Chapter 9: Blood and Inheritance
Lydia survived.
The bullet struck her shoulder, missing the artery by less than an inch.
While doctors treated her, Elena placed the bookstore under federal protection.
I remained beside Lydia’s hospital bed until she woke.
“Tell me about Elias,” I said.
She looked at me sadly.
“Your mother loved him before she married Arthur.”
“Did Arthur know?”
“Not at first.”
Arthur had married Eleanor for her family’s shipping connections.
Their marriage was strategic, not romantic.
Years later, Eleanor reconnected with Elias while he was developing Orion.
I was born the following year.
Arthur discovered the truth when I was seven.
“Why did he keep me?”
“Because your mother threatened to expose his early financial crimes if he harmed you.”
So Arthur raised me inside his house.
Fed me.
Educated me.
And hated me every day because I carried another man’s blood.
Grant and Vivienne were his biological children.
I was the living reminder that Eleanor had loved someone else.
“What happened to Elias?”
Lydia’s eyes filled with tears.
“He tried to take you and your mother away. Arthur intercepted him at the harbor.”
“Did Arthur kill him?”
“I don’t know. Elias disappeared that night.”
Elena entered with another discovery.
Because I was Elias Ward’s biological daughter, I was the legal heir to his patents.
Including Orion.
Arthur had purchased the patents through fraud after Elias vanished.
If the court recognized my claim, Vale Maritime could lose control of its most valuable technology.
The merger with Dominion Systems would collapse.
Arthur’s billion-dollar empire could be dismantled without selling a single ship.
But first, we needed proof of paternity.
Lydia had preserved a lock of Elias’s hair inside one of Eleanor’s letters.
The laboratory began an emergency DNA comparison.
Meanwhile, Arthur appeared on national television.
He claimed I was suffering from combat-related delusions.
He accused federal investigators of staging a political attack.
Then he announced the merger would close early—at noon the following day.
He was accelerating the deal before we could stop him.
Elena sought an emergency injunction.
Grant agreed to testify against Arthur.
Vivienne refused.
“He is still our father,” she said.
“He kidnapped Grant,” I replied.
“He was afraid.”
“He killed Mom.”
“You don’t know that.”
Vivienne left the hospital.
Three hours later, security cameras recorded her entering Arthur’s private residence.
At midnight, she called me.
Her voice was barely audible.
“Celeste, I found Father’s original ledger.”
“Bring it to us.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because Mom is here.”
My heart stopped.
“What did you say?”
A woman began speaking in the background.
A voice I had not heard in twelve years.
“Celeste,” my mother whispered. “Do not come here.”
May you like
Then Arthur took the phone.
“She came back to save you,” he said. “Let us see whether you are willing to do the same.”
