THE LAST WILL: THE HEIR TO THE LIE

Some families inherit fortunes. Others inherit the sins that built them. The car disappeared beyond the trees. Lucien Vale turned from the window, his mind racing. Richard Blackwood had escaped, but the night was far from over. The ledger, the photograph, and Sebastian's mysterious letter lay on the desk before him. Three pieces of evidence. Three different stories. And a family built on lies. "Nobody leaves Ravenscourt," Lucien announced. Julian laughed bitterly. "You're a little late for that, Detective." Lucien turned toward him. "Is there something you'd like to tell me?" Julian hesitated before answering. "My father wasn't my father." Silence fell over the room. Victoria closed her eyes. Lucien stared at Julian. "Explain." "Richard Blackwood is my biological father. I've known since I was seventeen." Victoria stepped forward. "Julian—" "Don't. You've lied to me for twenty years. You don't get to tell me when to speak." He turned back to Lucien. "Sebastian knew. He raised me as his own son, but everything I did had to serve the Ashford name. My education, my future, even the people I was allowed to associate with." "Did Richard contact you recently?" Julian nodded reluctantly. "Two weeks ago. He said Sebastian was planning to change his will. He wanted me to find out why." "And did you?" Julian reached into his jacket and produced a folded document. "I found this in my father's desk." It was a letter from a London solicitor confirming Sebastian's intention to revoke his existing will. Beneath it, in Sebastian's handwriting, were five words. THE TRUE HEIR MUST BE FOUND. Lucien stared at the message. He remembered the inscription on Evelyn's photograph. RAVENSCOURT WAS NEVER HIS. "Where is the original testament?" he asked. Victoria's face went pale. "In the chapel." The old chapel stood beyond the eastern gardens, its stained-glass windows dark against the night. Inside, dust covered the pews. Victoria led Lucien to the altar, where a small stone panel concealed a hidden compartment. Within it lay a sealed envelope bearing Evelyn Ashford's name. Lucien opened it carefully. Inside were three documents: an original estate settlement, a handwritten letter, and a will. The will established that Ravenscourt had never rightfully belonged to Sebastian. The estate was connected to an older family inheritance, one that had been manipulated to keep its rightful owner from claiming it. But the final clause caught Lucien's attention. The estate was to pass to the surviving child of Elizabeth Ashford, should such a child be found. Julian frowned. "Who was Elizabeth?" Victoria looked away. "My aunt. She disappeared before I was born. Sebastian claimed she'd abandoned the family." "And her child?" A voice answered from the chapel entrance. "I was." Mrs. Bell stood in the doorway. Her hands trembled as she approached them. "My mother was Elizabeth Ashford. Sebastian forced her to leave Ravenscourt after she discovered what he had done to the estate. She spent the rest of her life trying to recover the documents that would prove our claim." Julian stared at her. "You're saying you're an Ashford?" "I'm saying Ravenscourt belongs to me by right." Lucien studied her. "Why become the housekeeper?" "Because Sebastian would never have allowed Elizabeth Ashford's daughter through his front door. But he would allow a woman with no family, no money, and no questions to clean his rooms." She looked at the will. "My mother left evidence with Richard Blackwood. She believed he would help restore our inheritance." "Then why did he do nothing?" Lucien asked. Mrs. Bell's expression hardened. "Because Richard helped Sebastian falsify the records in the first place. When Evelyn discovered the truth, she threatened to expose them both." "What happened to Evelyn?" Mrs. Bell swallowed. "I saw Richard leave her room on the night she died. He was carrying something wrapped in a cloth." "Did you see Evelyn?" "No. But I knew something was wrong." "Why didn't you tell the police?" "Sebastian threatened to have me arrested if I spoke. I was young, frightened, and alone." Lucien folded the will and placed it inside his coat. "Then we have another reason to find Richard Blackwood." Mrs. Bell caught his arm. "There's something else you need to know." "What?" "Sebastian didn't die because of the estate." She looked directly at him. "He died because someone wanted the second copy of his confession." Back at Ravenscourt, Mrs. Bell led Lucien to Sebastian's study. Behind a hidden panel in the frame of an old portrait, he found a folded document. The heading read: STATEMENT CONCERNING THE DEATH OF EVELYN ASHFORD. Lucien began to read. Sebastian's confession claimed that Richard Blackwood had confronted Evelyn over the estate documents twenty years earlier. During the confrontation, Richard had pushed her. Sebastian admitted to helping conceal the crime, altering records, and ensuring Evelyn's death was ruled an accident. But the final paragraph had been written in a different hand. Victoria knew what Richard had done. She saw him leave Evelyn's room. And she helped me bury the truth. Lucien lowered the paper. Someone had added to the confession. Someone who knew what had happened that night. Someone who might have been trying to frame Victoria—or expose her. "Is it true?" Mrs. Bell whispered. "It may be," Lucien replied. "But I need evidence that confirms it." Before he could continue, Julian appeared at the door. "Detective, you need to see something." He led Lucien to Sebastian's bedroom. The room had been searched. Drawers stood open, and