CHAPTER 10 : THREE DAYS TO THE ALTAR
1883 Words
The words remained on the card.
THE WEDDING IS IN THREE DAYS.
Beneath them:
AND YOUR FATHER WILL GIVE YOU AWAY.
Isabella couldn't look away.
Her fingers trembled around the black card.
"My father is alive."
It wasn't a question.
Adrian stared at the message.
"We don't know that."
"You heard what they said."
"I heard what they wanted us to believe."
"But I saw him."
Adrian turned toward her.
"You remembered him."
"I saw him."
"Memory isn't proof."
Her eyes flashed.
"Then what is?"
Adrian didn't answer.
Victoria stepped closer.
"There is one way to find out."
Adrian looked at her.
"How?"
Victoria pointed toward the journal.
"Port Arthur."
The room fell silent.
Adrian picked up the journal.
"You're saying the final evidence is there."
"I'm saying your father believed the truth would eventually lead there."
"Why?"
"Because Port Arthur wasn't only a prison."
Victoria's voice lowered.
"During the final months of your father's investigation, it became a meeting place."
"For the Consortium?"
She nodded.
"Before they moved underground."
Isabella looked at Adrian.
"Then we go tonight."
"No."
She frowned.
"What?"
"We don't go anywhere until I know the estate is secure."
"Three days."
"I know."
"If my father is alive—"
"If."
Adrian stepped closer.
"You've spent twenty years believing your father abandoned you. I'm not going to let someone exploit that pain to lure you into a trap."
Her voice softened.
"You think I'm being reckless."
"I think you're desperate."
"Maybe I am."
She looked at him.
"Wouldn't you be?"
Adrian's expression changed.
She had touched the one wound he never allowed anyone near.
"My whole life," Isabella continued, "I believed my father chose to leave me."
She swallowed.
"Now I have a chance to know why."
Adrian looked away.
"I understand."
"Then let me go."
He looked back at her.
"We go together."
---
At midnight, Blackwood security turned the estate into a fortress.
Additional guards arrived.
Every entrance was sealed.
Electronic surveillance covered the grounds.
A helicopter remained ready on the landing pad.
But Adrian wasn't taking any chances.
He sat in the security room studying surveillance footage.
Isabella entered carrying two cups of coffee.
"You haven't slept."
"Neither have you."
She handed him one.
"Fair."
He accepted it.
She sat beside him.
For a few minutes, they watched the monitors.
Then Isabella noticed something.
"Go back."
Adrian frowned.
"What?"
"Camera seven."
He rewound the footage.
A man crossed the garden.
Black jacket.
Black cap.
Walking toward the eastern wing.
"Who is that?"
Adrian zoomed in.
The image became clearer.
Isabella's heart stopped.
"I know him."
"Who?"
"That man."
She pointed.
"He was at the newspaper office."
Adrian immediately stood.
"Security."
The guards rushed in.
"Find him."
They ran.
The camera feed suddenly went black.
Adrian stared at the screen.
"He's inside the system."
Isabella looked at him.
"What does that mean?"
"It means someone has given him access."
"Arthur?"
"Arthur is unconscious."
"Victoria?"
"She's downstairs."
"Eleanor?"
"Under medical protection."
Isabella whispered:
"Then who?"
Adrian didn't answer.
A door slammed somewhere in the house.
He grabbed her hand.
"Stay here."
"No."
"Isabella."
"I'm coming."
He looked at her for a moment.
Then nodded.
They moved through the corridor.
The mansion was strangely quiet.
Too quiet.
They reached the eastern wing.
A door stood open.
Adrian entered.
The room was empty.
Except for a table.
On it was a photograph.
Isabella picked it up.
Her face changed.
It showed her as a child.
Standing beside her father.
The photograph had been taken at a beach.
She recognized the location.
Bondi.
But the date was impossible.
2009.
Three years after her father supposedly disappeared.
"That's me."
Adrian looked at the photograph.
"You were older."
"Yes."
"How old?"
"Ten."
"Do you remember this?"
She shook her head.
"No."
Adrian examined the back.
