Chapter 9 - THE BLACKWOOD SECRET
Cedric wanted to call Graham a liar.
Instead, he remembered his mother’s letter.
Do not trust anyone who tells you I died confused.
Not anyone who says the Vales did everything.
Cedric walked to the ballroom windows and looked at the guests still trapped inside the estate by the investigation. He had grown up believing the Blackwood name meant stability, discipline, and loyalty. For the first time, he wondered whether those words had only been expensive wallpaper covering fear.
Mara searched the corporate archive for Project Orchid.
The name appeared once in a deleted accounting index from nine years earlier.
Authorized by Henry Blackwood.
Cedric felt sick.
“What was it?”
Graham leaned back in the chair where officers held him.
“Insurance.”
“Against what?”
“People.”
Henry had hired private investigators to collect leverage on politicians, executives, union leaders, regulators, and business rivals.
Graham had helped finance it.
Martin Shaw handled legal cleanup.
Years later, Eleanor discovered the program.
She ordered it shut down.
But someone kept using it.
“Sofia found the remaining accounts,” Graham said. “That made her dangerous.”
Alonzo crossed the room so fast two officers blocked him.
“You knew.”
Graham looked at him.
“I knew after she died.”
“You said nothing.”
“I had a family to protect.”
Alonzo’s voice shook. “So did she.”
Cedric asked the question he feared.
“Did my father order Sofia’s death?”
“No. Henry was already dead.”
“Then who inherited Orchid?”
Graham smiled without warmth.
“That’s the question your mother died asking.”
Mara found another page tucked into the folder lining.
A list of initials.
G.V.
M.S.
S.V.
C.B.
Cedric stared at the last two letters.
His own initials.
Portia whispered, “Cedric...”
He looked at the note beside his name.
C.B. - unaware. Keep that way until marriage.
Below it was one more line.
PRIMARY CONTROLLER: F.B.
Cedric’s pulse jumped.
Flora Blackwood?
No.
Flora’s last name was Hayes.
There was only one F.B. Cedric knew.
May you like
His aunt, Frances Blackwood.
The woman who had planned every detail of the wedding.
