Chapter 12 - THE DEAD MAN WAITING
Blackwood Harbor had been abandoned for fifteen years.
Dominic remembered coming there once as a child.
His father had stood beside the water and told him something he never forgot.
Never build anything you aren’t willing to burn down yourself.
At six twelve in the morning, Dominic parked outside the same warehouse.
Lily sat beside him.
The succession agreement rested between them.
Dominic looked at her.
“You stay behind me.”
“No.”
“Lily.”
“If they see me hiding behind you, they’ll know something’s wrong.”
“They already know something’s wrong.”
She looked toward the warehouse.
“Then we stop pretending.”
Dominic almost argued.
Instead, he opened the door.
Rain had stopped.
The harbor was gray beneath the morning sky.
Dominic carried no visible weapon.
That did not mean he was unarmed.
Lily held the folder.
Her hands were steady.
Dominic noticed.
“You’re scared.”
“Yes.”
“You don’t look it.”
“My knees disagree.”
For the first time that night, Dominic almost smiled.
Then Ethan cried somewhere inside the warehouse.
Every trace of humor vanished.
They entered.
The warehouse was enormous.
Old cranes hung from the ceiling.
Shipping containers formed narrow corridors.
A single table stood beneath an overhead light.
Victor waited beside it.
Julian stood near Ethan.
And behind them—
an old man sat in a wheelchair.
Dominic stopped.
Eighteen years disappeared.
The face was older.
Thinner.
A deep scar ran across the left side.
But Dominic knew him.
Richard Blackwood.
His father.
Alive.
Richard smiled.
“Hello, son.”
Dominic did not answer.
His eyes went to Ethan.
The baby sat in a portable crib.
His injured arm was protected.
He looked exhausted.
But alive.
Lily whispered.
“Ethan.”
The baby turned.
The instant he saw her, he began crying.
“Li…”
Lily stepped forward.
Julian raised a gun.
“Stay.”
She stopped.
Dominic looked at Richard.
“You took my son.”
Richard’s expression barely changed.
“I protected the family.”
“He’s fourteen months old.”
“And worth more than most countries.”
Dominic’s hands curled.
Richard smiled.
“You still lead with emotion when it comes to people you love.”
“You taught me not to.”
“I tried.”
Richard looked at Lily.
“Apparently Evelyn’s daughter has undone some of my work.”
Lily stared at him.
“You killed my mother.”
Richard’s smile faded.
“Victor talks too much.”
“So it’s true.”
“She betrayed the family.”
“She was your daughter.”
“She was weak.”
Dominic took a step forward.
Julian pointed the gun toward Ethan.
Dominic stopped.
Richard continued.
“Evelyn wanted to hand decades of work to federal investigators.”
“So you killed her.”
“I solved a problem.”
Lily’s eyes filled with rage.
“You threw me into foster care.”
Richard looked at her as though she were a stranger.
“You were alive.”
“You think that makes you merciful?”
“No.”
Richard smiled.
“I think it makes me practical.”
Dominic looked at his father.
Something inside him finally settled.
For years, he had remembered Richard Blackwood as terrifying.
Unbeatable.
Larger than life.
Now Dominic saw something else.
An old man in a wheelchair.
A coward hiding behind guns and dead relatives.
“You staged your death.”
Richard nodded.
“Necessary.”
“Why?”
“Investigations were getting close.”
“Evelyn’s evidence?”
“Among other things.”
“You left me to run the company.”
“I left you to absorb attention.”
Dominic stared at him.
Richard smiled.
“You were my shield.”
The words should have hurt.
Instead, Dominic felt almost nothing.
“And now?”
“Now you’re going to sign.”
Richard pointed toward the table.
Lily placed the agreement down.
Dominic did not move.
Richard sighed.
“Don’t make this theatrical.”
“You kidnapped my son.”
“You’ll get him back.”
“And Lily?”
Richard glanced at her.
“She’s more complicated.”
Dominic’s eyes hardened.
“What does that mean?”
Richard nodded toward Victor.
Victor produced another document.
“The original trust.”
Dominic stared at it.
