Chapter 5 - The False Heir
Twenty-eight minutes remained.
Victor led Lily and Maria into his private office.
He locked the door.
The walls contained hidden monitors and secure communication equipment.
Most of the screens were black.
Damon had disabled nearly every system.
Victor opened a steel compartment behind a painting.
Inside were sealed files.
He removed a thick envelope.
“The original succession documents.”
Lily looked at the Blackwood seal.
“What do they control?”
“Everything.”
“The businesses.”
“The properties.”
“The accounts.”
“And?”
Victor looked at her.
“Who inherits if I die.”
Maria went pale.
“Ethan.”
“Yes.”
“Then why does Serena need the documents?”
Victor opened the envelope.
A clause was marked in red.
“If Ethan is declared medically incapable, his legal guardian controls the estate until he turns twenty-five.”
Lily understood immediately.
“She wants to become his guardian.”
Victor nodded.
“She planned to marry you.”
“Then make Ethan appear sick.”
“Then remove you,” Maria whispered.
Victor said nothing.
Lily remembered the sedative in Ethan’s blood.
The unexplained bruises.
The attempts to portray her as unstable.
“This was never just cruelty.”
“She was building a medical history.”
Maria covered her mouth.
“She wanted doctors to believe he had seizures.”
Victor looked at Lily.
“Has Ethan ever had one?”
“No.”
“But Serena told Dr. Reeves he did.”
Victor picked up the office phone.
The line was dead.
He turned to Maria.
“What did Elena record?”
Maria wiped her face.
“Your father admitted something before he died.”
“He said Damon was not only his adviser’s son.”
Victor stared at her.
“He said Damon was his son.”
Silence swallowed the room.
Lily looked from Maria to Victor.
Damon and Victor had grown up together.
They had been treated like brothers.
But Damon had always stood one step behind.
One step lower.
One step outside the family name.
“He believed half the empire belonged to him,” Maria said.
Victor’s expression hardened.
“And Serena promised to give it to him.”
“They were together?” Lily asked.
Maria nodded.
“Long before Serena met Victor.”
Victor turned away.
The betrayal did not show on his face.
But his shoulders changed.
“They used Serena’s engagement to enter the family.”
“Elena discovered them,” Maria continued.
“She confronted Damon.”
“He begged her to stay silent.”
“She refused.”
“And one week later, she died.”
Twenty-four minutes remained.
Victor took the succession papers.
“We go to the clinic.”
Lily shook her head.
“They expect you.”
“They expect me alone.”
“Exactly.”
Victor opened another compartment.
Inside were several weapons.
Lily stepped in front of it.
“No.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You think I should negotiate?”
“I think Damon wants you angry.”
“He knows anger makes people predictable.”
Victor stared at her.
“What do you suggest?”
“Give him what he expects.”
Maria looked confused.
“Victor arriving alone?”
Lily nodded.
“But not the real Victor.”
Victor’s eyes shifted toward the security uniforms hanging in a side closet.
Twenty minutes later, Victor’s armored sedan left the mansion.
A man wearing Victor’s coat sat in the rear seat.
From a distance, the silhouette looked perfect.
The convoy moved toward the river.
Victor remained inside the mansion dressed as one of his own guards.
Lily wore a medical coat.
Maria waited in the secure room with three loyal men Victor had contacted through an emergency radio.
The false convoy approached the clinic.
Victor watched through a body camera.
A sniper fired from a nearby roof.
The armored sedan exploded against a concrete barrier.
Lily flinched.
“They never intended to negotiate.”
Victor’s expression did not change.
“They believe I am dead.”
The countdown vanished from the mansion screens.
A new message appeared.
Bring the boy to the airfield.
Lily looked at Victor.
“They are moving Ethan.”
Victor contacted the surviving driver.
“Follow them from a distance.”
Static answered.
Then a weak voice.
“They have three vehicles.”
“One is heading south.”
“Two are heading west.”
Victor looked at a city map.
“The airfield is west.”
Lily studied the routes.
“Serena knows you will follow the larger convoy.”
Victor looked at her.
“You think Ethan is in the vehicle heading south.”
“She used him as bait before.”
“She will do it again.”
Victor pointed to the southern route.
It led toward the old St. Augustine convent.
Maria’s face changed when she saw it.
“Elena volunteered there.”
Victor looked at her.
“Why does that matter?”
“She kept a second copy of the financial records.”
“Where?”
“In the convent archive.”
Victor finally understood.
“Damon is splitting his men.”
“One group retrieves the records.”
“The other takes Ethan out of the country.”
Lily pointed toward the southbound vehicle.
“Serena will be wherever the evidence is.”
Victor shook his head.
“Serena will be wherever she believes she is safest.”
He looked toward the private airfield.
Lily looked at the convent.
Two possible locations.
One child.
One choice.
Then Lily noticed something in the frozen video from Serena’s message.
Behind Ethan’s car seat was a stained-glass reflection.
A blue angel with a broken wing.
Lily had seen that window before.
It belonged to St. Augustine.
“He is at the convent.”
Victor was already moving.
They reached the underground garage.
A loyal guard handed Victor the keys to an unmarked car.
Lily opened the passenger door.
“You are staying here.”
“No.”
“This is not a discussion.”
“Ethan will be afraid.”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“He needs someone he trusts.”
“He trusts you too.”
Lily looked at him.
“No.”
“He fears what your world brings through the door.”
“But he reaches for me when the door closes.”
Victor absorbed the truth silently.
Then he unlocked the passenger side.
They drove toward the convent without headlights.
Halfway there, Victor’s emergency radio came alive.
Damon’s voice filled the car.
“I know you survived.”
Victor did not answer.
Damon continued.
“And I know Lily is with you.”
Lily’s blood ran cold.
“You always did choose the wrong woman, brother.”
A baby cried in the background.
Victor gripped the steering wheel.
Then Damon said the words that changed everything.
“Ask Lily why Serena hired her.”
The radio went silent.
Victor slowly looked at Lily.
Lily stared back.
“I was hired by your office.”
“No.”
Victor’s voice became cold.
May you like
“My office never hired you.”
And suddenly, Lily realized Serena had chosen her long before Lily ever entered Blackwood Mansion.
