Chapter 73: The Blackthorne Legacy

Chapter 73: Chapter 73: The Blackthorne Legacy

Iris couldn’t stop staring at the screen. "These other two men... the ones standing with the man that looks like Alexander...Who are they?"

"I don’t know Iris, that’s the problem," Zoey sighed. "I was so focused on the doppelganger that I barely noticed them at first. But now that I’m looking, the two men... they look similar to him. Maybe the three of them are siblings? They’re dressed almost identically. And they’re standing in front of that massive house."

Iris’s gaze drifted toward the building behind them. "And What is that writing on the stone?"

Zoey zoomed in on the bottom of the photograph...the entrance of the mansion. There, carved into the granite were two words: BLACKTHORNE ESTATE.

Iris’s stomach tightened. "Wait." She looked at Zoey. "Did you call the man that looks like Alexander... a doppelganger?"

A faint smile tugged at the corner of Iris’s mouth despite everything. "Is that what you’re calling him now?"

Zoey looked offended. "Iris, yes. That’s exactly what I’m calling him. What else am I supposed to call a man who looks exactly like Alexander while standing in a photograph from 1891?"

"You never know Zoey," Iris argued, her voice desperate for a logical explanation. "He could be an ancestor of his. An extremely identical ancestor. That’s possible, right?"

"Is it?" Zoey asked. "Because based on what you saw today, I’m starting to think ’possible’ is a very flexible word. Until we have proof, I’m assuming that man is Alexander."

Iris sighed. She couldn’t even argue with that. Not after what she had witnessed at the university today.

She rubbed her forehead. "It could still be his ancestor, Zoey. I mean, yes we know werewolves exist now, and Alexander might or might not be one of them. He could be something completely different. But even if he is some kind of supernatural creature, that doesn’t automatically mean he can live for more than a hundred years. That’s impossible—even supernatural creatures have to have limits. He can’t just live for a century

Zoey tilted her head. "You’re assuming supernatural creatures follow the same rules we do."

Zoey’s voice softened. "Maybe they live that long. Maybe they don’t. Maybe Alexander has an ancestor who looks exactly like him. Maybe the photograph is connected to his family...like there’s a family trait of looking exactly the same for three generations. Maybe there’s something else entirely going on that neither of us has even considered. We don’t know the rules of this world, Iris."

Iris let out a slow breath. She opened her mouth, then stopped. There wasn’t really an answer to that.

"We spent our entire lives believing werewolves were fictional and fairytales." Zoey continued. "Twenty-four hours ago, I would have laughed in your face if you told me Jason Montgomery could grow claws. So I’m not going to sit here and confidently tell you what supernatural beings can or cannot do when we don’t even know the rules of the world we’ve apparently been living beside."

Iris looked back at the photograph. "You have a point." She sighed again. "Fine. Did you find anything on the other two men? Like maybe their names?"

Zoey’s expression shifted, becoming guarded. "Honestly? I didn’t get that far."

Iris looked at her. "Why not?"

"Because that’s when someone hacked me."

The amusement vanished from Iris’s face. "You got hacked?"

Zoey gave a small, embarrassed shrug. "Funny, right? The hacker got hacked."

"Zoey, this is serious."

"I know it is." She closed the laptop halfway. "I’ve dealt with people trying to break into systems before, but this wasn’t some random attempt. Whoever it was knew exactly what I was searching for. They didn’t just compromise my system and leave. They went through the search trail, found what I’d been looking into, and then started blocking access to certain information."

Iris stared at her. "That sounds deliberate."

"It was." Zoey’s fingers tapped lightly against the laptop. "And whoever it is that did that better pray I don’t find out who they are....cos they’re gonna pay dearly." She pursed her lips. "And that’s when I knew I was on the right track."

"You knew you were right about your doubts concerning Alexander, because what? because someone tried to stop you?"

"Exactly." She looked up at Iris. "If I’d been digging through useless information and gossip, nobody would have cared. Whoever was on the other side of that intrusion didn’t want me seeing those records, or finding something. If I didn’t save that picture in my private folder, it would have been wiped out as well."

Iris’s eyes narrowed. "Before you got hacked, what exactly were you searching for?"

