Chapter 18 - The Last Confession
Marcus asked Alexander to return to Blackwood Estate before he explained.
They entered the private library after midnight.
Sarah joined them.
Marcus removed his jacket.
Then he placed a sealed envelope on the table.
Alexander recognized his father's handwriting.
FOR ALEXANDER.
His hands trembled slightly as he opened it.
The letter was twelve years old.
Richard Blackwood confessed everything.
He admitted that in his youth he had inherited control of the underground network.
He had believed he could manage criminals without becoming one.
Slowly, compromise became cooperation.
Cooperation became corruption.
By the time Richard understood what he had created, the Ouroboros Circle had grown beyond him.
He recruited two men to help destroy it.
Adrian Cole.
And Marcus Vale.
Cole betrayed him.
Marcus remained loyal.
Alexander looked up.
Marcus's eyes were wet.
"Your father was dying."
Alexander remembered the official cause.
Heart failure.
Marcus shook his head.
"Poison."
Sarah covered her mouth.
Marcus explained that Cole arranged the murder after Richard began collecting evidence.
Marcus arrived too late.
Before dying, Richard made him promise to protect Alexander and never reveal the truth unless the Circle returned.
"Why didn't you tell me after Sarah was taken?"
"Because I still didn't know who had access to Richard's records."
Marcus swallowed.
"I suspected Edmund."
"Then Victoria."
"I even suspected Sarah for several hours."
Sarah nodded.
She understood the paranoia.
Alexander read the final lines of the letter.
Son, if you are reading this, then my sins have reached your life.
Do not inherit my secrets.
Do not protect our reputation.
Protect your family.
Tell the truth.
End the circle.
Alexander lowered the letter.
The symbol suddenly made perfect sense.
A serpent consuming itself.
Every generation feeding the next.
Every secret creating another.
Every act of revenge creating new revenge.
Alexander looked at Marcus.
"You should have told me."
"Yes."
"I may never forgive that."
"I understand."
Alexander folded the letter.
"But I believe you."
Marcus exhaled.
Sarah stepped beside Alexander.
"What happens now?"
Alexander looked toward the Golden Clock standing on the fireplace mantle.
"We finish what my father couldn't."
The next morning, Alexander released the Blackwood family records to federal investigators.
He authorized publication of his father's confession.
Blackwood Corporation stock fell sharply.
Newspapers attacked the family.
Former allies disappeared.
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Alexander did not change his mind.
For the first time in generations, the truth was more valuable than the Blackwood name.
