Chapter 7: The Blackwood Secret
927 Words
The words refused to leave Aria’s mind.
The Black Swan is one of them.
One of the Blackwoods.
The sentence felt like poison.
Slowly spreading.
Destroying every certainty she had left.
Arthur stared at the hidden message in horror.
“I’ve never seen this before.”
Aria looked up sharply.
“You never read the notebook?”
Arthur shook his head.
“No.”
His voice sounded almost ashamed.
“I promised your mother I wouldn’t.”
Aria lowered her gaze to the page.
Her mother’s handwriting looked calm.
Steady.
As if she had known exactly what was coming.
As if she had known she was running out of time.
A chill ran through her body.
For the first time, the possibility entered her mind.
What if her mother’s death hadn’t been an accident?
What if someone had wanted her gone?
The library door suddenly opened.
Damien entered.
His expression immediately changed when he noticed their faces.
“What happened?”
Neither answered.
Arthur slowly handed him the notebook.
Damien read the hidden message.
For a brief moment, something flashed across his face.
Shock.
Real shock.
Then it vanished.
Aria noticed.
“You didn’t know.”
Damien looked at her.
“No.”
For once, she believed him.
Because if Damien had known, he would never have looked that surprised.
Arthur rose from his chair.
“The Black Swan isn’t Lucas.”
Damien frowned.
“How do you know?”
Arthur’s gaze hardened.
“Because Lucas was only a child when all this began.”
The room fell silent.
Aria felt another piece of the puzzle shifting.
Then who was it?
Who inside the Blackwood family had been hiding for fifteen years?
Before anyone could speak again, a loud crash echoed from outside.
All three rushed to the window.
A black SUV had smashed through the estate’s front gate.
Security alarms exploded across the property.
Men in dark clothing jumped from the vehicle.
Masked.
Armed.
Moving with military precision.
Aria’s heart nearly stopped.
“They’re here.”
Damien’s eyes became ice.
“Take Aria upstairs.”
Arthur immediately moved toward her.
But Aria couldn’t move.
Because one of the masked men was carrying something.
A large black flag.
Painted across it was a silver swan.
The Black Swan.
⸻
The mansion erupted into chaos.
Security guards flooded the grounds.
Gunfire echoed through the estate.
Glass shattered.
People shouted orders.
Aria found herself running through unfamiliar hallways with Arthur.
Her pulse thundered in her ears.
“What do they want?”
Arthur’s face was pale.
“You.”
The answer stunned her.
“Why?”
Arthur didn’t answer.
Which frightened her even more.
They reached the third floor.
Arthur led her into an old bedroom.
The room looked untouched.
Frozen in time.
Dust covered the furniture.
Sunlight faded the curtains.
It felt as though nobody had entered for years.
Then Aria noticed something.
A photograph sitting on the dresser.
She picked it up.
Her breath caught.
The picture showed a young Damien.
Perhaps sixteen years old.
Standing beside—
Her mother.
Aria froze.
The photo slipped from her fingers.
“No.”
Her voice barely emerged.
This wasn’t possible.
Damien hadn’t simply met her mother.
He had known her.
Known her well enough to have photographs together.
Known her long before the night she died.
Arthur looked exhausted.
As though he knew this moment would come.
“There are things Damien hasn’t told you.”
Aria slowly turned toward him.
“What things?”
The old man hesitated.
Then he whispered,
“Your mother lived here.”
The room spun.
“What?”
“For nearly two years.”
Aria stared at him.
Unable to process the words.
“No.”
“It’s true.”
“My mother never mentioned this.”
Arthur’s expression filled with sadness.
“Because she couldn’t.”
A heavy silence settled between them.
Aria looked around the room again.
The photographs.
The furniture.
The memories.
Everywhere she looked, she found pieces of a life she had never known existed.
And suddenly a terrifying thought entered her mind.
Had her mother been hiding from someone?
Or had she been hiding something?
⸻
Downstairs, Damien stood in the entrance hall.
Rain lashed against the broken windows.
The attackers had retreated.
For now.
But the message was clear.
The Black Swan knew Aria had begun uncovering the truth.
A security guard approached.
“Sir.”
Damien didn’t look away from the shattered front doors.
“What is it?”
“We caught one of them.”
That got his attention.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Minutes later Damien entered the security room.
A masked man sat tied to a chair.
Blood stained his sleeve.
His breathing was uneven.
But his eyes held no fear.
Only loyalty.
Dangerous loyalty.
Damien removed the mask.
The prisoner’s face was unfamiliar.
Just another soldier.
Another follower.
Another pawn.
Damien leaned closer.
“Who sent you?”
The man laughed.
A strange sound.
Almost joyful.
Then he said something that made Damien’s blood run cold.
“The Black Swan says hello.”
Damien remained silent.
The prisoner smiled wider.
“And she says Aria finally looks just like her mother.”
The room fell silent.
Every guard froze.
Damien’s jaw tightened.
One word echoed in his mind.
She.
Not he.
She.
For fifteen years everyone had searched for a man.
A businessman.
A criminal mastermind.
A powerful enemy.
But according to the prisoner—
The Black Swan was a woman.
And somewhere in the shadows…
She was already watching Aria.
- Writer
