Chapter 14 - The Last Secret of Blackwood
Elena returned to Blackwood Manor on a rainy afternoon.
The property had been seized.
Most of the furniture was gone.
Yellow tape hung across several doors.
Maria refused to stay home.
“You were kidnapped here,” Elena reminded her.
Maria adjusted her coat.
“And I survived. I want to see what’s in the box.”
“There may not be a box.”
“There is always a box.”
The key led them to Cassian’s former office.
Behind the walnut desk was a small brass lock Elena had never noticed.
She stared at it.
“That annoys you, doesn’t it?” Maria asked.
“Deeply.”
The key turned.
A narrow compartment opened.
Inside was no money.
No weapon.
No criminal ledger.
Only letters.
Dozens.
Cassian’s mother had written them before her death.
Elena opened the first.
She learned that Cassian’s father had not always controlled the Thorne organization.
Cassian’s mother had tried to take her sons and leave.
She had discovered the political bribes.
The killings.
The arrangement with Viktor.
And she had planned to expose everything.
Then she died in what police called an accident.
Elena read faster.
One final letter was addressed to Cassian and Julian.
If either of you finds this, remember that the name Thorne does not belong to your father. He does not own your future.
Elena closed her eyes.
Maria whispered, “Cassian needs this.”
“Yes.”
Elena visited him two days later.
He sat behind thick glass at the federal detention center.
Without his suits, guards, and manor, he seemed younger.
Almost ordinary.
Elena placed the letters against the glass.
“They were in your office.”
Cassian read his mother’s handwriting.
His face changed.
For several minutes, he couldn’t speak.
Finally:
“She knew.”
“Yes.”
“She tried to protect us.”
“Yes.”
Cassian pressed his fingertips to the glass.
“I spent my whole life believing power meant nobody could hurt you.”
Elena sat opposite him.
“And?”
“Turns out power mostly tells people exactly where to aim.”
She smiled faintly.
Cassian looked at her.
“My attorney says cooperation could reduce the sentence.”
“You’re cooperating?”
“I gave them everything.”
Elena raised an eyebrow.
“Everything?”
“Almost.”
“What did you keep?”
Cassian smiled.
“My coffee recipe.”
“That was my recipe.”
“Prove it.”
She laughed.
A guard announced the visit was ending.
Cassian’s expression became serious.
“Elena.”
“Yes?”
“When this is over…”
He stopped.
She waited.
“Never mind.”
“No.”
Cassian looked embarrassed.
That might have been the strangest thing Elena had ever witnessed.
She leaned closer.
“Finish the sentence.”
“When this is over, I’d like to meet you somewhere that isn’t under attack.”
Elena stared.
“You’re asking your former undercover housekeeper on a date from federal detention?”
“When you say it like that, it sounds bad.”
“It is bad.”
“Is that a no?”
Elena stood.
Cassian watched her.
She walked toward the door.
Then turned.
“Survive your sentence first.”
Cassian smiled.
It was the closest thing to hope either of them had offered.
But when Elena stepped outside, two men in dark suits were waiting.
One held up federal credentials.
The other said:
“Ms. Ward, we need to talk about Julian Thorne.”
May you like
And Elena knew immediately the dead brother had gotten himself into trouble again.
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