Chapter 5 - EMILY'S LAST NIGHT
Victor immediately ordered Daniel to trace the call.
It originated from a roadside motel two hours north.
Security teams left within minutes.
Victor remained behind for one reason.
His mother.
Eleanor stood near the library windows.
Victor closed the door.
“Who signed Emily's death certificate?”
She did not turn.
“Mother.”
“I've spent fourteen months wishing I had done things differently.”
Victor's voice hardened.
“Who signed it?”
Eleanor finally faced him.
“Dr. Malcolm Creed.”
Victor had expected the answer.
It still struck hard.
“He controlled her medication and signed her death certificate.”
“Yes.”
“And you knew he was under investigation?”
“I knew your private investigator had concerns.”
“You mean your investigator.”
She looked down.
Victor continued.
“Why didn't you stop him?”
“I tried.”
“How?”
“I confronted Conrad.”
Victor stared.
“When?”
“The evening Emily went into labor.”
His breath caught.
“You knew that night?”
“Not everything.”
“Tell me everything you knew.”
Eleanor sat.
“Your father's family always feared Sebastian returning.”
“He didn't.”
“No. But his son did.”
“Thomas.”
“Yes. Conrad discovered Thomas was working at Emily's fertility clinic.”
“And assumed he wanted the company.”
“Conrad assumes everyone wants power because power is the only thing he understands.”
Victor paced.
“He bribed Creed.”
“I believe so.”
“You believe?”
“I found a payment transfer shortly after Emily gave birth.”
“And you stayed silent.”
Eleanor began crying.
“Conrad told me Emily had discovered Thomas's identity and was planning to expose the old inheritance fraud.”
“So?”
“He said if the scandal became public, thousands of employees could lose their jobs. The company could collapse.”
Victor stared at her.
“And you believed him?”
“I was terrified.”
“My wife died.”
“I know.”
“No. You don't get to say that like you were a spectator.”
Eleanor flinched.
“You knew someone was manipulating her medical care, and you chose the company.”
“I chose fear.”
“You chose silence.”
Neither spoke.
Victor remembered Emily's final hours.
She had gone into labor unexpectedly.
The hospital room had been chaotic.
Doctors came and went.
Her blood pressure rose.
Then dropped.
There had been internal bleeding.
Creed insisted everything was under control.
Victor remembered Emily gripping his wrist.
“Don't let them take Noah.”
At the time he thought she was frightened from medication.
Now the sentence tortured him.
“She tried to warn me.”
Eleanor cried harder.
“Yes.”
“What else did she say?”
Eleanor looked confused.
“To you.”
Victor stepped closer.
“Did you see Emily that night?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“While you were signing admission forms.”
Victor stared.
“What did she tell you?”
Eleanor covered her mouth.
“Mother.”
“She said Noah wasn't yours.”
The room disappeared around Victor.
Eleanor continued through tears.
“She said someone had changed the embryo records. She believed Thomas's genetic material had been used.”
“And what did you do?”
“I told her not to tell you until after the delivery.”
Victor's face twisted.
“Why?”
“Because you were already terrified.”
“So you decided I couldn't handle the truth?”
“I thought we had hours.”
“You had fourteen months.”
Eleanor broke down.
Victor turned away.
His phone rang.
Daniel.
“We found Thomas.”
“Alive?”
“Yes, but injured.”
Victor exhaled.
“What happened?”
“Someone attacked him. He escaped through a bathroom window before they got inside.”
“Bring him somewhere secure.”
“He's asking to see you.”
Two hours later, Victor arrived at a private medical facility owned by a trusted friend.
Thomas Bennett lay in bed with stitches near his forehead.
Victor stopped at the doorway.
Thomas was not what he expected.
No expensive suit.
No calculated expression.
Just a tired forty-one-year-old man who looked terrified.
Thomas studied Victor.
“You look like your father.”
Victor entered.
“I hope not.”
