Chapter 6 - THE UNCLE
Victor Blackwood had spent thirty years pretending to be harmless.
He smiled too much.
Donated to hospitals.
Kissed babies at charity dinners.
People called him Uncle Vic.
Ronan called him dangerous.
Ivy learned that at three in the morning.
They sat in Ronan’s private office while Blackwood guards locked down the estate.
“Victor was my father’s younger brother,” Ronan explained.
“He wanted control?”
“He always wanted control.”
“Then why didn’t he take it?”
“Because my father was worse.”
Ivy looked at Daniel’s letter.
“What did my father discover?”
Ronan leaned back.
“Money disappearing. Judges getting paid. Police officers being bought twice.”
“Twice?”
“By us and by our enemies.”
Ivy stared at him.
“That’s insane.”
“It was Chicago.”
“That is not a defense.”
“No. It isn’t.”
The honesty surprised her.
Most powerful men protected themselves with excuses.
Ronan seemed almost tired of his own.
He tapped the letter.
“If Daniel found proof that Victor was selling information, he would have told my father.”
“But the letter says your father ordered his murder.”
“Yes.”
“Then why blame Victor?”
“Because maybe my father believed a lie.”
Ivy looked at him.
“From Victor.”
Ronan nodded.
A knock came.
Marcus entered.
“We found Vivienne.”
“Where?”
“She checked into the Grand Meridian under her mother’s name.”
Ronan stood.
“She’s not hiding.”
“No.”
Marcus handed him a photograph.
“She’s meeting someone.”
Ivy looked.
Victor Blackwood sat across from Vivienne in the hotel lounge.
Vivienne was smiling.
Ronan’s face went completely still.
“How long has she known him?”
“We’re checking.”
Ivy suddenly remembered something.
“The party.”
Ronan looked at her.
“What about it?”
“Vivienne kept asking me where I grew up.”
“When?”
“Last month. She pretended to be making conversation.”
“What did you tell her?”
“Nothing important.”
“Think.”
Ivy closed her eyes.
“She asked my father’s name.”
Ronan stood very still.
“She already knew who you were.”
Ivy felt nausea rise in her stomach.
“The beating.”
Ronan understood at the same time.
“It wasn’t random.”
“She wanted me fired.”
“Or scared.”
“Why?”
“Because you had something she needed.”
Ivy looked toward the metal box.
The cassette.
They still had not played it.
Ronan found an old cassette recorder in a storage room packed with things his father had refused to throw away.
They sat together.
Ivy pressed play.
Static.
Then her father’s voice filled the room.
Ivy stopped breathing.
“If you’re hearing this, something happened to me.”
Her eyes filled instantly.
Ronan looked away, giving her privacy without leaving.
Daniel continued.
“Michael thinks I betrayed him. I didn’t. Victor changed the records.”
Ronan leaned closer.
“The missing money wasn’t stolen,” Daniel said. “It was used to build something called the Crown List.”
Marcus swore softly.
Ivy looked at Ronan.
“What is that?”
Ronan’s face had gone pale.
“A list of everyone my family owns.”
The tape crackled.
Daniel spoke again.
“And if Victor gets it, he won’t just own Chicago.”
A sudden knock hit the office door.
Three times.
Pause.
Twice.
Marcus reached for his gun.
May you like
“That’s not our signal.”
The door handle slowly turned.
