Chapter 7 - The Brother Who Never Died
Lily stared at Serena.
The underground room seemed to tilt.
“What did you call him?”
Serena smiled.
“Noah.”
Lily shook her head.
“My brother died.”
“Did you see his body?”
The question struck like a blade.
Lily had been kept outside the hospital room.
Her stepfather had told her Noah was gone.
Her mother had been too broken to speak.
There had been a closed coffin.
“You’re lying.”
Serena adjusted Ethan against her shoulder.
“Your mother was drowning in debt.”
“Your stepfather sold the child through an illegal adoption network.”
Lily could not breathe.
“That is impossible.”
“Elena found the records.”
“She found you too.”
Victor looked toward Lily.
“She hired you?”
Serena laughed.
“Elena was dead before Lily arrived.”
“But she left instructions with an attorney.”
“She wanted Ethan’s biological family found.”
Damon’s face hardened.
“Enough.”
Serena ignored him.
“The attorney contacted me.”
“I intercepted the file.”
“I saw Lily’s history.”
“The dead brother.”
“The guilty sister.”
“The perfect scapegoat.”
Lily looked at Ethan.
The shape of his eyes.
The small dimple beside his mouth.
The way he curled two fingers when he slept.
Her mother used to say Noah did the same thing.
“No.”
Her voice broke.
“He would be seventeen.”
Serena’s smile faded.
“Your brother died.”
“This child is his son.”
Lily’s knees nearly gave way.
Ethan was not her brother.
He was her nephew.
Victor turned toward Serena.
“Who is his father?”
Serena looked at Damon.
Damon’s expression changed.
Lily saw it.
Victor saw it too.
“Elena traced the adoption through Damon’s private clinic,” Serena said.
“Ethan’s father was Damon’s son.”
Damon stepped forward.
“Stop talking.”
Serena laughed.
“You wanted the truth.”
“You wanted to be a Blackwood.”
“You built your entire betrayal around a forged blood test.”
Damon pointed the gun toward her.
“You promised me half the empire.”
“And you believed me.”
Victor watched them turn on each other.
Lily watched Ethan.
His breathing was shallow.
The syringe taped to his arm contained a clear liquid.
She recognized the label from the hospital.
More sedative.
“Serena.”
Lily kept her voice soft.
“He needs treatment.”
“He needs quiet.”
“He has a fractured arm.”
“Because you interfered.”
Damon looked toward the staircase.
Men were approaching.
Victor’s loyal guards or Damon’s.
Nobody could know.
Serena backed toward another passage.
“Bring the documents.”
Victor slowly reached inside his coat.
Damon raised the gun.
“Careful.”
Victor removed the envelope.
Serena’s eyes fixed on it.
“The originals?”
“Yes.”
“Slide them over.”
Victor dropped the envelope.
It skidded across the stone floor.
Serena bent slightly.
Lily moved.
She threw the bloodstained blanket over Damon’s gun.
Victor struck him before he could fire.
The weapon discharged into the ceiling.
Serena ran toward the passage with Ethan.
Lily chased her.
The tunnel narrowed.
Serena’s heels slipped against the wet stone.
“Stop!”
Serena looked back.
“You still think loving him makes you family?”
Lily gained on her.
“It makes me the person who will never abandon him.”
Serena reached a steel door.
She pressed a button.
The door began to close.
Lily threw herself forward.
Her fingers caught the edge.
Pain shot through her injured stomach.
Serena kicked at her hands.
“Let go.”
Lily held on.
Ethan opened his eyes.
He reached toward her.
“Li…”
It was barely a sound.
But it gave Lily strength.
She forced the door wider.
Serena pulled the syringe from Ethan’s arm.
“If you come closer, I inject all of it.”
Lily stopped.
The tunnel behind her echoed with fighting.
Victor shouted her name.
Serena pressed the needle against Ethan’s skin.
“You were supposed to take the blame.”
“You were supposed to disappear.”
“Instead, you made Victor suspicious.”
Lily lifted her hands.
“You can leave.”
“Take the money.”
“Take the documents.”
“Just give him to me.”
Serena stared at her.
Then she smiled.
“That is exactly what Elena said.”
She pushed the needle forward.
A gunshot thundered through the passage.
The syringe flew from Serena’s hand.
Victor stood behind Lily.
Smoke rose from his weapon.
Serena screamed and stumbled backward.
Ethan slipped from her arms.
Lily lunged.
She caught him inches above the stone floor.
His weak cry tore through her.
Victor grabbed Serena before she could flee.
Damon staggered into the tunnel behind him.
Blood ran from his forehead.
He held another gun.
Victor turned.
Damon fired.
Lily covered Ethan with her body.
The bullet struck Victor in the side.
He fell against the wall.
Serena broke free.
She ran toward Damon.
“Kill them.”
Damon raised the gun again.
Then the convent bells began ringing overhead.
The sound was deafening.
Armed men flooded the staircase.
Damon looked toward them.
Serena looked toward the exit.
Victor pressed one hand against his wound.
Lily held Ethan close.
A man stepped through the smoke.
He was older.
Silver-haired.
And wearing the badge of the Chicago police commissioner.
He looked directly at Damon.
“Drop the weapon.”
Damon laughed.
“You work for us.”
The commissioner’s face became cold.
“I worked for Elena.”
Then he turned toward Lily.
“She left one final witness.”
A woman entered behind him.
Lily recognized her from childhood photographs.
It was her mother.
The woman Lily had been told died five years earlier.
Her mother looked at Ethan.
Then at Lily.
May you like
And whispered,
“I’m sorry.”
