Chapter 6 - A MAID WITH A TARGET
For the first time since Ronan had caught the riding crop, Ivy wanted him out of her sight.
She stood in the old music room with Dorian's accusation still echoing through her phone.
Ronan did not move toward her.
That was wise.
"Tell me he's lying," Ivy said.
Ronan's face remained pale.
"I don't know what he was told."
"That isn't what I asked."
The fire alarm continued to scream through the mansion.
Red emergency lights pulsed against Eleanor's hidden safe.
Declan stood at the doorway receiving security reports through his earpiece.
"The archive fire is contained to the access corridor," he said.
Ronan did not look away from Ivy.
"Evacuate unnecessary staff."
"Already happening."
"Find Alistair."
"No camera has him leaving the grounds."
Ivy laughed bitterly.
"Of course not."
She held up her phone.
"Apparently people disappear very easily around here."
Ronan absorbed the insult.
"Ivy, I never knew your mother's name until tonight."
"You recognized Lancaster."
"Yes."
"From what?"
He hesitated.
That tiny pause destroyed the last piece of patience she had.
"From what?"
Ronan exhaled.
"A list my father kept."
Ivy's eyes narrowed.
"What kind of list?"
"People he considered liabilities."
The room went still.
Ivy took one step backward.
"My family name was on a kill list."
"I did not say kill list."
"What do you think liability meant to Gideon Blackwood?"
Ronan had no answer.
Ivy's voice shook.
"When did you see it?"
"After he died."
"Four years ago."
"Yes."
"And you did what?"
Ronan lowered his eyes.
That was enough.
"Nothing."
"I dismantled the accounts connected to most of those names."
"Did you look for them?"
"No."
"Did you look for us?"
"No."
Ivy nodded slowly.
"Then Dorian was right about one thing."
Ronan's jaw tightened.
"Which thing?"
"You knew enough."
She walked past him.
He caught her wrist.
Not hard.
Just enough to stop her.
Ivy looked down at his hand.
Ronan released her immediately.
"Where are you going?"
"To Theo."
"You cannot go home."
"Watch me."
"The apartment has already been breached."
"Then I will move him."
"To where?"
"Somewhere without a Blackwood crest on the gate."
The words cut deeper than she expected.
Ronan's expression changed.
"You think I am the danger."
"I think you are standing in the center of it."
He accepted that too.
"Let me put Theo somewhere neutral."
"No."
"A hotel under another name."
"No."
"Celia has an apartment downtown nobody connects to Blackwood."
Ivy stopped.
That was practical.
She hated that it was practical.
"I want the address before he moves."
"You get it."
"No Blackwood guards inside."
"Agreed."
"And I choose who stays with him."
"Agreed."
Ivy studied him.
"Why are you agreeing so easily?"
"Because tonight you have more reason to distrust me than to trust me."
The answer angered her less than it should have.
A guard ran into the room.
"Mr. Blackwood."
Ronan turned.
"The archive fire wasn't meant to burn the archive."
"Explain."
"It triggered suppression protocol."
Declan cursed under his breath.
The guard continued.
"When the system activated, the archive network automatically disconnected from the main security grid."
Ronan understood first.
"Someone wanted the cameras blind."
"For six minutes."
"What happened during those six minutes?"
The guard looked at Ivy.
"Someone entered the archive."
They ran.
The corridor smelled of smoke and chemical suppressant.
A security door stood open.
Inside the underground archive, one filing cabinet had been forced.
Only one.
Ronan stared at the empty drawer.
"My father's personal liability files."
Ivy felt her heartbeat in her throat.
"The list with Lancaster on it?"
"Yes."
"So now it's gone."
Declan crouched beside the cabinet.
"Not completely."
He pointed to a scrap of paper trapped beneath the rail.
Celia used tweezers to pull it free.
Only three typed lines remained.
LANCASTER, CELESTE - INTERNAL AUDIT ACCESS.
STATUS: CONTAINMENT FAILED.
ACTION: ROUTE PROVIDED BY A.B.
Ivy read the initials twice.
"A.B."
Ronan's face hardened.
"Alistair Blackwood."
The sentence was barely out before Celia spoke.
"Or Augustus?"
Everyone looked at her.
"Augustus Hale isn't A.B.," Declan said.
"No," Celia replied.
"But his legal name is Augustus Bernard Hale."
The clue suddenly split in two directions.
Ivy hated that.
She wanted one villain.
One answer.
One door she could kick open and find Dorian behind it.
Instead, every fact created another corridor.
Ronan looked at the scrap.
"Containment failed."
"Meaning Mom tried to escape," Ivy said.
"Or tried to expose them."
Celia examined the text.
"This formatting matches internal Blackwood risk reports from Gideon's era."