Richard continued.
“My father distrusted me.”
“A wise man.”
Richard ignored the insult.
“He created a bloodline protection clause.”
Victor opened the document.
“If any child of mine was unlawfully excluded from the family record, that child or their descendants could challenge control.”
Lily looked at Dominic.
Richard continued.
“Evelyn was excluded.”
“Which means Lily can challenge you.”
“Yes.”
“So why bring her here?”
Richard smiled.
“Because she can waive the claim.”
Lily laughed.
“No.”
Richard looked at her.
“You haven’t heard the offer.”
“I don’t care.”
“Twenty million dollars.”
“No.”
“Fifty.”
“No.”
“One hundred.”
Lily stared at Ethan.
“No.”
Richard’s smile vanished.
“You were raised with nothing.”
“Yes.”
“You spent years taking orders from people wealthier than you.”
“Yes.”
“And you’d walk away from one hundred million dollars?”
Lily finally looked at him.
“For him?”
She pointed toward Ethan.
“Yes.”
Richard stared.
Lily’s voice hardened.
“You don’t understand that because you’ve never loved anyone more than money.”
Dominic looked at her.
Richard’s face changed.
For the first time, Lily had reached him.
Not emotionally.
Ego.
Richard looked at Julian.
“Bring the child.”
Julian lifted Ethan from the crib.
The baby immediately screamed.
Lily moved instinctively.
The gun stopped her.
Richard placed a pen on the table.
“Dominic signs.”
“Lily signs.”
“Then Ethan goes home.”
Dominic looked at the papers.
“Where’s Serena?”
Richard asked.
Dominic’s expression remained neutral.
“Gone.”
Victor frowned.
“Gone where?”
“Does it matter?”
Richard looked toward Julian.
Something passed between them.
Dominic saw it.
They expected Serena.
That mattered.
Richard tapped the pen.
“Sign.”
Dominic approached the table.
Lily followed.
Victor watched.
Julian kept Ethan against his chest.
Dominic picked up the pen.
He looked at his father.
“You know what I remember most about you?”
Richard smiled.
“My lessons?”
“No.”
Dominic clicked the pen.
“How afraid everyone was.”
Richard’s smile widened.
“As they should have been.”
“I used to think that meant you were powerful.”
Dominic placed the pen on the paper.
Richard leaned forward.
“And now?”
Dominic looked him directly in the eyes.
“Now I know it meant you surrounded yourself with people waiting for you to become weak.”
Richard’s smile disappeared.
A red laser dot appeared on Julian’s chest.
Then another appeared on Victor.
Then another on Richard.
Richard froze.
Marcus’s voice came through the warehouse speakers.
“Good morning.”
Victor spun around.
Dominic grabbed the table and flipped it.
Gunfire erupted.
Lily dropped.
Dominic lunged toward Ethan.
Julian fired.
The bullet struck metal.
Dominic slammed into him.
Ethan screamed.
Lily crawled forward.
“Give him to me!”
Julian struck Dominic.
Dominic hit him back.
Victor ran toward a side door.
Security officers poured from behind the shipping containers.
Richard shouted.
“Kill the girl!”
Lily froze.
A gun rose behind her.
Then another shot cracked through the warehouse.
The man holding the gun collapsed.
Lily turned.
Serena stood in the doorway.
A weapon shook violently in her hands.
She stared at Lily.
“Get Ethan!”
Lily ran.
Julian still held the baby.
Dominic drove him against a container.
Julian lost his grip.
Ethan fell.
Lily threw herself forward.
She caught him inches above the concrete.
Her knees slammed into the floor.
Pain exploded through her body.
But Ethan was in her arms.
Safe.
She curled around him.
Dominic turned.
“Lily!”
“I have him!”
Then Richard shouted.
“Victor!”
Victor reached the far wall.
He pulled a red lever.
Marcus saw it.
“Everybody out!”
Dominic looked upward.
Explosive charges blinked along the support beams.
Richard smiled.
“If I lose Blackwood…”
His hand closed around a detonator.
May you like
“…nobody gets it.”
And he pressed the button.
