saw his face.
“What?”
Marco recovered them.
A conversation with Serena.
Catherine stopped breathing.
VICTOR IS COMING HOME.
DELETE EVERYTHING.
LEAVE BEFORE FIVE.
Lily looked at Catherine.
Catherine shook her head.
“I did not send those.”
Victor’s voice became quiet.
“They came from your phone.”
“My phone disappeared for forty minutes yesterday.”
“Where?”
“At the spa.”
“Who was with you?”
Catherine froze.
“Helena.”
Victor stared.
“Helena Voss?”
“She said she had returned from Europe and wanted to talk.”
Victor’s expression darkened.
“You met Helena yesterday and didn’t tell me?”
“She is Isabella’s cousin.”
“She said she wanted to settle the trust dispute privately.”
“She borrowed your phone?”
“I went into a treatment room.”
“My bag was outside.”
Lily realized.
“Helena sent the messages.”
Marco checked geolocation.
The messages had been sent from the spa.
Catherine exhaled.
Victor still looked angry.
“You hid the meeting.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew you would overreact.”
Victor laughed once.
“There are days I truly enjoy being proven right.”
Catherine lowered her eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
Marco’s phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
“What?”
“Damien has Ethan’s medical records.”
Victor became still.
“How?”
“He just sent them to Thomas’s lawyer.”
“Why?”
“He’s offering them as proof that Serena had nothing to do with the poisoning.”
Lily frowned.
“How would they prove that?”
Marco showed them.
The records contained a medication administration log.
Lily’s name was entered beside multiple dates.
Clonazepam.
Digoxin.
Lily went pale.
“I never signed that.”
Victor studied the entries.
The digital signature matched Lily’s hospital nursing credentials.
Credentials that should have been inactive for three years.
Catherine whispered.
“They revived your old account.”
Lily looked at Victor.
“This is what they wanted from the beginning.”
A former nurse.
A history involving missing medication.
A believable paper trail.
A nanny with unrestricted access.
Victor’s face hardened.
“They intended you to take the blame whether Ethan lived or died.”
Lily nodded slowly.
Then Marco noticed one date.
“Wait.”
He enlarged it.
One alleged medication administration happened six months ago.
Lily stared.
“I wasn’t working for you six months ago.”
Victor looked at Marco.
“When did she start?”
“Five months and two weeks ago.”
Silence.
The forged record contained an impossible date.
Someone had made a mistake.
Lily almost laughed from relief.
Victor did not.
“Find who entered it.”
Marco traced the account.
The login originated from St. Matthew’s archival system.
Account accessed by Rachel Mercer.
Lily closed her eyes.
Finally.
Proof.
Not suspicion.
Not testimony.
Proof.
Victor looked at her.
“This clears you.”
“It helps.”
“It clears you.”
Lily met his eyes.
“For people who want to believe me.”
Victor understood.
Public accusations move faster than corrections.
He called Detective Hale.
“Check your email.”
The detective reviewed the metadata.
His tone changed immediately.
“This is significant.”
“Yes.”
“We’ll need access to the hospital server.”
“You’ll have it.”
“And Lily?”
Victor looked at her.
“She is no longer your suspect.”
Hale was silent.
Then he answered.
“Based on this, no.”
Lily released a breath she had been holding for three years.
Not just since Ethan became sick.
Three years.
Victor ended the call.
Lily sat down.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I knew I didn’t do it.”
Victor crouched in front of her.
“But nobody else did.”
She nodded.
“I lost my job.”
“My apartment.”
“Every hospital rejected me.”
“My mother stopped telling people I was a nurse because she was embarrassed.”
Victor’s voice softened.
“You were telling the truth.”
“Yes.”
“And they destroyed you because of it.”
Lily looked at him.
“I think they needed someone nobody would defend.”
Victor’s expression changed.
“That was their second mistake.”
Lily held his gaze.
“What was the first?”
Victor stood.
“Touching Ethan.”
Before Lily could respond, Marco received another call.
He listened.
Then went completely still.
“Victor.”
“What?”
“The DNA result for Damien came back.”
Victor stared.
“Is he my brother?”
Marco shook his head.
“No.”
Victor frowned.
“Then who is his father?”
Marco looked toward Catherine.
“The sample matched someone else in the Blackwood family database.”
“Who?”
Marco hesitated.
“Your father is not Damien’s father.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“Then whose?”
Marco turned the report.
Probability of parent-child relationship: 99.96%.
Father: Victor Alexander Blackwood.
The room went silent.
Victor stared at the paper.
Lily looked from the report to him.
“That’s impossible.”
Victor said nothing.
Catherine whispered.
“Damien is thirty-two.”
Victor was forty-seven.
He would have been fifteen when Damien was conceived.
Victor’s face became stone.
“No.”
Marco checked the date.
Then he realized.
“The database label is wrong.”
Victor looked at him.
“What?”
“The stored DNA sample we thought belonged to Victor…”
Marco swallowed.
“It doesn’t.”
Catherine stared.
“Whose is it?”
Marco’s expression became uneasy.
“It was uploaded under Victor’s name after the 2018 federal investigation.”
“Who handled the chain of custody?”
Marco searched.
Then looked up.
Thomas Reed.
Victor felt cold.
“So whose DNA have we been comparing?”
Marco requested deeper matching.
A minute later the system returned a partial familial hit.
The mislabeled sample belonged to a close relative.
Male.
Older generation.
Victor stared.
“My father?”
“No.”
Marco’s face had gone pale.
“Your uncle.”
Victor froze.
“My father had no brother.”
Catherine whispered.
“That’s what we were told.”
May you like
And once again, a truth Victor had believed his entire life began falling apart.
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