Chapter 8 - THE FINAL ENVELOPEThree months later, the divorce was finalized.
Julian surrendered his claim to the estate.
He resigned from Blackwood Holdings.
He agreed to cooperate with the investigation.
Isabel disappeared from Connecticut.
And Harrison's legal name became:
Harrison Marin.
Not Blackwood.
Not because I hated the Blackwood name.
Because I wanted my son to grow up knowing that his identity belonged to him.
One evening, my father came to my new home.
He handed me another envelope.
I stared at it.
“Another secret?”
He smiled.
“The last one.”
Inside was a letter from my mother.
She had written it twelve years earlier.
I read it slowly.
She said she had always known Julian's family was dangerous.
She said she had trusted my father to protect me.
And then came the sentence that made my hands tremble.
Elena, if you ever marry Julian Blackwood, do not give him the one thing he will eventually ask for.
I read the next line.
Your signature.
I stared at my father.
“She knew?”
“Yes.”
“About Julian?”
“Yes.”
“And you?”
“I tried to warn you.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You disappeared.”
“To protect you.”
I looked down at the letter.
There was one final page.
A list.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
At the bottom was a name I recognized.
Julian Blackwood.
But the date beside it was impossible.
It was dated three years before I met him.
I looked at my father.
“Why was Julian paying someone before he knew me?”
My father didn't answer.
I turned the page.
There was another name.
Laura Bennett.
My blood went cold.
“Dad.”
May you like
He looked away.
“There's one thing I didn't tell you.”
