Chapter 8 - The Mother Who Vanished
Lily could not speak.
Her mother stood only a few feet away.
Older.
Thinner.
Alive.
Lily had mourned her for five years.
She had visited an empty grave.
She had blamed herself for not arriving before the funeral.
“You’re dead.”
Her mother began crying.
“I had to disappear.”
Lily held Ethan tighter.
“You left me.”
“I was trying to find Noah.”
“Noah died.”
“No.”
Her mother shook her head.
“Your stepfather sold him.”
“He told us Noah fell.”
“He told the hospital I caused it.”
“The hospital records were changed.”
Lily’s anger rose through her pain.
“You knew?”
“Not at first.”
“I believed him for years.”
“Then I found a payment receipt.”
“An adoption broker had paid him.”
Victor remained against the wall while a medic treated his wound.
He watched Lily’s mother carefully.
“What is your name?” he asked.
“Margaret Harper.”
“Why were you working with Elena?”
Margaret looked at Ethan.
“She found Noah’s file while investigating Serena.”
“Noah had been adopted by a family in Indiana.”
“He grew up believing they were his parents.”
“What happened to him?” Lily asked.
Margaret’s voice shook.
“He died in a construction accident two years ago.”
Lily closed her eyes.
She had lost him twice.
“His girlfriend was pregnant.”
“She placed the baby for adoption after Noah died.”
“Serena controlled the agency.”
Victor looked at Ethan.
“She placed him with Elena and me.”
Margaret nodded.
“She wanted a child with no visible connection to the Blackwoods.”
“A child whose identity she could later expose.”
Damon laughed from the floor where officers restrained him.
“You all think this changes anything?”
The commissioner tightened the cuffs around his wrists.
“It changes the murder charges.”
Damon looked at Serena.
“You said every witness was dead.”
Serena remained silent.
Her arm bled where the bullet had grazed her.
Margaret faced her.
“You tried.”
Serena’s expression sharpened.
“You should have stayed hidden.”
“You should have stayed away from my daughters.”
Lily turned.
“Daughters?”
Margaret looked at Serena.
For the first time, Serena seemed afraid.
Lily followed her mother’s gaze.
“No.”
Margaret’s next words came slowly.
“Serena is your half sister.”
Silence filled the tunnel.
Lily stared at the woman who had tormented Ethan.
Serena laughed once.
A hollow sound.
“Do not call me that.”
Margaret stepped closer.
“Your father took you from me when you were six.”
“He told you I abandoned you.”
Serena’s face twisted.
“You did abandon me.”
“I searched for you.”
“You found Lily.”
“You kept Lily.”
“I did not know where he took you.”
Serena pulled against the officer holding her.
“You had another family.”
“You replaced me.”
Lily looked at her mother.
Then at Serena.
The cruelty suddenly had a history.
But it did not have an excuse.
“You hurt a baby because you hated me?” Lily asked.
Serena’s eyes burned.
“I did not know who you were when I hired you.”
“Not at first.”
“Then Margaret contacted Elena.”
“I saw the records.”
“And you still kept hurting Ethan.”
Serena looked at the child.
“He was the key.”
“To what?”
“Everything I was denied.”
Victor pushed away from the wall despite the medic’s protest.
“You were denied nothing by my son.”
Serena looked at him.
“You would never have married me if Elena lived.”
“No.”
“I would not.”
Serena’s face hardened.
The honest answer wounded her more than anger.
Damon began laughing again.
“She used everyone.”
“She used me.”
“She used Victor.”
“She used the child.”
Serena turned toward him.
“And you killed Elena willingly.”
Damon’s smile disappeared.
The commissioner signaled the officers.
“Take them separately.”
As Damon was pulled away, he leaned toward Victor.
“You still do not understand.”
Victor looked at him.
Damon smiled through the blood on his face.
“The succession documents in that envelope are copies.”
Victor’s expression changed.
“The originals were never in your office.”
Serena stopped resisting.
She smiled again.
Damon continued.
“Elena changed the inheritance before she died.”
“To whom?” Victor asked.
Damon looked toward Lily.
“To Ethan’s nearest living blood relative.”
Every person in the tunnel turned toward her.
Lily stared at Victor.
Victor stared back.
Serena began laughing.
“Congratulations, sister.”
“You now control the Blackwood empire.”
The commissioner led Serena away.
Victor’s face became unreadable.
Lily held Ethan in her arms.
The child who was her nephew.
May you like
The heir to an empire.
And the reason everyone around them might now want Lily dead.