Thomas almost smiled.
Then Victor asked the question immediately.
“Did you have an affair with Emily?”
“No.”
Victor stared.
“I loved her once.”
Victor's jaw tightened.
“In college.”
“But she chose you.”
“Yes.”
“And after you married, nothing happened between us.”
“Then explain Noah.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“Emily had one viable embryo remaining from a previous fertility cycle.”
Victor nodded.
“I remember.”
“Conrad's people replaced the stored sample records.”
“With yours?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Thomas shook his head.
“That was never the plan.”
“What was?”
“They wanted Emily's transfer to fail.”
Victor froze.
Thomas continued.
“Conrad bribed a clinic administrator to substitute nonviable material. He wanted Emily to stop trying for children.”
“Because without an heir…”
“Your branch became vulnerable.”
Victor frowned.
“That makes no sense. Noah strengthens my branch.”
“Exactly.”
Thomas looked at him.
“The administrator refused to destroy viable embryos. She secretly substituted a sample from the donor research bank.”
“And that sample was yours?”
“Yes.”
Victor stared.
“Why was your sample there?”
“I'd donated years earlier during a fertility study.”
“So Noah happened by accident.”
“Biologically, yes.”
Victor sat down.
“Emily discovered this?”
“During pregnancy.”
“How?”
“She had genetic screening done after unusual results appeared.”
“And contacted you.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't she tell me?”
“She wanted proof first.”
Victor swallowed.
“She was protecting me.”
“She was protecting Noah.”
Thomas looked directly at him.
“She knew biology wouldn't change how you felt about him.”
Victor looked away.
Thomas continued.
“But legally, Noah's DNA could expose Conrad's entire inheritance scheme.”
“What scheme?”
“Your grandfather forged Sebastian's renunciation of inheritance.”
Victor stared.
“Sebastian never gave up his rights?”
“No.”
“Then you…”
“Don't want the company.”
“But legally?”
Thomas nodded.
“The controlling trust should have passed to my father, then me.”
“And Noah after you.”
“Yes.”
Victor understood why Conrad panicked.
“One DNA test could destroy everything.”
“Exactly.”
“What did Creed do to Emily?”
Thomas's expression darkened.
“He altered her medication.”
“To kill her?”
“I can't prove intent.”
“Try.”
“He knew she planned to expose the embryo tampering after Noah was born. Conrad couldn't risk it.”
Victor's voice dropped.
“So Creed increased medication that worsened her bleeding?”
Thomas nodded.
“We believe so.”
Victor stood.
“You said we.”
Thomas looked toward the door.
A woman entered.
Victor recognized her immediately.
Dr. Amelia Grant.
Emily's former nurse.
She had resigned days after Emily died.
Victor had always wondered why.
Amelia held a thick folder.
“I kept the original medication logs.”
Victor stared at her.
“Why didn't you come forward?”
“I tried.”
Victor froze.
“When?”
“Three days after Emily died.”
“To whom?”
“Your family attorney.”
Victor knew the answer before she said it.
“Conrad Blackwood.”
Amelia nodded.
“He threatened my medical license and my daughter.”
Victor felt rage spreading through him.
Amelia placed the folder on the table.
“I kept everything.”
Medication charts.
Timestamped pharmacy records.
Nurse notes.
A photograph of Creed changing an order.
Then one final document.
Emily's handwritten statement.
Victor recognized her writing immediately.
At the bottom were the words:
If something happens to me, Victor must know that Noah belongs with him. Biology doesn't make Victor his father. Love already did.
Victor could no longer see clearly.
He sat down.
Thomas remained silent.
Victor touched Emily's handwriting.
For fourteen months, grief had hollowed him out.
Now grief became something else.
Purpose.
He looked up.
“Conrad thinks he is protecting the Blackwood legacy.”
Thomas nodded.
May you like
Victor closed the folder.
“Then I'm going to show him what that legacy really costs.”
