Chapter 7 - A Mother’s Name

Alexander looked as if someone had struck him.

“My mother died when I was twelve.”

Margaret shook her head. “That’s what your father told you.”

The attackers retreated when Marcus’s backup arrived. Alexander took Margaret and Lena to a safe apartment above one of his closed restaurants. No staff. No cameras connected to the estate network. No one entered without Marcus’s approval.

Margaret sat at the kitchen table, both hands wrapped around a cup of tea.

“Your mother, Evelyn Blake, discovered that her husband was selling names of witnesses to rival crews,” she told Alexander. “She found the ledger and tried to take it to the federal prosecutor. Your father caught her.”

Alexander stared at the table. “He said she died of pneumonia.”

“She was moved to a private clinic under another name. I helped her escape. But she was already sick, and she died six months later.”

“Where is she buried?”

“Under her real name, in a small cemetery outside Milwaukee.”

Alexander pressed his fingers to his eyes.

Lena sat beside her mother. “Why did you say she ordered the fire?”

“Because Evelyn planned it as a distraction. She wanted to burn the records room, not the hotel. Your grandfather’s men changed the plan. They locked the doors and set the whole building alight.”

“Who was your grandfather?” Lena asked.

“Frank Blake. Alexander’s grandfather. Your mother’s studio was funded by him. He used it to recruit young dancers for private parties and move money through the arts foundation.”

Lena felt sick. “My mother worked for him?”

“She thought she was teaching children. When she found the accounts, she copied them.”

Alexander stood. “I’m going to find the grave.”

“Not yet,” Margaret said. “Victoria knows you’ve found me. She’ll expect you to act emotionally.”

He turned. “What do you want me to do?”

“Think like the man you were raised to be. Then choose not to become him.”

Before dawn, Marcus received a call. He listened in silence, then passed the phone to Alexander.

A woman’s voice came through.

“Hello, son. I hear you’ve been asking about your mother.”

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Alexander went white.

It was Evelyn Blake.