Chapter 9 - THE GRAY SUV
The SUV was gone before we reached my sister’s building in Lincoln Park.
Victor insisted on coming.
So did Daniel.
I hated needing them.
I hated even more that I did.
My sister, Rachel, opened the door before I knocked.
She hugged me hard, then pushed me back.
“You look awful.”
“Thanks.”
“I mean injured.”
“I know.”
Victor stood behind me holding a small overnight bag Ethan’s evening sitter had packed.
Rachel stared at him.
“That’s Victor Blackwood.”
“Unfortunately.”
Victor almost smiled.
Again.
We checked the hallway camera with the building manager.
The gray SUV had arrived at 5:42.
A man wearing a baseball cap entered at 6:03.
He never came upstairs.
Instead, he placed an envelope inside Rachel’s mailbox.
My name was written on it.
No stamp.
Inside was one sheet of paper.
Three words.
You saw nothing.
Rachel swore.
Victor reached for it.
I pulled it away.
“No.”
“Lily.”
“This is mine.”
“It is evidence.”
“I know.”
I slid it into a plastic document sleeve the building manager gave us.
Then I looked at the footage again.
The man kept his head down.
But when he turned, I saw his left hand.
A silver ring.
Square black stone.
I had seen that ring tapping against the nursery door the day before.
Graham.
I felt no satisfaction.
Only anger.
Because now I remembered what he wanted erased.
Yesterday afternoon, when I stepped from the laundry room, Graham had been exiting Ethan’s nursery carrying Victor’s tablet.
Serena stood beside him.
Before they noticed me, Serena whispered:
“Is the second account clean?”
Graham answered:
“It will be after tonight.”
At the time, I thought they were discussing a charity account.
Then Graham saw me.
He stopped talking.
Serena smiled.
That evening, I received a strange text from an unknown number:
Still interested in better-paying work?
I deleted it.
Now I understood.
They had tested whether I could be bought.
When I did not respond, Graham sent the severance email.
When I did not see that, they moved to something uglier.
Victor listened without interrupting.
When I finished, he looked at Daniel.
“Can the vendor payments be traced to a second account?”
“Elaine’s forensic team is already working it.”
Rachel folded her arms.
“And what happens to Lily while billionaires investigate each other?”
The question landed harder than she intended.
Victor looked at me.
“I provide protection.”
“No.”
“Then what do you want?”
“I want my life back.”
“I can’t give you that tonight.”
For once, he didn’t promise what he couldn’t deliver.
That earned him a fraction of trust.
Then Daniel’s phone rang.
He stepped aside.
When he returned, his expression had changed.
“The forensic accountant found the second account.”
Victor went still.
“Whose name?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Not Graham’s.”
I knew before he said it.
“Serena?”
Daniel shook his head.
The account belonged to someone inside Blackwood Holdings.
May you like
Someone Victor trusted enough to sign checks beside him.
📖 The second account pointed beyond Serena and Graham, forcing Victor to decide whether the conspiracy had reached his company—or whether someone was being framed. 👇