Ivy stared at the word containment.
"He wrote about a human being like leaking cargo."
Ronan's expression turned sick.
"That sounds like him."
Before Ivy could answer, Declan's phone rang.
He listened for five seconds.
"We have a location on Dorian's call."
Ivy's pulse exploded.
"Where?"
"Cell tower triangle places it near St. Brigid's Industrial Park."
"How large an area?"
"Four blocks."
"Let's go."
Ronan nodded.
"Declan, assemble two teams."
"No," Ivy said.
Ronan turned.
"What?"
"They will see a convoy coming."
"Then what do you suggest?"
"One car."
"Absolutely not."
"You asked me to trust you."
"I asked you to let me help."
"Then help without arriving like an invasion."
Ronan stared at her.
Declan looked as though he wanted no part of the argument.
Finally Ronan spoke.
"One car visible."
He looked at Declan.
"Teams two minutes behind without lights."
Ivy nodded.
It was the first decision they made together.
Twenty-five minutes later, Ivy sat in the passenger seat of an unmarked sedan while Ronan drove.
The city was almost empty.
Rain had stopped.
Wet asphalt reflected streetlights in long yellow streaks.
"You drive yourself?" Ivy asked.
"Occasionally."
"I thought men like you had people for that."
"Men like me have people for everything."
He kept his eyes on the road.
"It is how we forget what ordinary things cost."
Ivy looked at him.
That sounded less like a philosophy and more like a confession.
Her phone vibrated.
A notification from her banking app appeared.
ACCOUNT FROZEN PENDING FRAUD REVIEW.
She frowned.
Then another alert arrived.
Her savings account.
Frozen.
Her emergency account for Theo's school.
Frozen.
"What the hell?"
Ronan glanced over.
Ivy showed him.
His face darkened.
"Who banks there?"
"Crown National."
Ronan swore.
"Hale-controlled board."
A new email appeared.
NOTICE OF TERMINATION - BLACKWOOD HOUSEHOLD SERVICES.
Ivy stared.
"I've been fired."
"No, you haven't."
"The email says I have."
"I didn't authorize it."
"Someone did."
Another message arrived from the property management company for her apartment.
LEASE VIOLATION REVIEW.
Then a final text from an unknown number.
YOU WANTED TO STAND UP.
NOW SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE REMOVE EVERYTHING UNDER YOUR FEET.
Ivy went cold.
Ronan pulled the car to the curb.
"Give me the phone."
"No."
"I need to trace it."
"You can copy the number."
He looked at her.
Ivy's eyes were wet with fury.
"They froze my money."
"I'll fix it."
"No."
"Ivy."
"No."
She pointed at the phone.
"That is exactly what people like Vivienne expect."
"What?"
"That someone powerful will either crush me or rescue me."
Her voice steadied.
"I am not becoming dependent on you because your enemies are attacking me."
Ronan remained silent.
"Unfreeze the account because it was done illegally."
"Fine."
"Do not put your money in it."
"Fine."
"And do not restore my job tonight."
That surprised him.
"Why?"
"Because until I know who controls your systems, I do not want my livelihood tied to your house."
Ronan stared at her for a long moment.
Then he nodded.
"Fair."
They reached St. Brigid's Industrial Park at 3:41 a.m.
The cell signal led them to an abandoned printing company.
The side door was unlocked.
Ronan drew a compact pistol from beneath his jacket.
Ivy stared at it.
"You brought that after telling me one car?"
"I agreed to one car."
He checked the chamber.
"I did not agree to stupidity."
They entered.
The building smelled of ink and damp paper.
A single work light glowed at the far end.
Ivy saw a chair.
Her heart stopped.
"Dorian."
She ran.
The chair was empty.
Rope lay on the floor.
So did Dorian's jacket.
Ivy picked it up.
It was warm.
"He was here."
Ronan examined the room.
"Very recently."
A printer on the far desk clicked to life by itself.
Both of them turned.
One sheet slid out.
Then another.
Then another.
Photographs.
The first showed Ivy entering Blackwood House eleven months earlier for her job interview.
The second showed Dorian outside Pearson Auto.
The third showed Theo leaving school.
The fourth showed Celeste Lancaster nine years ago standing beside Eleanor Blackwood.
And the fifth showed Ronan.
He was twenty-two years old.
He stood beside Gideon Blackwood outside a courthouse.
On the back, someone had printed one sentence.
ASK RONAN WHY HE WAS AT THE COURTHOUSE THE MORNING YOUR MOTHER DIED.
Ivy slowly turned toward him.
Ronan stared at the image.
"I can explain."
May you like
Ivy laughed once.
"That sentence is becoming very popular tonight."