papers covered the floor. On the desk lay a photograph of Sebastian outside a hospital, holding a newborn baby beside a woman whose face had been scratched away. On the back were the words: MY SON. MY HEIR. MY ONLY CHANCE. Lucien examined the date. The photograph had been taken twenty-eight years earlier. Julian was twenty-seven. "Your father had another child," Lucien said. Julian shook his head. "That's impossible." Beneath the photograph, Lucien discovered an unsigned note. You promised the estate would be mine. You promised nobody would ever know. If you change the will, I'll tell them everything. You know what happened to Evelyn. You know what happened to Elizabeth. Don't make me tell them what happened to the child. At the bottom was a single letter. A. Lucien slipped the note into his coat. Someone had threatened Sebastian over a child whose existence the family had apparently concealed for decades. But who was the child? And what did they know about Evelyn's death? Julian suddenly spoke. "The night my father died, I heard him arguing with someone in his study." "Who?" "I couldn't see the person. But I heard my father say, 'You were supposed to be dead.'" Lucien turned toward him. "What did the other person say?" Julian swallowed. "So were you." At half past midnight, Lucien returned to the study. The confession, ledger, and photograph lay before him. The evidence pointed toward Richard, but something still didn't fit. Sebastian had confessed to helping conceal Evelyn's murder. Yet the final paragraph accused Victoria of participating in the cover-up. Mrs. Bell had seen Richard leave Evelyn's room, but she hadn't seen what happened inside. And someone had searched Sebastian's bedroom for a document connected to a mysterious child. Lucien was beginning to suspect that Evelyn's death was only one part of a much larger crime. A floorboard creaked behind him. Victoria stood in the doorway. "Detective, I need to tell you something." Lucien sighed. "Another secret, Mrs. Ashford?" She lowered her eyes. "When Evelyn died, I saw Richard enter her room shortly before ten." "Why didn't you tell the police?" "Because he wasn't alone." Lucien straightened. "Who was with him?" Victoria hesitated. Then she whispered a name. "Alexander Ashford." Lucien frowned. "Who is that?" "Sebastian's older brother. Everyone was told he died when he was a child." "But he didn't?" Victoria shook her head. "He was alive when Evelyn died. I saw him in Ravenscourt that night." "Where is he now?" "I don't know." "Why did he come here?" Victoria's eyes filled with tears. "Because he believed Ravenscourt belonged to him." Lucien glanced at the documents on the desk. The missing heir. The concealed child. The altered inheritance. The confession. Every answer seemed to reveal another lie. Then Victoria pointed at Sebastian's confession. "There's something you haven't noticed." Lucien examined the final paragraph again. Beneath the altered writing, almost hidden in the fold, was a signature. A. ASHFORD. His expression changed. The confession had been altered by someone using the Ashford name. Someone who might have been inside the house on the night Sebastian died. Someone who knew the truth about Evelyn. Lucien looked up. "Who wrote this?" Victoria shook her head. "I don't know." "But you know Alexander was here twenty years ago." "Yes." "And now Sebastian is dead, the original will has resurfaced, and someone is searching for the true heir." Victoria nodded slowly. Then she whispered something that made Lucien's blood run cold. "There's one more thing about Alexander." "What?" "He wasn't the only person Sebastian claimed had died." The clock struck one. Lucien stared at her. "Who else?" Victoria looked toward the window, beyond which the old chapel stood beneath the moonlight. "I don't know their name. But Sebastian was terrified of them." Lucien gathered the documents and slipped them into his coat. He had spent the evening investigating a murder. Now he was uncovering a conspiracy involving a stolen inheritance, a concealed child, a missing heir, and a confession that might have been deliberately altered. And somewhere beyond the grounds, Richard Blackwood was still free. Lucien approached the window. The chapel stood in darkness. Twenty years ago, Evelyn Ashford had died. Twenty years ago, someone had disappeared. And now Sebastian Ashford was dead, leaving behind a fortune built on lies. Lucien turned away from the window. He finally understood what the message on Evelyn's photograph meant. Ravenscourt had never belonged to Sebastian. But if neither Richard nor Victoria had the right to claim it, who did? He looked down at the signature on the confession. A. ASHFORD. Then he remembered Julian's words. You were supposed to be dead. Lucien's jaw tightened. If Alexander Ashford was alive, he needed to find him. And if Alexander was dead, someone had spent twenty years pretending otherwise. Either way, the answer lay beneath the lies that had protected Ravenscourt for generations. Lucien switched off the desk lamp. Tomorrow, he would find Richard Blackwood. Tomorrow, he would establish who had altered Sebastian's confession. And tomorrow, he would uncover the truth about the missing Ashford heir. But tonight, one question remained. If Alexander Ashford was alive, who had been buried in his grave? Outside, the wind swept across the grounds. Somewhere beneath the old chapel, a secret waited to be uncovered. And when it finally came to light, Ravenscourt would never be the same again. TO BE CONTINUED... 🖤

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