Blackwood Road
Chapter 07 - Blackwood Road
The encrypted drive opened after forensic specialists found the password hidden in Robert’s will.
ELEANORBUILTIT.
The first folder contained photographs of Claire’s wrecked car.
The brake line showed a clean cut.
The insurance report described corrosion.
The second folder held security footage from Vale Crown’s underground garage. Daniel’s head of security, Owen Pike, entered the garage the night before the crash carrying a tool case.
The third contained audio recorded by Robert.
He confronted Daniel two weeks after Claire’s accident.
“You cut the brakes.”
“I ordered a warning.”
“A severed brake line is not a warning.”
“She survived.”
Robert struck the desk.
The recording captured the sound.
Daniel continued.
“She was going to expose everything before we secured the refinancing.”
“You nearly killed your wife.”
“She is not innocent. Her mother’s claim could destroy us.”
“She is your family.”
“She is a risk with a wedding ring.”
Claire stopped the recording.
Sophie was not in the room.
Marta had taken her to the hospital garden.
Claire leaned forward, trying to breathe through the pain.
Daniel’s voice on the recording was colder than any version she remembered.
Lena waited.
“You do not have to continue today.”
“Yes, I do.”
The final file contained payment records from Vale Crown to a shell company owned by Owen Pike. The payment was labeled VEHICLE SECURITY CORRECTION.
Pike was arrested before noon.
He denied cutting the brakes.
Then investigators showed him the garage footage.
He asked for an attorney.
Dr. Keene’s records revealed that Claire had also been sedated before driving. The car sabotage and medication were designed to create an accident that could be blamed on her judgment.
If she died, Daniel inherited her property.
If she survived with cognitive impairment, he controlled it through guardianship.
The plan benefited from either outcome.
The same logic shaped the hallway.
If Claire signed the papers, Daniel gained control.
If she collapsed, he declared her incapacitated.
If she remembered, he called her unstable.
May you like
Claire had spent months trying to prove which version he intended.
The evidence showed he was prepared for all of them.
