Chapter 9 - The Trial of Victor Blackwood
Victor Blackwood’s trial lasted four months.
The prosecution presented evidence of attempted murder, kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, medical fraud, forged death records, stolen children, conspiracy, and obstruction.
Dr. Collins faced a separate trial but testified against Victor after prosecutors offered to remove the death penalty from potential federal charges.
Father and son blamed one another.
Victor claimed Collins acted independently.
Collins produced recordings proving Victor designed the succession plan.
Margaret Sloan testified about their secret relationship and hidden child.
Nora described raising Lily under threats and money.
She admitted her crimes without minimizing them.
“I told myself I was protecting the girl,” she said. “But protection without freedom became another form of imprisonment.”
Clara Bennett testified through video.
She explained how she carried Lily from the fire and trusted Nora.
For seven years, Clara believed the child died after the transfer.
She wept when Lily sent her a drawing that read:
YOU SAVED ME FIRST.
Amelia’s testimony was the most difficult.
Victor’s attorney questioned her memory.
“Mrs. Blackwood, you were heavily medicated for years.”
“Against my will.”
“You experienced confusion.”
“Yes.”
“Hallucinations?”
“Sometimes.”
“Then how can the jury trust your account?”
Amelia looked at the jurors.
“Because confusion does not erase documents, scars, locked doors, or the child taken from my arms.”
The prosecution showed videos from the facility.
Amelia restrained.
Amelia asking for Ethan.
Amelia being told Lily was dead.
Victor entering and threatening her.
No one questioned the reality after that.
Ethan testified about the tea and the board meeting.
Victor’s attorney argued Ethan benefited financially from removing his uncle.
Ethan answered:
“I transferred most Blackwood family assets into victim compensation funds.”
“Yet you remain wealthy.”
“Yes.”
“So you still benefit from the Blackwood name.”
“I cannot undo where the money came from. I can decide where it goes next.”
Victor chose to testify.
He described himself as a guardian of the family company.
He claimed thousands of jobs depended on decisions weak people could not understand.
The prosecutor asked:
“Was a seven-year-old child weak?”
“She was an heir.”
“That was not the question.”
Victor looked toward Lily, who watched from a protected room through video.
“She was a risk.”
The jury heard him reduce his grandniece to a corporate threat.
The prosecutor continued.
“Was Amelia Blackwood a risk?”
“Yes.”
“Was Ethan?”
“Yes.”
“Were the patients you confined risks?”
“Some people create instability.”
“And your solution was to remove them?”
“My solution was to protect what generations built.”
The prosecutor placed the poisoned teacup before him.
“Is this protection?”
Victor did not answer.
The jury found him guilty on every major charge.
He received multiple life sentences without the possibility of release.
Dr. Collins received seventy years.
Margaret received twenty-eight years under her cooperation agreement.
Nora received twelve years, reduced because she saved Lily and helped identify victims.
Several judges, physicians, security officers, and executives were also convicted.
The court formally restored the identities of those declared dead.
Families held reunions.
Some were joyful.
Others were complicated.
A person returned after years could not simply step back into an old life.
Ethan understood better than most.
After sentencing, Victor requested to speak with him.
Ethan almost refused.
Amelia told him:
“Go only if you need something. Not because he demands it.”
Ethan decided he needed to say one thing.
Victor sat behind thick glass.
“The company will fail without a Blackwood controlling it,” he said.
“It no longer needs one.”
“You destroyed your inheritance.”
“I ended your ownership of other people.”
Victor smiled coldly.
“Lily will hate you when she understands what you gave away.”
“She will inherit enough to choose her life.”
“She could have ruled an empire.”
“She is a child.”
Victor leaned closer.
“That softness is why your father preferred me.”
Ethan felt the old wound.
His father had always praised Victor’s ruthlessness.
Once, that comparison controlled Ethan.
Now it seemed pitiful.
“My daughter stopped me from drinking poison because she cared whether I lived,” Ethan said. “You would call that softness.”
He stood.
“I call it the only inheritance worth protecting.”
Ethan walked away while Victor continued speaking.
May you like
The words faded behind the closing door.
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