There was another message.
YOUR MEMORY WAS NEVER ERASED.
Isabella's breathing became shallow.
"It was hidden."
"What?"
"The memory."
She closed her eyes.
The beach appeared.
The sun.
The waves.
Her father's hand holding hers.
And a man standing behind them.
The same man from the photograph.
The same man from her childhood memory.
She opened her eyes.
"He was there."
Adrian's expression hardened.
"Who?"
"The man with my father."
"Did you hear his name?"
She shook her head.
"But my father called him..."
She stopped.
"What?"
She struggled.
"A name."
"What name?"
"Victor."
Adrian froze.
Victoria's voice suddenly came from the doorway.
"Victor?"
They turned.
She looked terrified.
"Did you say Victor?"
Isabella nodded.
Victoria stepped backward.
"No."
Adrian stared at her.
"You know him."
Victoria shook her head.
"I thought he was dead."
"Who is Victor?"
Victoria looked at Adrian.
"Your uncle."
Silence.
Adrian's face hardened.
"My uncle's name was Victor Blackwood."
"Was?"
"He died in a car accident fifteen years ago."
Victoria shook her head.
"That's what the family was told."
Isabella looked between them.
"Then he's alive."
Victoria's eyes filled with fear.
"If he's alive..."
She stopped.
"What?"
"He controls the Consortium."
Adrian's jaw tightened.
"You're certain?"
Victoria nodded.
"I've seen him."
"When?"
"Six months ago."
"Where?"
"Melbourne."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because he threatened my children."
Adrian's expression darkened.
"Where are they now?"
Victoria's eyes filled with tears.
"They disappeared three months ago."
Isabella's blood ran cold.
"Victoria..."
"I've been looking for them ever since."
Adrian stepped closer.
"Why come here now?"
"Because I found them."
"Where?"
Victoria looked at Isabella.
"In Tasmania."
Isabella's heart stopped.
"With Margaret?"
Victoria nodded.
"Margaret was protecting them."
Adrian stared.
"Then why didn't she tell us?"
"Because she was afraid."
"Of Victor?"
"No."
Victoria's voice dropped.
"Of your father."
Adrian went still.
"My father?"
"Your father is alive."
Silence.
Isabella felt the world tilt.
"Where?"
Victoria looked toward the window.
"Port Arthur."
---
They left before dawn.
The helicopter cut through the dark sky toward Tasmania.
Isabella sat beside Adrian.
Neither spoke.
The information was too overwhelming.
Her father alive.
Adrian's father alive.
His mother alive.
His uncle alive.
And somehow all four were connected to the Consortium.
The dead had become living.
The living had become suspects.
Nothing made sense anymore.
Isabella looked at Adrian.
"Are you afraid?"
He stared ahead.
"Yes."
She blinked.
He looked at her.
"But not of my father."
"Then what?"
"Of what happens if he's not the man I remember."
She understood.
"People change."
"Twenty years changes everyone."
She reached for his hand.
He looked down.
Then closed his fingers around hers.
Neither spoke.
---
Port Arthur appeared beneath them.
The historic site looked peaceful.
Ancient buildings.
Green hills.
Cold ocean.
Mist hanging over the water.
But Adrian knew better.
The helicopter landed on a private strip several kilometres away.
Their security team moved ahead.
"Stay close," Adrian said.
"I'm not going anywhere."
They walked through the forest.
The coordinates from the journal led them toward an abandoned stone building.
Adrian examined the door.
Locked.
Isabella pulled out the brass key.
"Try this."
He stared at it.
"Your father's key?"
She nodded.
He inserted it.
The lock clicked.
The door opened.
Inside was a narrow staircase.
They descended.
At the bottom stood a steel room.
On the wall was a single inscription.
FOR THE CHILDREN WHO SURVIVED.
Isabella touched it.
"This was built for us."
Adrian looked around.
A projector suddenly activated.
A light appeared.
Then a video.
Adrian's father appeared on screen.
Older.
Tired.
Alive.
Adrian stepped forward.
"Dad..."
The recording began.
"My son."
