Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN WHO VANISHED
Divers searched until sunrise.
No body.
No coat.
No weapon.
Nothing.
Police assumed the current had carried Serena away.
Victor did not.
He had learned one thing about Serena Montigue.
She planned everything.
Three days later, Sophie slept peacefully in Victor’s arms while Ethan sat beside him on the living room sofa.
The mansion felt different.
Too quiet.
Half the staff had been interviewed.
Every room had been searched.
Every camera had been inspected.
Victor had not gone to work once.
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“Is Serena dead?”
Victor looked at his son.
“I don’t know.”
Ethan nodded slowly.
“Do you want her to be?”
Victor considered lying.
He didn’t.
“I want her never to hurt you again.”
Ethan looked at his cast.
“Me too.”
Martha entered holding an envelope.
“This arrived for you.”
“No return address?”
“No.”
Victor opened it.
Inside was a single photograph.
Serena.
Alive.
Standing outside a bus station.
On the back were four words.
YOU STILL DON’T UNDERSTAND.
Victor called Marcus.
Within minutes, the mansion locked down again.
Marcus studied the photo.
“Could be old.”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
“How can you tell?”
Victor pointed to a newspaper kiosk in the background.
Today’s front page was visible.
Serena was alive.
Victor turned the photograph over again.
“What don’t I understand?”
Martha said quietly, “Maybe she wasn’t the only one.”
Everyone looked at her.
Victor frowned.
“What do you mean?”
Martha sat down.
“Your father did business with many dangerous people.”
“We know Charles survived.”
“Who else?”
Martha hesitated.
“There was a woman.”
Victor waited.
“Her name was Evelyn Montigue.”
Serena’s mother.
Victor stared.
“Serena told me her mother died.”
“That’s what everyone believed.”
Martha shook her head.
“But five years ago, Damian told me he saw her.”
“Where?”
“Geneva.”
Victor’s pulse quickened.
“Why would Serena lie about her own mother?”
“Maybe because Evelyn wasn’t only her mother.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“What was she?”
Martha looked toward the old family portrait.
“Your father’s accountant.”
Victor stood.
“No.”
“She handled private accounts for nearly six years.”
“Before Serena’s father supposedly discovered the chemical dumping?”
“Yes.”
Victor walked toward the window.
Pieces began shifting in his mind.
Serena had told him one story.
His father’s files suggested another.
Maybe revenge was only part of it.
Victor called Damian.
This time his brother answered.
“You finally ready to listen?”
“Where are you?”
“Safer if you don’t know.”
“I need to know about Evelyn Montigue.”
Long silence.
Then Damian said, “Who told you that name?”
“Martha.”
Damian cursed.
“Victor, get the kids out of the house.”
Victor’s body tensed.
“Why?”
“Because if Evelyn knows you found the files, she won’t come for the company.”
“What will she come for?”
Damian’s answer chilled him.
“The children.”
Victor looked toward Ethan and Sophie.
“Why?”
“Because one of them inherited something neither of us knew existed.”
Victor clenched the phone.
“What?”
“Our mother’s trust.”
Victor frowned.
“What trust?”
“A private trust your father never controlled.”
“How much?”
Damian laughed without humor.
“Enough to make Blackwood Industries look small.”
Victor’s chest tightened.
“Who inherits?”
“You did.”
“Then why would she need my children?”
“Because you signed a transfer seven months ago.”
Victor froze.
“I signed no transfer.”
“Yes, you did.”
“When?”
“The night you got engaged to Serena.”
Victor remembered documents Serena had given him after their engagement party.
Charity authorizations.
Estate updates.
Insurance.
He had signed them without reading every page.
Victor felt sick.
“What did I sign?”
Damian answered.
“If you die, the trust passes equally to Ethan and Sophie.”
Victor lowered his voice.
“And Serena becomes guardian after marriage.”
“No.”
Damian paused.
“That’s the interesting part.”
“Who does?”
May you like
Victor waited.
“Evelyn Montigue.”
