Chapter 5 - The Brother Who Knew
Nathan Blackwood lived twenty minutes from the estate.
Ethan drove there without calling first.
Claire sat beside him with the cuff link in her hand.
Nathan opened the door wearing sweatpants and a white shirt.
His face changed when he saw them.
Ethan held up the cuff link.
“You want to explain this?”
Nathan looked toward Claire.
Then away.
“I can.”
“Good.”
Ethan stepped inside.
“Start talking.”
Nathan admitted he had followed them.
He denied trying to hurt Claire.
Eleanor had called him after being released.
She told him Claire was searching for documents that could destroy the family.
“What documents?”
Nathan shook his head.
“She wouldn’t tell me.”
Claire stared at him.
“So you followed us.”
“I wanted to know what she was afraid of.”
Ethan’s anger softened slightly.
“Why didn’t you ask me?”
Nathan laughed bitterly.
“Because you always believed Mom.”
Ethan did not answer.
Nathan looked at Claire.
“I saw what happened on the balcony.”
Claire froze.
“You were there?”
“I was outside near the pool.”
“Why didn’t you tell the police?”
Nathan looked ashamed.
“Because Mom called me ten minutes before it happened.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“What did she say?”
Nathan swallowed.
“She said Claire had found Richard’s key.”
Claire gripped the back of a chair.
“And?”
Nathan’s eyes filled with fear.
“She told me that if Claire opened the study, our entire family would find out what she did twenty-eight years ago.”
Claire leaned forward.
“What did she do?”
“I don’t know.”
Nathan walked to a cabinet.
He removed an old cassette player.
“My father gave me this before he died.”
Ethan stared at it.
“You told me Dad left you nothing.”
“I lied.”
Nathan pressed a button.
Richard Blackwood’s voice filled the room.
“If Eleanor ever learns that I recorded this, she will destroy it.”
Claire sat down slowly.
Richard continued.
“Rebecca came to me because she had discovered Charles Vale had been paying doctors, judges, and adoption agencies.”
Claire’s stomach tightened.
“She believed babies were being taken from vulnerable women and placed with wealthy families willing to pay.”
Ethan whispered.
“My God.”
Then Richard said something worse.
“Rebecca discovered that Eleanor was involved.”
The tape crackled.
Claire looked at Ethan.
Richard’s voice continued.
“One infant transaction was different.”
“There was no buyer.”
“Eleanor kept the child inside our own family.”
Nathan stopped the tape.
Ethan stared at him.
“Why did you stop it?”
May you like
Nathan looked terrified.
“Because the next part is about us.”
