Chapter 8 - THE DEAD MAN WHO WASN’T DEAD

Adrian read the page three times.

Thomas Blackwood.

Status: ACTIVE.

Operational authority: WIDOW.

Last confirmed communication: six days ago.

Adrian stared at Julian.

“This is fake.”

“No.”

“My father died in Zurich.”

“That’s what everyone was told.”

“I saw the coffin.”

“Closed.”

“I saw the medical reports.”

“Bought.”

“The death certificate.”

“Bought.”

Adrian’s jaw tightened.

“Who knew?”

Julian looked exhausted.

“Very few.”

“You?”

“Not until two years ago.”

“And you said nothing.”

Julian laughed bitterly.

“You think I wanted to?”

“He owned everyone.”

“Bankers.”

“Politicians.”

“Police.”

“Half the people protecting you.”

Ronan stepped closer.

“Where is Thomas now?”

Julian shook his head.

“I don’t know.”

“You expect us to believe that?”

“I stole the ledger because I was trying to find him.”

Adrian’s anger sharpened.

“You imprisoned Anna.”

“I know.”

“Why?”

“She saw Victoria entering the tunnels.”

“She found the surveillance room.”

“I was ordered to make her disappear.”

“By my father?”

Julian looked at him.

“Yes.”

Adrian said nothing.

Julian continued.

“I couldn’t kill her.”

“So you chained her underground?”

“I was buying time.”

“That’s your defense?”

“No.”

Julian looked down.

“It’s my confession.”

Adrian wanted to hit him.

Wanted to drag him across the room.

Wanted seventeen years of loyalty to mean something again.

Instead, he asked the only question that mattered.

“Daniel.”

Julian closed his eyes.

“Thomas ordered it.”

Adrian felt cold.

“How?”

“Daniel discovered he was alive.”

“He threatened to expose everything.”

“Thomas arranged the boat.”

“Explosion beneath the engine.”

Anna had said Daniel drowned.

That was another lie.

“Was there a body?”

“No.”

“Could Daniel have survived?”

Julian looked at him.

“I don’t know.”

Adrian’s heartbeat changed.

Julian noticed.

“Don’t.”

“What?”

“Don’t give yourself hope.”

“Why?”

“Because Thomas wanted Daniel dead more than anyone.”

Adrian looked at the ledger.

“Why?”

Julian hesitated.

“Because Daniel wasn’t his son.”

Silence.

Ronan stared at him.

Adrian’s expression became unreadable.

“Explain.”

Julian swallowed.

“Your mother had an affair.”

“Daniel was born from it.”

“Thomas found out when Daniel was seventeen.”

Adrian remembered his father changing.

The contempt.

The arguments.

Daniel leaving home early.

Things Adrian had never understood.

“Who was Daniel’s father?”

Julian shook his head.

“I don’t know.”

“Thomas erased him.”

“From records?”

“From life.”

Adrian’s voice became dangerous.

“What does Lily have to do with this?”

Julian looked afraid now.

“Everything.”

Adrian stepped closer.

“Explain.”

“Thomas had no biological claim over Daniel.”

“But Lily does.”

“Claim to what?”

Julian looked at the Black Ledger.

“To the original Blackwood trust.”

Adrian frowned.

“My grandfather’s trust?”

Julian nodded.

“Your grandfather hated Thomas.”

“He changed the inheritance before he died.”

“All controlling shares were supposed to pass through your mother’s bloodline.”

“Daniel’s line.”

Adrian suddenly understood.

“Lily.”

“Yes.”

“She owns part of my company.”

Julian shook his head.

“Not part.”

“All of it.”

The room went silent.

Ronan whispered.

“Jesus Christ.”

Julian continued.

“On Lily’s twenty-first birthday, controlling ownership transfers automatically.”

“Unless she dies before then.”

Adrian’s blood ran cold.

Anna and Lily were traveling through rural New York.

Unprotected except for Marcus.

He grabbed his phone.

No signal.

“Ronan.”

Already dialing.

No answer.

Again.

Nothing.

Julian watched him.

“What?”

Adrian looked up.

“Where is Thomas?”

Julian’s eyes widened.

“I told you—”

“He knows about Lily.”

Julian went pale.

“Yes.”

Adrian’s phone finally connected.

Marcus answered.

Static.

“Sir?”

“Where are you?”

“About twenty miles outside Scranton.”

“Turn around.”

“What?”

“Turn around now.”

A loud impact exploded through the phone.

Tires screamed.

Then Lily screamed in the background.

Adrian shouted.

“Marcus!”

Gunfire.

The line cut.

Adrian stared at the screen.

Then looked at Julian.

“If they touch her—”

Julian whispered.

“They already found her.”

Adrian turned toward Ronan.

“Move.”

They ran.

Behind them, Julian collapsed from the chair.

Ronan stopped.

Adrian looked back.

Julian was bleeding badly.

“Take him.”

Ronan nodded.

Adrian stared at the Black Ledger.

His father was alive.

His brother might have been murdered.

His fiancée was involved.

His closest friend had betrayed him.

And now someone was hunting a five-year-old girl who had unknowingly inherited an empire.

Adrian had spent his entire life believing power made people untouchable.

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