Chapter 11 - THE BLOOD BENEATH THE EMPIRE
Serena was returned to Chicago under armed guard.
Crane remained missing.
Ethan was taken back to Dr. Holloway.
The doctor found no new injuries.
Victor stayed beside the crib until his son fell asleep.
Lily waited near the doorway.
“You saved him,” she said.
Victor did not look up.
“I should never have allowed Serena near him.”
“You did not know.”
“I should have known.”
Lily stepped closer.
“Guilt will not expose the people still helping her.”
Victor finally looked at her.
“You think Crane is still part of this?”
“I think Crane is afraid of someone.”
Isabella entered with the photograph from the dock.
She placed it on the table.
Victor recognized the men immediately.
His father, Anthony Blackwood.
Serena’s father, Charles Montigue.
The photograph had been taken twenty-five years earlier.
Lily opened her father’s notebook.
“There is a symbol on the building behind them.”
She turned several pages.
The same symbol appeared beside hidden payments.
Marcus searched the address.
“It was a shipping company.”
“Blackwood-Montigue Imports.”
Victor frowned.
“My father said that company failed before I joined the business.”
“It did not fail,” Lily said.
“It changed names.”
She pointed to another document.
“It became the foundation of your current shipping network.”
Victor’s expression hardened.
“My father built the company with Montigue money.”
“Not just money.”
Lily looked at him carefully.
“My father believed they trafficked stolen art, weapons and forged documents through the ports.”
Isabella stared at Victor.
“Our father was involved?”
Victor said nothing.
Marcus entered with urgent news.
“Rosa is awake.”
They drove to the private clinic where she was being protected.
Rosa’s face was bruised.
Her voice was weak.
When she saw Lily, she began crying.
“I am sorry.”
“They made me touch the bottle.”
“Who?”
“Mr. Crane.”
“What did Serena ask you to do?”
Rosa shook her head.
“Not Serena.”
Everyone went still.
Rosa looked at Victor.
“The woman giving the orders was older.”
“She wore a silver ring with a black stone.”
Victor’s face changed.
Isabella noticed.
“You know that ring.”
Victor slowly stood.
May you like
“Yes.”
“Our mother wears it.”
