Chapter 4 - THE HOUSE OF SECRETSThey returned to the Blackwood mansion.
The estate was dark.
Too dark.
There should have been twelve guards outside.
There were none.
Inside, two guards lay unconscious.
Lily followed Victor down into the wine cellar.
A lullaby played through hidden speakers.
Elena's lullaby.
Then they found Ethan.
Rosa was holding him.
She was bleeding.
"They made me do it," she whispered.
Victor raised his weapon.
Rosa cried.
"They gave me a syringe."
"They told me to kill him."
"But I couldn't."
Beneath the crib, Victor found the syringe.
The liquid inside could have stopped Ethan's heart.
Then the walls exploded with gunfire.
Masked men emerged from a hidden passage.
Victor fought through smoke.
Lily protected Ethan.
Rosa screamed.
They escaped through an underground tunnel.
At the end stood a steel door.
Lily used Elena's key.
The door opened.
A secret room waited beneath the mansion.
Photographs covered the walls.
Serena.
Dante.
Lucien.
Dr. Hale.
Detective Bell.
And Elena.
In the center was a photograph of Victor and Elena.
A red circle surrounded Victor's face.
Beneath it Elena had written:
HE DOES NOT KNOW.
A monitor turned on.
Dante appeared.
"You finally found it."
Victor stared at him.
"What did you do to my wife?"
Dante smiled.
"I arranged many things."
"Why?"
"Because you became inconvenient."
Elena's recorded voice filled the room.
"If Victor is watching this, I failed."
She revealed the truth.
Money was being moved through the Blackwood Foundation.
Children were being trafficked through illegal adoptions.
Judges were paid.
Doctors were bought.
Police reports disappeared.
Victor's name was on financial orders.
But Elena did not know whether Victor was guilty or merely blind.
Then she said something that shattered him.
"If my sister is watching this, I'm sorry."
Lily looked down.
Victor stared at her.
"You knew."
"Yes."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because Elena told me not to."
The monitor flickered.
Dante laughed.
"You were never supposed to save Ethan."
"You were supposed to make Victor doubt everyone."
Victor stepped toward the screen.
"You murdered Elena."
Dante smiled.
"She found the wrong numbers."
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The screen went black.
And somewhere above them, police sirens began to rise.
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