Chapter 8 - BLOODLINES
Lily stopped breathing.
“No.”
Victor watched her.
“No.”
She shook her head.
“You’re lying.”
“Why would I?”
“To scare me.”
Victor smiled.
“You’re already scared.”
Lily stared at the photograph.
The woman looked no older than twenty-five.
Dark hair.
Soft eyes.
A silver necklace.
Lily’s hand trembled.
She had seen that necklace before.
Not in a photograph.
In a box.
One of the few things left to her after foster care.
A broken chain.
A small black stone.
Exactly like the one in Victor’s ring.
Lily looked up.
“Where did you get this?”
Victor leaned back.
“Your mother gave it to me.”
“She was Dominic’s sister?”
Victor nodded.
“Half-sister.”
Lily’s mind raced.
Dominic had never mentioned a sister.
Not once.
“Why doesn’t he know?”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
“Because his father made sure he didn’t.”
At the mansion, Dominic entered the lower archive room for the first time in twelve years.
The room had belonged to his father.
Old files lined the walls.
Most were paper.
That was intentional.
His father never trusted digital records.
Marcus followed.
Detective Collins stayed upstairs with Serena.
Dominic pulled open a drawer marked 1998.
Nothing.
Another.
Nothing.
Then Marcus spoke.
“What exactly are we looking for?”
“Evelyn.”
“Serena said Lily’s mother was connected to your family.”
Dominic kept searching.
“I never knew an Evelyn.”
“You were young.”
“I remember everyone in that house.”
Marcus looked toward the shelves.
“Maybe she wasn’t supposed to be remembered.”
Dominic stopped.
That sentence landed hard.
He turned toward the back wall.
There was an old framed photograph there.
His father.
His mother.
Dominic at age eleven.
And a gap.
A strange space between his mother and the edge of the frame.
Dominic walked closer.
He took the photograph down.
The backing had been replaced.
Recently.
Marcus noticed.
“That isn’t original.”
Dominic opened the frame.
Behind the visible photograph was another.
Older.
Uncropped.
Dominic stared at it.
His father stood in the same position.
His mother beside him.
Dominic at eleven.
And next to Dominic—
a teenage girl.
Long dark hair.
Sharp eyes.
A faint smile.
Dominic’s stomach tightened.
Marcus looked at him.
“You remember her?”
Dominic did not answer.
Because he did.
Not clearly.
But something moved inside his memory.
A piano.
A voice.
A girl laughing.
A silver bracelet.
Someone calling his name from the garden.
Then shouting.
Then nothing.
“Evelyn.”
The name came out before he could stop it.
Marcus stared.
“You knew her.”
Dominic touched the photograph.
“She lived with us.”
“Your sister?”
Dominic shook his head slowly.
“I don’t know.”
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered immediately.
“Lily?”
Silence.
Then Victor’s voice.
“Hello, nephew.”
Dominic went completely still.
Marcus looked at him.
Victor laughed softly.
“You really have grown into your father.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“Where is Lily?”
“So direct.”
“Where is she?”
“Alive.”
“For now.”
Dominic walked toward the archive door.
Marcus followed.
“What do you want?”
“You already know.”
“The agreement?”
“And Serena.”
“She’s useless to you now.”
Victor laughed.
“You always did underestimate people.”
Dominic stopped.
“You knew me.”
“I helped raise you.”
Dominic stared at the wall.
“Then show your face.”
“I already did.”
“The hospital.”
“Yes.”
“You wanted me to see the ring.”
“Very good.”
“Why?”
“So you’d remember.”
Dominic’s voice became colder.
“Remember what?”
Victor was silent for a moment.
Then he said one word.
“Evelyn.”
Dominic looked toward the photograph.
“How do you know Lily’s mother?”
Victor laughed.
“Because I introduced her to your father.”
Dominic’s hand tightened around the phone.
“What was she to him?”
“His daughter.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“So Lily is…”
“Your niece.”
Marcus stared at him.
Dominic said nothing.
Victor continued.
“And the only blood relative besides Ethan with a valid claim to the Blackwood trust.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Dominic opened his eyes.
“That’s why she was planted here.”
“No.”
Victor’s voice changed.
“She wasn’t planted.”
“Then why did Serena have her file before she applied?”
“Because we were watching her.”
“For what?”
“To see if she remembered.”
“Remembered what?”
Victor paused.
“The night her mother died.”
Dominic looked toward Marcus.
“When was that?”
Victor answered.
“Twenty-three years ago.”
Dominic calculated quickly.
Lily was twenty-four.
A baby.
“She couldn’t remember.”
“You’d be surprised what children carry.”
Dominic’s voice hardened.
“What happened to Evelyn?”
Victor’s tone became almost gentle.
“Ask your father.”
Dominic’s face turned to stone.
“My father is dead.”
Victor laughed.
“No.”
Then the call ended.
Marcus stared at Dominic.
“Do you believe him?”
Dominic looked at the old photograph.
“I believe someone worked very hard to erase her.”
Upstairs, Serena sat alone.
Detective Collins stood outside the room.
Serena looked toward the security camera.
Then toward the window.
She slowly lifted the bracelet on her wrist.
Inside the clasp was a tiny blade.
She cut through the thin plastic restraint Marcus had left as a precaution.
Then she moved.
Fast.
By the time the guard entered, the chair was empty.
May you like
The window was open.
And Serena Montigue was gone.
