Chapter 7 - THE MAN THEODORE FEARED
Doctors revived Theodore after four minutes.
When his condition stabilized, he remembered nothing about the accusation.
Nathaniel offered to leave.
Amelia refused.
“You leaving would not answer anything.”
“My presence may upset him.”
“Your absence would make me wonder why you ran.”
Nathaniel accepted the words without protest.
For two days, they worked from separate ends of the medical facility.
Amelia reviewed Hart Meridian records.
Nathaniel investigated Victor Blackwood.
Victor was Nathaniel’s father’s younger brother. Brilliant, charming, and ruthless, he had served as Blackwood Strategic’s chief operating officer until the board removed him for unauthorized weapons brokerage.
No criminal charges were filed.
The family had suppressed the scandal.
Victor vanished from public business circles and built a network of private consulting firms.
One of those firms had advised Vale Capital.
Cassandra’s company.
Nathaniel placed the records across the conference table.
“My uncle recruited her.”
“When?”
“Possibly before you left for the academy.”
Amelia looked up.
“That was nine years ago.”
“Vale Capital existed under a different name. A dormant company connected to Cassandra’s father.”
“Her father died when she was sixteen.”
“His company did not.”
Amelia examined the ownership chart.
Cassandra’s father, Adrian Vale, had once managed shipping contracts for Hart Meridian. His death in a boating accident had led Theodore to take Cassandra into his home.
Nathaniel pointed to a transaction.
“Three months before Adrian died, he transferred this company to Victor.”
“And Victor later transferred it to Cassandra.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“That is what we need to discover.”
Theodore regained consciousness that evening.
Amelia entered alone.
Her father looked weak against the white pillows.
“Do you remember what happened at the house?” she asked.
“Someone came into the study.”
“Who?”
“I could not see his face.”
“You said something about Nathaniel.”
Theodore frowned.
“I said what?”
“You pointed at him and said, ‘You brought him into her life.’”
Fear crossed his face.
“I was confused.”
“Dad.”
“It meant nothing.”
“Then why are you afraid?”
He turned his head toward the window.
Amelia sat beside him.
“You asked me to trust Nathaniel.”
“I asked you to use his resources.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“No.”
“Do you believe he married me for Hart Meridian?”
Theodore closed his eyes.
“I don’t know why Nathaniel married you.”
“I do.”
“Do you?”
Amelia stood.
Theodore reached for her hand.
“Victor Blackwood knew your mother.”
She stopped.
“How?”
“They served on an international relief board together.”
“My mother hated corporate boards.”
“This was not public.”
“What did they do?”
Theodore swallowed.
“They investigated weapons being moved through humanitarian shipments.”
Amelia slowly sat again.
“Whose weapons?”
“Blackwood weapons. Hart Meridian ships.”
The room seemed to narrow.
“Were you involved?”
“Not knowingly.”
“But my mother found out.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Theodore looked toward the door.
“She died before she could release the evidence.”
Amelia’s chest tightened.
Her mother had died in a private plane crash.
The official investigation blamed mechanical failure.
“Are you saying her death was not an accident?”
“I am saying I never proved it was.”
“And you let me grow up believing there was nothing to question?”
“I wanted you safe.”
“You brought Cassandra into our home.”
“Because Adrian Vale claimed he had evidence about the crash.”
Amelia stared at him.
“Cassandra’s father knew?”
“He said Victor was responsible.”
“Then Adrian died too.”
“Yes.”
“And you took his daughter in because you felt guilty.”
“Because I believed she might be in danger.”
Amelia stood again, unable to remain still.
“Did Cassandra know?”
“I don’t think so. Not then.”
“Now?”
Theodore’s silence answered.
Amelia moved toward the door.
“Where are you going?”
“To ask her.”
“No.”
“I am done waiting.”
“She will lie.”
“Then I will watch how she lies.”
Amelia returned to Hart Manor the following morning.
Cassandra was waiting in the entrance hall.
She wore black trousers and a cream blouse. No trace remained of the terrified woman who had lost control when the secret marriage was revealed.
Julian stood near the fireplace.
“You took Theodore,” Cassandra said.
“I saved him.”
“You refused to tell us where he was.”
“For his safety.”
Cassandra’s eyes narrowed.
“From me?”
“Should I be concerned about you?”
Julian stepped forward.
“This has gone far enough.”
Amelia looked at him.
“You signed a contingency trust transferring my father’s company.”
His face changed.
Cassandra turned toward him.
“You told her?”
“I did not.”
Amelia noticed the exchange.
“So you both know.”
Cassandra recovered.
“Theodore created many trusts.”
“This one was witnessed by Victor Blackwood.”
Silence.
Julian looked toward Cassandra.
She did not look back.
Amelia stepped closer.
“Did Victor recruit you before or after you started sleeping with Julian?”
Julian flinched.
Cassandra smiled coldly.
“You think every man who chooses me must have been manipulated.”
“I think you have never made a move without calculating what it would buy.”
“It bought me the life you threw away.”
“My room?”
“Yes.”
“My fiancé?”
“Yes.”
“My father?”
Cassandra’s smile disappeared.
“You never deserved him.”
Amelia’s hands remained at her sides.
“What did Victor promise you?”
“Nothing.”
“What did you promise him?”
Cassandra walked toward the staircase.
The movement was meant to end the conversation.
Amelia caught her wrist.
Julian moved forward.
Amelia looked at him once.
He stopped.
Cassandra stared at Amelia’s hand.
“You are hurting me.”
“Answer.”
Cassandra leaned closer.
“You want to know what Victor promised?”
“Yes.”
“The truth about your mother.”
Amelia released her.
Cassandra rubbed her wrist.
“He told me Theodore killed both our parents,” she said.
Julian stared at her.
Amelia felt the floor shift beneath her.
“What are you talking about?”
“My father discovered Theodore was using Hart Meridian ships for illegal weapons. Your mother helped him. Theodore arranged both accidents before they could expose him.”
“That is a lie.”
“Is it?”
Cassandra reached into a drawer and removed a photograph.
It showed Theodore standing on a dock beside Victor Blackwood.
Between them were Amelia’s mother and Adrian Vale.
On the back, a date had been written.
Two weeks before Amelia’s mother died.
Cassandra placed the photograph in Amelia’s hand.
“Victor did not recruit me to steal the company,” she said. “He recruited me to take it back from the man who murdered my father.”
Amelia looked at Theodore’s face in the photograph.
Then she noticed something in the background.
A shipping container marked with a symbol she recognized from a recent military intelligence briefing.
A symbol associated with an international weapons network believed to have disappeared twenty years ago.
May you like
At the bottom corner of the photograph, someone had written two words.
PROJECT ORPHEUS.
