Chapter 9 - The Night the Mansion BurnedGrace showed Alexander the message.
Grace’s answer came instantly.
Catherine stared at Lily sleeping across the room.
Grace moved between them.
“No.”
Alexander stood.
“Explain.”
Catherine looked almost amused.
“Grace never told you?”
“Told me what?”
Grace’s face had gone white.
Alexander turned to her.
“Grace?”
She closed her eyes.
“Lily’s father was a Blackwood.”
Silence.
“Who?”
Grace looked toward her daughter.
“Sebastian.”
Alexander felt as though the floor shifted beneath him.
Catherine sat down slowly.
“My granddaughter.”
Grace spun toward her.
“You will stay away from her.”
Catherine’s expression softened.
“You think I’d hurt her?”
“I think everyone who learns she exists suddenly wants something.”
Alexander understood Grace’s terror.
If Sebastian was Lily’s father, Lily possessed direct descent from Richard Blackwood.
If legal battles over Theodore’s estate succeeded, she could inherit an enormous claim.
Evelyn’s message was not about hiding an heir.
It was about weaponizing a child.
Grace explained that she had met Sebastian nine years earlier.
Before working at Blackwood Mansion.
He was charming.
Funny.
Restless.
For eighteen months they were together.
Then Grace discovered his obsession with the Blackwood family.
He lied constantly.
He used her bank account.
He disappeared for days.
When she became pregnant, Sebastian asked if she would marry him.
Grace almost agreed.
Then she found a gun and forged documents in his apartment.
She left that night.
Sebastian never knew Lily had been born.
At least Grace believed he didn’t.
“Evelyn found out,” Grace whispered.
Alexander remembered the letter.
Of course she did.
Evelyn had spent years preparing succession lawsuits.
Lily gave her leverage.
“What did Evelyn want?” Alexander asked.
“She approached me four years ago.”
“That’s why you came to work here?”
Grace nodded.
“She offered me money to prove Lily’s paternity.”
Alexander stared.
“You refused.”
“Yes.”
“Then why apply here?”
“To protect you.”
He almost laughed from disbelief.
“You didn’t know me.”
“I knew Evelyn wanted to destroy you.”
Grace’s eyes met his.
“I thought if I worked here, I might understand why.”
“And?”
“And then I learned she was lying about you too.”
Grace smiled sadly.
“You were supposed to be arrogant. Cruel. Careless.”
“Disappointing.”
“You were definitely arrogant.”
Alexander raised an eyebrow.
Grace almost smiled.
“But not cruel.”
Catherine watched them.
“You love him.”
Grace froze.
Alexander’s eyes shifted to her.
“That’s irrelevant,” Grace snapped.
“Not to my granddaughter.”
Alexander stepped in.
“Enough.”
Catherine looked at him.
“You want to know why Evelyn turned against me?”
“Yes.”
“Because I refused to use Lily.”
The answer surprised everyone.
Catherine explained she learned about Lily two years ago.
Evelyn wanted DNA proof and a lawsuit transferring a controlling portion of the Blackwood trust to Lily.
Catherine refused.
“A child is not a legal weapon,” she said.
“So Evelyn chose Sebastian instead.”
“Yes.”
“But Sebastian didn’t know Lily was his daughter.”
“Until three months ago.”
Grace went pale.
“When?”
“He followed you.”
Catherine looked ashamed.
“He saw Lily.”
Grace gripped the chair.
“Did he approach her?”
“No.”
Catherine paused.
“At first.”
Alexander’s attention sharpened.
“At first?”
Lily had mentioned Sebastian visiting Grace before her disappearance.
He already knew.
Sebastian kidnapped Grace not only for the key.
He wanted custody leverage.
Access to Lily.
A way to control the Blackwood claim.
Alexander felt rage.
“Where is he now?”
“Federal custody,” Hayes said.
“Then make sure he stays there.”
That hope lasted four hours.
At 5:20 a.m., a transport vehicle carrying Sebastian Blackwood crashed on Interstate 9.
Two federal marshals were injured.
Sebastian escaped.
A motorcycle was waiting nearby.
Inside help.
Evelyn.
Grace woke Lily immediately.
They moved to a secure Blackwood property unknown to the public.
Alexander came with them.
Catherine stayed under police protection.
The safe house was a lake cabin Alexander’s father had purchased under another company name.
For the first time in days, no marble floors.
No hidden tunnels.
No cameras.
Just trees and water.
Lily seemed almost happy.
She made pancakes with Alexander.
They were terrible.
Grace ate them anyway.
“You’re a billionaire who can’t make breakfast.”
“I delegate.”
“You burned water.”
“That seems scientifically impossible.”
“Yet somehow you managed.”
Lily giggled.
The sound filled the cabin.
For one hour they felt like a family.
Then Alexander’s burner phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Sebastian.
“Good morning, cousin.”
Alexander walked outside.
“How did you get this number?”
“You’re not as invisible as you think.”
“If you come near Lily—”
“My daughter.”
Alexander’s grip tightened.
“You lost the right to use that word before you ever learned she existed.”
Sebastian laughed.
“Grace poisoned you quickly.”
“She told me the truth.”
“She told you her version.”
“What do you want?”
“My daughter.”
“No.”
“Then I’ll take the company.”
“You already tried.”
“This time I don’t need forged documents.”
Sebastian sounded almost delighted.
“Lily’s DNA gives me standing.”
“You need to be alive and out of prison to use it.”
“True.”
Pause.
“So perhaps Evelyn should have killed you when she had the chance.”
The call ended.
Alexander looked toward the lake.
Grace opened the cabin door.
“What did he say?”
“He’s coming for Lily.”
Grace went still.
Alexander stepped closer.
“He won’t get her.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“I can.”
“How?”
Alexander looked toward the road.
“Because I’m done waiting for him to choose the battlefield.”
That afternoon Alexander made a decision.
He called the FBI.
Then the board.
Then every major news network.
The following morning he stood before cameras in New York.
“My family has spent generations hiding its worst truths.”
Reporters shouted.
Alexander continued.
“That ends today.”
He publicly released Theodore’s archive.
The forged transfers.
Richard’s crimes.
Charles’s questionable inheritance.
Everything.
Blackwood stock fell another twenty percent.
Analysts called it corporate suicide.
Sebastian called within ten minutes.
“You idiot!”
Alexander smiled.
“You needed the secrets.”
“What?”
“You needed them valuable.”
Sebastian breathed hard.
Alexander continued.
“Now everyone knows.”
“You destroyed your own family.”
“No.”
Alexander looked into the cameras.
“I removed your leverage.”
Then a reporter shouted the question Alexander expected.
“Mr. Blackwood, are there other heirs?”
Alexander answered carefully.
“There are children connected to this family whose privacy will remain protected.”
Sebastian heard it live.
And knew exactly what Alexander had done.
Lily could no longer be introduced as a shocking secret capable of destroying Alexander.
The secret had lost its power.
But Sebastian still wanted one thing.
Control.
And that night, Evelyn Shaw finally contacted Grace.
One text message.
If you want Lily to live, bring Alexander to me.
Grace stared at the screen.
Then another message arrived.
A photograph.
The lake cabin.
May you like
Taken from the trees.
They were already being watched.
