CHAPTER 5 — The Confession Adrian Never Intended Sophia to Hear
Michael pressed Play.
Adrian appeared seated in his wheelchair, looking directly into the camera.
"If you're watching this..."
"...then someone finally made their move."
He smiled sadly.
"I've been investigating my own family for over a year."
He pulled out dozens of documents.
Bank transfers.
Hospital records.
Insurance policies.
Private DNA reports.
Then he revealed the impossible.
"My helicopter crash wasn't an accident."
Rachel Monroe stopped breathing.
Adrian continued calmly.
"The brake line had been cut."
"The pilot died before he could testify."
"The investigation was buried within forty-eight hours."
Sophia's face turned pale.
She had never known that.
She had only taken advantage of Adrian after the crash.
She hadn't caused it.
Someone else had.
Adrian placed another photograph on the table.
A family portrait.
Richard Blackwood.
Daniel Blackwood.
Their wives.
Two newborn babies.
Then Adrian circled one man standing quietly in the background.
The family chauffeur.
His name was Victor Hale.
Officially, he disappeared twenty-nine years earlier.
Unofficially...
He had quietly become one of the richest private investors in America under another identity.
Adrian leaned closer to the camera.
"Victor didn't just switch babies."
"He built an empire using stolen identities."
"And he has been controlling the Blackwood family ever since."
Michael whispered,
"My God..."
The billionaire everyone believed controlled the empire...
Had actually been a puppet.
Suddenly every computer monitor inside Blackwood Holdings went dark.
Then one sentence appeared on every screen.
STOP DIGGING... OR ADRIAN DIES FOR REAL THIS TIME.
May you like
Seconds later...
The company's entire financial database vanished.
