Chapter 8: The Woman in the Photograph
The lake house stood two hours north of Manhattan, hidden behind pine trees and a rusted iron gate.
Police arrived first.
Victor came ten minutes later with Daniel.
The cabin looked abandoned.
Dust covered the windows.
Dead leaves filled the porch.
Detective Hayes emerged from the front door.
“No sign anyone has been here recently.””
“What did you find?””
“Come inside.””
Alexander Blackwood had apparently spent the final months of his life surrounded by boxes.
Financial records covered one wall.
Photographs covered another.
Names.
Dates.
Bank transfers.
Julian Cross.
Margaret Blackwood.
Serena Montigue.
Elise.
Victor stepped closer.
His father had constructed an entire investigation.
Daniel pointed toward one photograph.
“That's Serena.””
She looked seventeen.
Beside her stood Julian Cross.
On Serena's other side was Margaret.
Victor stared.
“My mother knew her.””
Hayes nodded.
“For years, apparently.””
Victor photographed the image.
“Margaret said she only discovered Serena's identity three months ago.””
Daniel looked at him.
“Another lie.””
Victor's gaze moved across the wall.
Then he saw Elise.
A photograph showed her entering a restaurant with Alexander three days before her death.
Another showed her carrying a blue folder.
Another showed her arguing with Margaret outside Blackwood Holdings.
Victor's pulse accelerated.
“My mother met Elise.””
Hayes removed an evidence envelope from a desk.
“We found this too.””
Inside was a letter addressed to Alexander.
Elise's handwriting.
Victor read silently.
**I confirmed the trust documents were altered after your disappearance. Someone removed page twelve from Victor's copy and replaced the beneficiary schedule. Serena is being positioned to enter Victor's life.
I don't know whether she understands the full plan. Margaret refuses to tell me the truth.**
Victor stopped.
Serena was being positioned to enter Victor's life.
Years before they supposedly met.
Daniel read over his shoulder.
“This wasn't romance.””
Victor remembered the charity auction.
Serena standing beneath golden lights.
Her accidental laugh when Victor spilled champagne.
Her surprise when he asked her to dinner.
Every detail suddenly looked rehearsed.
Hayes opened another box.
“There's DNA paperwork.””
Victor turned.
“What DNA paperwork?””
She placed a laboratory report on the desk.
Alexander Blackwood.
Serena Montigue.
Victor forced himself to read the result.
Probability of biological paternity:
0%.
He exhaled.
Serena was not Alexander's daughter.
She was Julian's.
Alexander's doubts had been manufactured.
Daniel said, “Julian convinced Alexander to finance Serena.””
“And then used her to get close to me.””
Hayes nodded.
“That seems possible.””
Victor looked at the wall.
“No. There's still something missing.””
“What?””
“If Serena's entire purpose was gaining access to Noah's trust, she couldn't have predicted Elise would die. Noah was already the beneficiary before Serena entered my life.””
Daniel understood.
“Someone else needed Elise gone first.””
Victor stared at Margaret's photograph.
His phone rang.
Evelyn.
He answered.
“Victor, where are you?””
“At Dad's lake house.””
“What lake house?””
“I'll explain later.””
“No. You need to come back.””
Her voice trembled.
“Mother disappeared.””
Victor closed his eyes.
“When?””
“About an hour ago.””
“Where did she go?””
“I don't know, but she left something.””
“What?””
“A letter for you.””
“Read it.””
Paper rustled.
Evelyn inhaled.
“Victor, it says, ‘I did what I did because Alexander left me no choice. If you want the truth about Elise, come to Saint Catherine's alone.’”
Hayes heard.
“Absolutely not alone.””
Victor asked, “What's Saint Catherine's?””
Evelyn hesitated.
“Mother's old boarding school.””
Daniel was already searching.
“Closed fifteen years ago.””
Victor looked toward Hayes.
“Location?””
Daniel gave it.
Thirty-seven minutes away.
Hayes called for units.
Victor walked deeper into the cabin while they coordinated.
Something about Alexander's wall bothered him.
Every major player had multiple photographs.
Julian.
Serena.
Margaret.
Elise.
But one photograph had been placed separately.
A woman Victor didn't recognize.
Mid-thirties.
Dark hair.
Hospital scrubs.
She was standing beside Margaret.
On the back, Alexander had written:
*Dr. Rebecca Sloan — ask about the baby.*
Victor frowned.
“What baby?””
Hayes examined it.
“Maybe Serena?””
Victor shook his head.
“The dates don't fit.””
Daniel opened another folder.
Inside were hospital records from thirty-seven years earlier.
Victor's birth year.
His stomach tightened.
“Those are mine.””
He turned the first page.
Margaret Blackwood.
Male infant.
Then he noticed a second name.
Rebecca Sloan.
Attending nurse.
Daniel said quietly, “Victor…”
Another document had been clipped behind the birth record.
A DNA test.
Victor read it once.
Then again.
Alexander Blackwood — alleged father.
Victor Blackwood — child.
Probability of paternity:
0%.
The room seemed to shrink.
“No.””
Daniel stepped closer.
“There could be an explanation.””
“No.””
Victor grabbed the paper.
Alexander wasn't his biological father.
His phone buzzed.
A message from Margaret.
A photograph.
Noah's hospital room.
Taken from inside.
Victor's blood froze.
The message beneath it read:
*Come to Saint Catherine's. No police. If you want Noah to survive this family, come alone.*
Victor called the hospital.
Dr. Grant answered immediately.
“Mr. Blackwood?””
“Where is Noah?””
“He's here.””
Victor could hear Noah in the background.
“Daddy?””
Victor nearly collapsed with relief.
“I'm here, buddy.””
Then Dr. Grant said something that made the relief vanish.
“A woman came into the room ten minutes ago. She claimed she was your mother.””
Victor looked at Margaret's message.
“Did she touch him?””
“No. Security stopped her.””
“What did she do?””
“She left an envelope beneath Noah's bear.””
Victor's grip tightened.
“Open it.””
“I already did.””
“What is it?””
Dr. Grant went silent.
“Doctor?””
“It's another DNA test.””
Victor couldn't breathe.
“Whose?””
“Noah's.””
“And?””
Her voice lowered.
“Mr. Blackwood, according to this document, Noah is your biological son.””
Victor closed his eyes.
“Then what's the problem?””
“The second comparison.””
“What second comparison?””
“Someone tested Noah against Julian Cross.””
Victor's eyes opened.
Daniel watched him.
“What does it say?””
Dr. Grant hesitated.
Then answered.
“The report says Julian Cross is Noah's biological grandfather.””
Victor stared at his own DNA report.
Alexander wasn't his father.
Julian was apparently Noah's grandfather.
There was only one obvious conclusion.
And if it was true, the man Victor had spent years believing was his father's greatest enemy was something else entirely.
His phone rang.
Margaret.
Victor answered.
“Tell me the truth.””
His mother's voice came softly through the speaker.
“Come to Saint Catherine's.””
“Is Julian Cross my father?””
Silence.
May you like
Then Margaret whispered:
“Yes.””
