Chapter 16 - The Airport Road
Victor refused immediately.
"She is not getting Ethan."
The police agreed.
Lily looked at the photograph more closely.
"Wait."
She zoomed in on a metal sign reflected in a window behind Grant.
ONLY AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL BEYOND THIS POINT.
Beneath it was a faded logo.
Blackwood Textiles.
Victor recognized the abandoned warehouse his father had closed ten years earlier.
Police surrounded the property twenty minutes later.
Victor was ordered to stay in the command vehicle.
He lasted four minutes.
Then a gunshot cracked from inside.
He was out the door before anyone could stop him.
Lily grabbed his arm.
"If you go in there angry, she wins."
"Grant may be dying."
"And Ethan needs a father who comes back."
Victor stopped.
The words reached him.
He stayed behind the line.
A tactical team entered.
They found Grant alive, bleeding from a cut on his head, tied to a chair.
Serena was gone.
Again.
But she had left a recorder on the floor.
The detective pressed play.
Serena's voice said, "Grant, tell Victor what you did on River Road."
Grant answered weakly, "I followed Olivia."
"And?"
"I hit her car."
Victor closed his eyes.
The recording continued.
Grant began crying.
"You said just scare her. You said she'd pull over."
Serena replied, "But she didn't."
"You grabbed the wheel."
Silence.
Then Serena's voice turned deadly quiet.
"Careful."
Grant said, "You were in the car with me. You pulled us into her lane."
The recording ended.
Victor stared at the device.
He finally had what he had wanted for hours.
Truth.
And it felt nothing like victory.
Grant was taken away under guard.
As the ambulance doors closed, he grabbed Victor's sleeve.
"She's going to the gala."
"What gala?"
"Foundation anniversary. Tomorrow night."
Victor frowned. "It's canceled."
Grant shook his head.
"She doesn't care. There'll still be media at the hotel because nobody got the cancellation notice in time. She said if she can't have the Blackwood name, she's going to burn it down in public."
Victor stepped back.
Then Daniel called.
"Victor, we have another problem."
"What now?"
"Someone just transferred two million dollars out of the foundation emergency account."
Victor looked at the police lights flashing across the warehouse.
"Serena?"
"No."
May you like
Daniel swallowed audibly.
"The transfer was authorized with your credentials."