Adrian's eyes filled with tears.
"If you're seeing this, then you have discovered the truth."
He paused.
"I need you to understand why I disappeared."
The image changed.
Eleanor appeared.
Then Isabella's father.
Then Victor.
All four were standing together.
Isabella stared.
They had been working together.
Not against each other.
Together.
Her father's voice continued.
"The Consortium became too powerful."
Adrian's father looked into the camera.
"Victor wanted to control it."
Eleanor shook her head in the recording.
"We tried to stop him."
Victor stood silently.
Then the video changed.
A helicopter.
Fire.
A crash.
Adrian's father continued.
"We knew they would come after our families."
He looked directly into the camera.
"So we created a plan."
The screen went black.
Then one sentence appeared.
THE MARRIAGE.
Isabella's heart stopped.
Adrian stared.
"What the hell..."
His father's voice returned.
"The marriage between our children was designed as the final key."
Isabella stepped backward.
"No."
Adrian looked at her.
"Isabella..."
The recording continued.
"When Adrian marries Isabella, the Blackwood and Hart inheritance systems will merge."
A digital diagram appeared.
Two family emblems.
The raven.
And another symbol.
"The Consortium has spent twenty years trying to access what we hid."
The screen flickered.
"But only the marriage can unlock it."
Isabella's eyes widened.
"That's why they want us married."
Adrian nodded slowly.
"They need access."
The recording continued.
"Victor will try to manipulate you."
"Do not trust him."
The screen changed again.
Victor appeared.
Older.
Smiling.
And standing beside him was a young woman.
Isabella stared.
She recognized her.
Victoria.
Her breath caught.
"Victoria?"
Adrian looked at the screen.
His expression hardened.
The recording showed Victoria handing Victor a document.
Then the image froze.
A message appeared:
ONE OF THEM IS WORKING FOR VICTOR.
Adrian slowly turned toward the doorway.
Victoria stood there.
She was holding a gun.
Her eyes were filled with tears.
"Don't come closer."
Adrian raised his weapon.
"Victoria."
She shook her head.
"I didn't want this."
Isabella stared at her.
"You work for Victor?"
"No."
"Then why are you holding a gun?"
"Because he has my children."
Adrian's voice became cold.
"Put it down."
"I can't."
"Victoria."
"I'm sorry."
She looked at Isabella.
"I'm so sorry."
A second gun appeared behind her.
A man stepped from the shadows.
He smiled.
"That's enough."
Isabella recognized him immediately.
The man from her memories.
The man who had been standing beside her father.
The man she had seen in the childhood photograph.
Victor Blackwood.
Adrian's uncle.
Alive.
Victor looked at Adrian.
"Hello, nephew."
Adrian stared at him.
For twenty years, he had believed Victor was dead.
Now the man who had haunted his family's history stood ten feet away.
Victor smiled.
"You've grown into your father's son."
Adrian raised his weapon.
"You killed my parents."
Victor shook his head.
"No."
He looked at Isabella.
"Your fathers did something far worse."
"What?"
Victor smiled.
"They lied to both of you."
The lights suddenly went out.
A gunshot exploded.
Isabella screamed.
When the emergency lights returned, Victor was gone.
Victoria was on the floor.
And Adrian was standing over her.
But Isabella was nowhere to be seen.
Adrian's face turned white.
"Isabella?"
No answer.
He ran toward the corridor.
"ISABELLA!"
Far beneath the old Port Arthur ruins, Isabella opened her eyes.
She was lying in a dark room.
Her hands were bound.
A man stood in front of her.
Victor.
He smiled.
"Welcome home."
Isabella struggled against the restraints.
"Where is Adrian?"
Victor leaned closer.
"Exactly where I wanted him."
She stared at him.
"What do you want?"
He placed a photograph in front of her.
Her father.
Alive.
Standing beside a woman.
Isabella's mother.
She stopped breathing.
Victor whispered:
"Your wedding is in three days."
He smiled.
"And before you marry Adrian Blackwood..."
He leaned closer.
"...you're going to meet the father you thought was dead."
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