Chapter 20 - The True PuppeteerClaire dropped her phone onto the leather seat of the boat, her hands shaking violently. She scrambled to pick it up, pressing it back to her ear.
"Who... who is this?!" Claire screamed over the roar of the boat's engine.
"You played your part exceptionally well, my sweet child," the voice chuckled, smooth as velvet and cold as ice. "The timid victim, the vengeful daughter, the brilliant mastermind... a masterclass performance."
"Mother...?" Claire whimpered, tears instantly filling her eyes. "You're... you're alive?!"
"The woman you saw in the casket six months ago was a medical body double, just like the one Eleanor used," her mother, Vivienne Blackwood, revealed casually over the encrypted line. "I needed Harrison to think he succeeded in killing me so he would reveal his cartel network. I needed Ethan to expose his financial crimes. And I needed you and Eleanor to fight over the trust fund to flush out every corrupt lawyer and judge in the country."
Claire grabbed the edge of the boat, her head spinning. Everything she had sufferedāthe terror, the fall from the balcony, the blood, the court battlesāwas nothing more than a scripted play written by her own mother.
"Where are you?!" Claire demanded, her voice breaking.
"Look up at the balcony of the Grand Hotel National across the lake," Vivienne instructed softly.
Claire turned her head toward the illuminated lakeside hotel. High up on the penthouse balcony, a woman in an elegant red silk dress stood holding a pair of binoculars and a glass of champagne, waving down at the water taxi.
"The $100 million in diamonds wasn't your inheritance, Claire," Vivienne said, her voice dripping with maternal warmth and terrifying absolute power. "It was your audition. And congratulations... you passed."
"I took the money, Mother," Claire spat, clutching the hard-drive tightly against her chest. "It's in my private account now. You can't touch it!"
Vivienne laughed softly, a delicate, chilling sound.
"Check the account balance again, my dear."
Claire frantically tapped her phone screen, refreshing the bank application.
[ACCOUNT BALANCE: $0.00] [NOTIFICATION: ALL FUNDS REVERTED TO MASTER HOLDINGS - V. BLACKWOOD]
"You left one tiny backdoor open in your mother's cryptographic key," Vivienne whispered into the receiver. "Did you really think the student could outsmart the master?"
The water taxi pulled up to the private dock of the Grand Hotel National.
The driver opened the door, bowing respectfully. "Madame Vance, your host is waiting for you in the penthouse."
Claire stood up slowly, looking up at the towering luxury hotel. She realized then that she had never been the mastermind. She had never been the victim. She was a Blackwood, born into a world where power was the only currency, and her mother was the ultimate queen on the board.
Claire wiped the tears from her face, straightened her posture, and adjusted her coat.
A dark, dangerous, calculating smile slowly spread across Claireās faceāa smile identical to her mother's.
"Keep the motor running," Claire told the boat captain softly. "I won't be long."
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She stepped onto the dock and walked into the hotel glass doors to claim her seat at the head of the empire.
šØ THE END OF THE BLACKWOOD SAGA šØ
