Chapter 3: The Secret Inside Blackwood Estate
The news spread before sunrise.
“Billionaire’s Son Saved By Catering Worker.”
That was the headline everywhere.
People praised Marisol.
Others called her a hero.
But Marisol did not feel like a hero.
She was sitting in a hospital room, staring at the small bandage wrapped around her hand.
She was thinking about Sofia.
Her daughter.
The little girl who was waiting at home.
When Preston entered the room, he was no longer the untouchable billionaire from the magazines.
He looked tired.
Human.
“I spoke with your neighbor,” he said.
“Your daughter is safe.”
Marisol nodded quietly.
“Thank you.”
Preston placed an envelope on the table.
Marisol looked at it.
“What is that?”
“A thank-you.”
She immediately pushed it back.
“I don’t need money.”
Preston froze.
Most people would have accepted before he finished speaking.
“I know you need money,” he said softly.
“Your car is falling apart. Your daughter’s school payments are overdue. You work three jobs.”
Marisol’s expression changed.
“You investigated me?”
“No.”
Preston looked away.
“Your life was never hidden. People just never bothered to look.”
The words hurt because they were true.
For years, Marisol had been invisible.
Until the night she became impossible to ignore.
Then Preston revealed something unexpected.
The fire had not been an accident.
Investigators discovered that someone had disabled the mansion’s security system before the flames started.
Someone wanted the eastern wing destroyed.
And they wanted Elliot trapped inside.
Marisol stared at him.
“Someone tried to kill your son?”
Preston nodded.
“There is more.”
He placed a photograph on the table.
It showed a man leaving Blackwood Estate hours before the fire.
Marisol recognized him.
Her face went pale.
“That’s impossible.”
Preston looked at her.
“You know him?”
She swallowed.
“Yes.”
The man in the picture was someone she had seen earlier that night.
A person nobody questioned.
May you like
A person who had access to the mansion.
The head of Blackwood security.
