THE HEIR'S REVENGE

chapter 23

Twenty-three lives. Victoria was willing to commit mass murder to avoid prison. The woman's descent into evil was complete. I immediately texted the information to Detective Morrison, Brandon, and the fire department. They needed to evacuate that building now.

"There's more," Sophia said, pulling out a folder. "I found these in her safe. I think... I think they're about your mother."

My hands froze as I opened the folder. Inside were photographs I'd never seen—my mother when she was young, beautiful, happy. Standing next to her in several photos was a younger Charles Blackwell, my grandfather. They looked in love, completely absorbed in each other. But in the background of one photo, barely visible, was Victoria. Watching. Always watching.

"She was obsessed with your grandfather," Sophia explained quietly. "She thought if she could get rid of your mother, Charles would choose her. But he chose your mother instead, and Victoria never forgave either of them."

The pieces clicked together in my mind. Victoria's hatred wasn't just about money or power. It was personal, decades old, rooted in rejection and jealousy. She'd spent years planning revenge against a dead woman's son.

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked, studying Sophia's face for deception.

"Because I'm not her," Sophia said firmly. "I've watched her destroy everything good in our lives. She turned Daniel into a violent bully, drove Emma away, made our father a weak shell. I won't let her kill innocent people."

My phone rang. Detective Morrison.

"We've evacuated the building," she said urgently. "Bomb squad found improvised devices near the gas mains. If they'd gone off..." She didn't need to finish. "We're tracing security footage now, looking for Victoria."

"Sophia's with me," I said, making a decision. "She's cooperating. She'll need protection."

Sophia looked surprised, then grateful. She'd expected punishment, not protection. But she wasn't Victoria. She was another victim, finally breaking free.

"There's one more thing," Sophia said as we prepared to leave. "The woman in the coma—Lily's mother. Mom didn't just keep her sedated. She's been slowly poisoning her, making her condition worse. If we don't find her soon, she'll die for real this time."

Rage flooded through me, hot and pure. Victoria wasn't just evil; she was systematically destroying lives with calculated cruelty. But her empire was crumbling. Her husband had turned against her, her son was in jail, Emma lived with me, and now Sophia was providing evidence. She was alone, desperate, and dangerous.

Brandon appeared at the coffee shop door, his expression grim. "We've got a problem. Three banks just reported major withdrawals from accounts connected to Victoria's shell companies. She's liquidating everything, turning it to cash."

"She's running," Maxwell said over the phone, having monitored the financial activity. "But she's taking one last shot at destroying everything first."

As we left the coffee shop, Sophia handed me one more item—a key.

"Mom's real safe house," she said. "The one nobody knows about, not even Dad. 4247 Riverside Drive, apartment 12B. If she's keeping Lily's mother anywhere, it would be there."

I texted the address to Morrison and Brandon simultaneously. Within minutes, police and medical units were racing toward the location. If Lily's mother was there, if she was still alive, we might save her. But even as hope sparked, I knew Victoria wouldn't make it easy. She'd have contingencies, traps, final moves in this deadly game.

My phone buzzed with a message from an unknown number. A video file. I opened it carefully, Brandon watching over my shoulder.

It was Victoria, sitting in what looked like a medical room. Behind her, connected to machines, lay a woman I recognized from old photos—Lily's mother. Still alive, but barely.

"Hello, Ethan," Victoria said to the camera, her once-perfect appearance now disheveled, makeup smeared, eyes wild. "By the time you see this, you'll think you've won. But I always keep my promises. You took everything from me, so I'm taking everything from you. You have one hour to arrive alone, or she dies. One hour, or Lily becomes a true orphan."

The video ended with coordinates. Not the address Sophia had given us, somewhere else entirely. Victoria was forcing a confrontation, using Lily's mother as bait.

"It's a trap," Brandon said immediately.

"Of course it is," I agreed. "But we're going anyway."

Because that's what Victoria never understood. Real strength wasn't about destroying others or taking revenge. It was about protecting people, even when it meant walking into danger. She thought she was forcing me to choose between my safety and Lily's mother.

She was wrong.

I'd save them both.