Chapter 9 - MICHAEL’S OFFER
Victor put the call on speaker.
Lily stood beside him.
Cole began tracing the signal.
Michael sounded relaxed.
“You’ve been busy.”
Victor stared at the phone.
“Where is Serena?”
“Does it matter?”
“It matters if you want to stay alive.”
Michael laughed.
“There’s the Victor I remember.”
Lily stepped closer.
“Where is my father?”
Silence.
Michael’s tone changed.
“Lily Hart.”
Her hands tightened.
“You look like your mother.”
Victor looked at her.
Michael had seen her recently.
That meant he had been closer than they realized.
“Answer her.”
Victor’s voice was cold.
Michael sighed.
“Daniel was stubborn.”
“He could have walked away.”
“He chose loyalty to the wrong Blackwood.”
Lily’s eyes filled.
“You killed him.”
Michael did not answer directly.
But he did not need to.
Victor watched Lily absorb the truth.
Michael continued.
“I’ll make this simple.”
“You have something I want.”
“The flash drive.”
Victor said nothing.
“I have something you want.”
“Serena?”
Michael laughed again.
“No.”
Then Ethan’s cry came through the phone.
Victor stopped breathing.
Lily spun toward the staircase.
“No.”
They ran upstairs.
Ethan’s room was empty.
The guard outside lay unconscious.
The window was open.
Victor stared at the empty crib.
For the first time in years, fear overwhelmed every other emotion.
Michael had taken his son.
Lily grabbed the edge of the crib.
“No.”
Victor lifted the phone.
“If you touch him—”
“I don’t want Ethan hurt.”
Michael interrupted.
“Unlike your fiancée, I understand the value of an asset.”
Victor’s voice became almost unrecognizable.
“He is not an asset.”
“He’s the reason you became weak.”
Michael replied.
“Bring the drive.”
“Midnight.”
“Old Union Station freight terminal.”
“Come alone.”
The call ended.
Victor hurled the phone across the room.
It shattered against the wall.
Lily turned toward him.
“You can’t go alone.”
“I’m going.”
“He expects that.”
“He has my son.”
“And that’s exactly why you need to think.”
Victor looked at her.
Lily was terrified.
But she was right.
Michael wanted Victor emotional.
Reckless.
Predictable.
Cole entered.
“We traced the call.”
“Burner bounced through multiple towers.”
Victor turned toward Ethan’s bed.
A stuffed elephant lay near the pillow.
Lily suddenly stared at it.
“What?”
She picked it up.
“This isn’t Ethan’s.”
Victor frowned.
“Yes, it is.”
“No.”
Lily shook her head.
“His elephant has a blue thread on the left ear.”
“This one doesn’t.”
Cole cut open the toy.
Inside was a small listening device.
Victor’s expression hardened.
Michael had been hearing everything inside Ethan’s nursery.
Every conversation.
Every routine.
Every weakness.
Lily looked toward the doorway.
“If there’s one device, there may be more.”
They searched the room.
A second transmitter was hidden inside a lamp.
Then Cole found something beneath the changing table.
A tiny camera.
Victor stared at it.
“Find where it sends the signal.”
The technician worked for twenty minutes.
Then he looked up.
“It’s still transmitting.”
“Where?”
“Receiver is less than two miles away.”
Victor’s eyes sharpened.
Michael had made one mistake.
May you like
He had kept watching.
And now Victor could watch back.
