Chapter 6 – THE LIE OF A LIFETIME

Sebastian stared at the signature.

He didn’t move. He didn’t breathe.

The gun in his hand slowly dropped to his side.

“No,” he whispered. “That’s a forgery.”

“It’s not,” Arthur said softly. “Have the ink tested. Have the handwriting analyzed. Margaret Hayes paid me to take your sister.”

“Why would she do that?!” Sebastian shouted, his composure completely shattering. “She loved us! She raised me! She washed my clothes and cooked my meals when my mother was working!”

“Yes,” Arthur agreed. “She loved you. But she knew the truth about your father, Sebastian. Your father wasn’t just a mob boss. He was a monster. And he had enemies who were coming for his bloodline.”

Anna stepped forward, looking at the ledger.

“What do you mean?”

Arthur sighed, leaning heavily on his cane.

“Margaret wasn’t trying to hurt you, Anna. She was trying to save you. Your father’s rivals had put a bounty on the heads of his children. Margaret knew Sebastian was too old to hide. He was already deeply entrenched in the family business. But you were only three.”

Arthur looked at Sebastian.

“Margaret scraped together every cent of the family’s hidden emergency funds. She paid me to fake a kidnapping. To erase Anna from the world, so the cartels couldn’t find her.”

Sebastian backed up until he hit the wall.

He slid down slightly, his hands gripping his hair.

The woman he had treated like a saint.

The woman he had protected, defended, and loved.

She had broken his heart to save his sister’s life.

“Then why the fire at the orphanage?” Anna asked, her voice trembling.

“Because someone found out she survived,” Arthur said. “Someone inside your own family, Sebastian. A rat. Someone who wanted the Blackwood bloodline completely wiped out so they could take the throne.”

Sebastian looked up.

His eyes were cold, dangerous, and calculating.

“Who?”

Arthur shook his head.

“I don’t know. I swear on my soul, I never found out who lit the match. I only got there in time to pull her out of the flames. After that, I changed her name to Elizabeth. I hid her in plain sight.”

Suddenly, Leo whimpered from the sofa.

He was waking up.

Anna immediately rushed to him, scooping him into her arms.

“We need to leave,” Anna said in a panic. “If someone in your family wants us dead, we can’t trust anyone.”

Sebastian stood up.

His posture was different now.

He wasn’t a grieving brother anymore.

He was the head of the Blackwood family.

“Arthur,” Sebastian said. “Why did Camille try to kill Anna at the hospital tonight?”

Arthur frowned.

“Camille didn’t send those men. My daughter is a social climber, not a murderer.”

Sebastian’s phone buzzed in his pocket.

He pulled it out.

It was a text message from his second-in-command, Marcus.

A man who had served under Sebastian’s father. A man who was practically an uncle to him.

The text read: Boss, we found Camille. She was trying to flee the state. We’re holding her at the warehouse. Awaiting your orders.

Sebastian stared at the screen.

He looked at Arthur.

“Marcus has Camille.”

Arthur’s face went pale.

“Marcus? Marcus Thorne?”

“Yes.”

Arthur’s knees buckled.

One of his bodyguards caught him before he hit the floor.

“Sebastian,” Arthur gasped, terror in his eyes. “Marcus was the one who investigated Anna’s kidnapping twenty-nine years ago. He was the one who declared her officially dead.”

A horrible realization washed over the room.

Marcus wasn’t holding Camille to punish her.

He was tying up loose ends.

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