Chapter 8 - THE LETTER FROM A DEAD MAN
Daniel Hart’s letter was twelve pages long.
Victor read every page twice.
Michael had been stealing from the Blackwood organization years before his disappearance.
But money was only the beginning.
He had also been selling information.
Names.
Routes.
Business negotiations.
Security schedules.
Daniel discovered the operation accidentally.
When he confronted Michael, Michael threatened Lily.
Daniel pretended to cooperate.
Instead, he copied everything.
The final paragraph was written shakily.
IF I DISAPPEAR, PROTECT MY DAUGHTER.
SHE KNOWS NOTHING.
DO NOT LET MICHAEL USE HER TO FINISH WHAT HE STARTED.
Victor lowered the letter.
Lily was crying silently.
For nine years, she had wondered whether her father had abandoned her.
Now she knew.
He had been trying to protect her.
Victor placed the letter in front of her.
“He didn’t leave you.”
Lily pressed one hand over her mouth.
“No.”
Victor gave her time.
Then Cole inserted the flash drive into an isolated computer.
Files appeared.
Accounts.
Recordings.
Photographs.
One video was dated five years earlier.
Michael appeared on screen.
Alive.
Daniel’s hidden camera had recorded him.
Michael was speaking to someone outside the frame.
“If Victor has a child, everything becomes harder.”
A second voice responded.
“Then make sure he never trusts anyone close enough to build a family.”
The video ended.
Victor felt sick.
Michael had been interfering with his life for years.
Then Cole opened another file.
It contained a list of names.
Serena Montigue appeared near the bottom.
Beside her name was a date.
Two years before Victor had met her.
Lily stared at the screen.
“She was chosen.”
Victor nodded.
Serena had never accidentally entered his life.
Michael had placed her there.
Cole’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Victor stood.
Cole looked toward him.
“Serena is gone.”
Victor’s face hardened.
“How?”
“One of the guards received an order to move her.”
“From who?”
“He says it came from you.”
Victor understood immediately.
Michael still had someone inside the mansion.
“Find her.”
They reached Blackwood Mansion twenty minutes later.
The secure room was empty.
One guard lay unconscious in the hallway.
Serena’s restraints had been cut.
On the wall, someone had written four words.
YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED BLIND.
Victor stared at the message.
Then Lily noticed something on the floor.
A small silver charm.
She picked it up.
Her face changed.
“What?”
Lily held it out.
It was shaped like a tiny moon.
“My father gave me one exactly like this.”
Victor looked at her.
“Exactly?”
Lily nodded.
“I lost it when I was seventeen.”
The year Daniel disappeared.
Cole turned the charm over.
There were initials engraved on the back.
L.H.
Lily Hart.
Victor understood the message.
Michael had not only taken Serena.
He was telling Lily something.
He had been there the night her father disappeared.
Then Victor’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Michael’s voice came through the speaker.
“Hello, little brother.”
Victor had not heard that voice in five years.
His entire body went still.
May you like
Michael laughed softly.
“I think it’s finally time we finished our family argument.”
