Chapter 5: The Mother Who Refused to Die
For several endless seconds...
No one moved.
No one breathed.
Alexander stared at the woman standing in the ruined ballroom.
Her clothes were torn.
Blood stained one sleeve.
Her face was thinner than he remembered.
Older.
Exhausted.
But those blue eyes...
He would recognize them anywhere.
"Emily..."
The sniper rifle slipped from her hands and hit the marble floor.
She smiled through tears.
"I told him you'd protect our son."
Noah looked up slowly.
His tiny lips trembled.
"M... Mom?"
Emily dropped to her knees.
Before anyone could stop him, Noah ran across the shattered ballroom.
He crashed into her arms.
For seven years she had dreamed of this moment.
She held him so tightly that it almost hurt.
"I missed you every single day," she whispered.
Noah buried his face against her shoulder.
"I knew you'd come back."
Around them, even the FBI agents looked away.
Some wiped tears from their eyes.
But the reunion lasted only seconds.
Agent Ross, bleeding heavily on the floor, forced himself to speak.
"Emily..."
"They know you're here."
Emily's smile vanished instantly.
"I know."
She looked directly at Alexander.
"We have less than five minutes."
Alexander grabbed her shoulders.
"Where have you been?"
"Who did this to you?"
"Why didn't you come home?"
Emily closed her eyes.
"The answers will get you killed."
Alexander shook his head.
"I don't care."
"You disappeared for seven years."
"I buried an empty coffin."
"I thought you were dead."
Emily reached into her jacket.
She pulled out a worn leather journal wrapped in waterproof cloth.
"I couldn't risk carrying this before."
She handed it to Alexander.
"This is your grandfather's diary."
Alexander frowned.
"My grandfather?"
"The one everyone said died thirty years ago?"
Emily nodded.
"He wrote everything down."
"The names."
"The accounts."
"The murders."
"The betrayal."
Alexander slowly opened the journal.
The first page contained only one handwritten sentence.
'If my family is reading this... trust no one wearing the Blackwood name.'
Alexander froze.
"What?"
His own last name.
Emily nodded slowly.
"The enemy isn't just the Ashfords."
"It never was."
Suddenly...
Victoria stepped forward.
"I don't understand."
"My father ruined your lives."
"So why does the diary say Blackwood?"
Emily looked at her with pity.
"Because Richard Ashford never started this."
"He married into it."
Victoria's knees nearly gave out.
"No..."
"My family built everything."
Emily whispered,
"No."
"Your family worked for them."
The ballroom erupted into whispers.
Alexander felt his heartbeat pounding in his ears.
"If the Blackwoods are behind this..."
"Who exactly am I?"
Emily looked at him with tears in her eyes.
"You've spent your whole life believing you inherited an empire."
"The truth..."
"You inherited a prison."
Before Alexander could ask another question—
The emergency lights suddenly turned blood red.
Every television screen inside the hotel switched on automatically.
A cold electronic voice echoed through the ballroom.
"Identity confirmed."
"Target Emily Carter located."
"Target Noah Blackwood located."
"Protocol Omega activated."
The FBI agents exchanged terrified looks.
Agent Ross whispered,
"Oh God..."
"They found the building."
Alexander frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Ross looked toward the windows.
"It means..."
"They're not sending assassins anymore."
A deafening rumble shook the entire hotel.
Outside...
Guests screamed.
People began running through the streets.
Alexander looked through the shattered window.
His blood turned to ice.
Dozens...
Then hundreds...
Of identical black SUVs were surrounding the city block.
Above them...
Three military helicopters hovered in perfect formation.
Each helicopter carried the same silver emblem.
A black crown.
Wrapped by a serpent.
Emily's face turned pale.
"They came themselves..."
Alexander whispered,
"Who are they?"
Emily slowly answered the question she had feared for seven years.
"They're called..."
"The Black Crown."
"They're the secret organization your grandfather created."
"And tonight..."
May you like
"They've come to erase the last Blackwood forever."
End of Chapter 5...
