Chapter 6 - The Night Catherine Blackwood Really Died
Adrian walked downstairs alone.
Victor stood in the foyer.
Two armed men waited behind him.
“You've become predictable,” Victor said.
Adrian stopped.
“You threatened my daughter.”
“I protected this family before you knew what protection meant.”
“You killed Catherine.”
Victor smiled faintly.
“Did I?”
Adrian wanted to kill him.
Victor knew it.
That was precisely why he remained calm.
“If you shoot me, you'll never know what happened that night.”
Upstairs, Grace held Lily tightly.
The child whispered, “There's another way.”
Grace looked at her.
“What?”
“Mommy's room.”
Lily led Grace through a hidden connecting door behind the old wardrobe.
Catherine had shown it to her when she was small.
They reached the former master bedroom.
Lily crawled beneath the bed.
She pulled out the music box.
Grace stared.
“I thought this was in the conservatory.”
Lily turned it over.
On the bottom was a tiny compartment.
Inside was a memory card.
Grace's pulse raced.
“Where did you get this?”
“Mommy.”
The night Catherine died, she had given Lily the card.
“Hide our song,” she had told her.
Lily had obeyed.
For two years, nobody understood that Catherine had entrusted the most important evidence to a four-year-old child.
Grace inserted the card into Catherine's old laptop.
A video appeared.
Catherine's face filled the screen.
“If Adrian is watching this, then I was right.”
Grace froze.
Catherine explained everything.
Victor had stolen from the organization.
He had arranged meetings with rivals.
Vanessa had supplied him with schedules, private information and access to the estate.
But Catherine had discovered something else.
Victor intended to kill Adrian.
Her death had not originally been the plan.
Adrian was supposed to die.
Catherine discovered the plot and confronted Victor.
When she threatened to expose him, she became the new target.
Downstairs, Victor continued talking.
“You think Catherine was innocent?” he asked Adrian. “She was going to destroy everything your father built.”
“She was trying to save me.”
“She was making you weak.”
Adrian's eyes hardened.
“You never understood her.”
“I understood her perfectly.”
Victor smiled.
“She knew too much.”
There it was.
Not quite a confession.
But close.
Then Grace's voice came through Adrian's phone.
She had called without speaking.
The phone in his pocket transmitted everything.
Marcus, hidden outside the estate with police contacts Adrian trusted, was recording.
Victor continued.
“I gave Catherine opportunities to walk away.”
“You sabotaged her car.”
Victor laughed.
“No.”
Adrian paused.
Victor's smile widened.
“That part wasn't me.”
Upstairs, Grace heard it through the phone.
Her stomach dropped.
If Victor hadn't sabotaged Catherine's car…
Who had?
Catherine's video provided the answer.
“I believe Vanessa altered the vehicle herself.”
Grace stared at the screen.
Catherine explained that Vanessa's father had owned luxury auto dealerships. Vanessa knew enough about cars to tamper with a brake line without causing immediate failure.
She had been seen in the estate garage the afternoon Catherine died.
Then the bedroom door opened.
Vanessa stood there.
Grace froze.
Vanessa held a pistol.
Lily hid behind Grace.
“You always were inconvenient,” Vanessa said.
Grace slowly moved in front of the child.
“You killed Catherine.”
Vanessa smiled.
“She was supposed to disappear quietly.”
“You cut her brakes.”
“She should have listened to Victor.”
Grace's phone was still connected.
Downstairs, Adrian heard every word.
His face changed.
Victor realized what had happened.
“Vanessa, shut up!”
Too late.
Her confession had traveled through the house.
Vanessa stepped toward Grace.
“Give me the card.”
“No.”
“You're a maid.”
Grace looked at her.
“And Catherine was your friend.”
Vanessa's face twisted.
“Catherine had everything.”
“So you killed her because you were jealous?”
“I killed her because she stood between me and the life I deserved.”
Lily began crying.
Vanessa looked at her.
“And then that miserable child refused to accept me.”
Grace's fear disappeared.
“Don't talk about her like that.”
Vanessa laughed.
“What are you going to do?”
Grace looked straight at her.
“Protect her.”
Vanessa raised the gun.
A voice came from behind her.
“No.”
Adrian.
Vanessa spun.
He stood in the doorway.
For the first time since Grace had known him, Adrian looked truly dangerous.
Vanessa aimed at him.
“You chose her.”
Adrian's gaze remained on the weapon.
“I chose my daughter.”
“You were supposed to need me.”
“I never needed you.”
Vanessa's hand shook.
Then Lily stepped from behind Grace.
“You killed Mommy.”
Vanessa looked at her.
The child was crying.
But she did not hide.
“You made me scared.”
Adrian's eyes filled with pain.
Lily continued.
“But I'm not scared anymore.”
Those words destroyed something inside Vanessa.
She lunged toward the memory card.
Grace grabbed Lily and moved.
Adrian seized Vanessa's wrist.
The gun discharged into the ceiling.
Within seconds, security officers rushed into the room.
Vanessa was disarmed.
Downstairs, Victor attempted to escape.
Marcus stopped him at the gates.
By sunrise, both conspirators were in custody.
But Adrian refused to celebrate.
He sat alone in Catherine's room watching her final recording.
At the end, Catherine smiled sadly into the camera.
“Adrian, if you're seeing this, Lily survived. That's what matters.”
She paused.
“One day, someone may enter her life who makes her feel safe again.”
Grace stood unseen in the doorway.
Catherine continued.
“Don't be afraid of that person because you think loving someone new betrays me.”
Adrian lowered his head.
“Love her enough to let her love again.”
The video ended.
Grace quietly began to leave.
“Stay.”
Adrian's voice stopped her.
She turned.
He looked at her with tears in his eyes.
For once, he was not the Mafia boss.
He was simply a widower who had finally learned how his wife died.
Grace sat beside him.
Neither spoke.
May you like
After a long silence, Adrian reached for her hand.
And this time, Grace did not pull away.
