Chapter 3 - THE DARK HOUSEThe foyer disappeared into darkness.
Victor covered Ethan with his body.
“Nobody move.”
A crash sounded near the staircase.
Then footsteps.
Fast.
Marco switched on a flashlight.
“The backup generator should have started.”
“It didn't,” Victor said.
His eyes hardened.
“Someone disabled it.”
Detective Quinn drew her weapon.
“Stay together.”
Then Lily heard a voice.
“Give me the card.”
Julian.
She recognized him.
A hand grabbed her shoulder.
Lily twisted and struck backward.
Julian cursed.
The emergency lights flickered on.
Marco tackled him.
A memory card skidded across the marble.
Quinn picked it up.
Serena stared at her cousin.
“What are you doing?”
Julian looked at Victor.
“You don't understand what she's planning.”
Victor stepped closer.
“Then explain.”
Julian glanced at Serena.
Fear replaced anger.
The recovered footage was played in the security room.
Serena appeared entering Ethan's nursery after midnight.
She checked the hallway.
Then leaned over the crib.
“He cries when I touch the left shoulder,” she whispered into her phone.
A man's voice answered.
“Not yet. The trust papers aren't ready.”
Victor's face became stone.
Quinn stopped the video.
“Recognize the voice?”
Victor did.
Warren Price.
The Blackwood family's attorney.
The man who had handled Victor's finances for twenty-two years.
The man who had attended his wedding.
The man who had stood beside him at Amelia's funeral.
The man who had sworn to protect Ethan.
Victor whispered:
“Get me every document Warren has ever touched.”
The next morning, they discovered something worse.
A trust amendment had been prepared.
If Victor was declared mentally unfit, imprisoned, or otherwise incapable of managing his affairs—
control would pass to his legal spouse.
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Serena was supposed to marry him in three days.
And someone had already forged Victor's signature.
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