Chapter 149 SINS OF THE FATHER

Chapter 149 SINS OF THE FATHER
~ALEXANDER'S POV~

The iron gates of the Blackwood estate groaned as they swung open. They were rusting at the hinges....a fitting detail. The rot inside this family had set in long ago, but now it was finally visible on the outside.

I drove the SUV up the long, winding driveway. 

I hadn't been here in years, not since Thomas died. But the shadows of the oak trees still looked the same as they did when I was a boy, hiding behind them, watching a family that refused to claim me.

Ilynos sat silently in the passenger seat, his hand resting near his holster.

"Stay in the car," I ordered, parking in front of the huge double doors.

"Sir," Ilynos warned, eyeing the stiffness in my movement from my healing ribs. "You shouldn't go in alone. It's hostile territory."

"I'm not walking into a fight," I said, stepping out into the cool evening air. "I'm walking into a reunion."

I didn't knock. I pushed the front doors open. The hall smelled of lemon polish and old money....the showy scent of my childhood envy.

"Alexander," a voice called out from the drawing room, smooth and welcoming. "I wondered how long it would take you to get here after I left the hospital."

I walked in. Eleanor sat by the fireplace, a silver tea service arranged on the low table in front of her. 

She looked elegant, composed, and terrifyingly familiar.

When I was a teenager, unwanted by my father, Eleanor had been the only one who opened the door. She had smiled at me. She had invited me in when Thomas wasn't home. I used to think she was kind. I used to think she cared about the bastard son.

I learned later that she was just keeping her enemies close. She was studying me. Learning my weaknesses so she could protect Richard's inheritance.

"Hello, Eleanor," I said.

She stood up and walked over to me, offering her cheek. I didn't kiss it. I just looked at her.

"You look tired," she noted, stepping back with a small, tight smile. "Running a coup must be exhausting."

"It's efficient," I corrected.

"Sit," she gestured to the chair opposite her. "Tea? Or do you still prefer scotch?"

"I'm not here for drinks." I remained standing, looming over her. "I'm here about Claire."

Eleanor sighed, sitting back down and smoothing her skirt. "Ah. Claire. My favorite ex-daughter-in-law. I suppose I should be congratulated. I played matchmaker, didn't I?"

My jaw tightened.

It was true. After Richard divorced Claire, it was Eleanor who had "accidentally" ensured our paths crossed at that first charity gala. She had whispered in my ear that Richard's cast-off wife was full of secrets. 

She had pointed me toward her.

"She hates him, Alexander," Eleanor had told me back then. "Nothing burns down a house faster than a scorned woman. Use her." And I had.

I looked at Eleanor now, remembering the cold calculation of my own heart back then. I had approached Claire not because I loved her, but because she was a weapon. 

I wanted to use her grief to get access to the Blackwood secrets she carried. I wanted to use her to destroy Richard.

"You gave her to me," I said, my voice low. "Because you thought she would be a pawn in my war against Richard. You thought I would use her and toss her aside."

"I thought you were smart," Eleanor corrected. "I handed you a weapon to punish my son for his stupidity with Monica. I didn't expect you to fall in love with the weapon."

She took a sip of tea, her eyes mocking over the rim of the cup.

"You've gone soft, Alexander. You were supposed to extract the information and leave her. Instead, you're playing house. You're protecting her."

"She isn't a weapon," I said. "She's everything."

"She's a liability," Eleanor snapped. "And now you're here, threatening me in my own home because I dared to visit her?"

"You tried to poison her against me," I said, stepping closer. "You hinted at secrets. You tried to scare her."

I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out the folded document—the fake foreclosure notice I had drafted on a legal pad in the car. 

I tossed it onto the table next to her delicate china.

"What is this?" she asked.

"The end of your tenure," I lied. "I own the debt on this house, Eleanor. Stay away from Claire. Stay away from the hospital. If you whisper my name to her again, I foreclose. I put you on the street."

Eleanor stared at the paper. For a second, fear flashed in her eyes. She picked it up, her hands trembling slightly. But then, she looked up at me. And the fear was gone. Replaced by something sharper.

"You think you can threaten me?" she asked softly. "Me? The woman who knows where you came from?" She stood up, matching my height with mere presence.

"Does she know, Alexander?"

My eyes narrowed. "Know what?"

"Nothing..... She is pregnant isn't she?"

The air left the room. I went still.

Eleanor smiled. "I saw her at the hospital. The hand on the stomach. The nausea. The way you hover over her like a wolf guarding a cub. It's obvious."

"If you tell Richard..." I started, my voice shaking with rage.

"Oh, Richard is the least of your worries," she cut me off. "My concern is for Claire. Poor, sweet, trusting Claire."

She stepped closer, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.

"She thinks you're a hero. She thinks you're the self-made billionaire who saved her. But what will she do when she finds out about the real Alexander Hayes?"

My hands clenched into fists at my sides.

"What will she do," Eleanor continued, her eyes dancing with malice, "when I tell her about the incident when you were sixteen? The boy you put in the ICU? The attempted murder charge that my husband—your father—had to bury with half a million dollars just to keep you out of prison?"

The memory hit me like a physical blow. The red haze. The blood on my hands. The look of disgust on Thomas Blackwood's face as he paid off the police commissioner.

"You are an animal," Thomas had told me. "A violent, broken animal."

"I was a child," I gritted out. "He attacked me."

"You nearly beat him to death," Eleanor whispered. "And you enjoyed it. That darkness is still in you, Alexander. We both know it. That's why you wanted to use Claire in the beginning. That's why you're destroying my family now."

She leaned back, crossing her arms.

"Does she know that you approached her as a revenge plot? Does she know you only engaged her to get to Richard? Does she know about the violence in your blood?"

I said nothing. I couldn't. Because it was true.

"Take your paper," Eleanor said, flicking the foreclosure notice off the table. "You won't kick me out. Because if you do... I go straight to Claire. And I tell her everything. The initial plan. The violence. The murder charge."

She smiled.

"I wonder if she'll still want you around her baby when she knows you're just a monster in a tailored suit." I stared at her. I wanted to destroy her. I wanted to burn this house down with her inside.

But she had checkmated me.

"Fine," I said, my voice dead. "You keep the house." I turned to leave.

"Alexander?" she called out.

I paused at the door.

"You can play the hero all you want," she said. "But blood always tells. You're a Blackwood, just like the rest of us. You destroy the things you love."

I walked out of the house. I got into the SUV, my chest heaving.

"Sir?" Ilynos asked.

"Drive," I ordered. "Back to the hospital."

I needed to see Claire. I needed to see that she still looked at me with love, not fear. I needed to bury the past before Eleanor dug it up and used it to bury me.

Because Eleanor was right about one thing.

I had started this as a game of revenge. I had used Claire.

And if she ever found out the truth... I would lose her forever.