"Everything I could find about Alexander." Zoey paused. "His history. His family. His properties. His companies... including the shell companies. The people connected to him. Old records. Anything that might explain why a man who looks barely thirty has almost no visible history before a certain point."

She closed the laptop completely. "The more I searched, the more curious I became because there was clearly something underneath all the polished surfaces that we weren’t seeing."

Neither girl spoke for a while, the apartment suddenly felt much quieter. Outside the window, traffic moved along the street, completely unaware that the two young women sitting inside were trying to make sense of a world that had turned upside down within a single afternoon.

Zoey eventually broke the silence. "And that wasn’t all."

Iris looked at her. "What else?"

"I also started looking into the estate mentioned in the photograph."

"The Blackthorne Estate?" Iris asked just to be sure.

"Yeah." Zoey’s expression became almost sheepish. "I wanted to know whether if the Mansion was real and if it still exists. So I searched old property records, historical archives, maps, everything I could access."

"And?"

"It still exists."

Iris’s eyes widened slightly. "You’re serious?"

"Very." Zoey leaned forward. "The Blackthorne Estate is real, Iris. It isn’t some abandoned historical property that disappeared a century ago. It’s still there. It’s a private residence, still active, and still guarded."

"Where is it?"

"Not very far from here. I actually went there yesterday to try and Snoop around a little bit."

Iris closed her eyes. "Zoey! Why on earth would you do that?"

"Because I wanted answers! You’re the one dating—or sleeping with—the mystery guy. And I thought I’d do the legwork, and actually figure out what the mystery was before you got yourself into trouble."

"You could have been arrested!"

"Well... I almost was."

Iris let out a long, suffering sigh.

Zoey shrugged. "I didn’t plan on breaking into the main house, but I couldn’t see much from the gates. And if I wanted to find out more about the guy, I had to search for some clues inside the mansion."

"Wait... you actually sneaked inside?"

"Duh. Yes. I wanted to see if the house matched the photo and if there’s anything worth knowing inside the place."

"Zoey!"

"I know, I know! It was a little insane."

Iris gave her a long, judging look.

"Anyway," Zoey continued, "I almost made it to the front porch, but I got caught before I could get inside."

Iris’s shoulders dropped. "Are they suing you?"

"Nah," Zoey waved it off. "I got off with a warning."

"Who gave you the warning?"

"Some guy named Derrick Williams."

Iris froze. "Derrick Williams? That name... it sounds familiar."

Zoey snapped her fingers. "Exactly! That’s what I thought when he introduced himself. Then I googled him and found out he’s filthy rich as well."

"Derrick Williams...." Iris frowned. "Why does that name sound familiar?" Iris thought for a moment, searching through her memory.

Zoey smiled."Because you know his company."

Then her eyes widened, the pieces clicking into place. "Wait.....don’t tell me..."

"Bingo," Zoey smiled. "Williams Corp."

Iris sat up straighter, her eyes wide. "Of course. Williams Corp is a primary partner of the Blackthorne Group."

Zoey nodded. "Exactly. And you were thinking about sending your Internship resume there."

"Oh my god!" Iris’s gaze shifted toward the closed laptop again, her mind racing, at the photo, the estate. Alexander’s doppelganger, the name Blackthorne, the guy named Derrick Williams. It was beginning to feel less like a collection of coincidences and more like pieces of the same puzzle.

"Wait..." Iris whispered. She looked back at Zoey. "Blackthorne Estate? Don’t tell me the estate belongs to the same Blackthorne family behind the Blackthorne Group."

Zoey’s smile vanished. "Iris, honey, there is only one Blackthorne family with that kind of power in this country."

Zoey leaned closer, her voice dropping until it was barely above a whisper. "And after everything you’ve told me about what happened at the university today...what Jason and those other guys can do, I think we need to stop assuming that every strange thing has an ordinary explanation."

She glanced toward the mark on Iris’s neck. "...I don’t think the connection is a coincidence."

Iris’s lips parted. "Then what are you saying?"

Zoey held her gaze, her expression grim. "I’m saying that if Alexander is connected to that estate, and the estate is the heart of the Blackthorne Group, then they aren’t just another wealthy dynasty."

She swallowed. "They may have been here for a very, very long time."

Iris’s heart began to race, a drumming rhythm in her ears.

"I can tell you one thing for a fact. Those people connected to Blackthorne?" Zoey’s voice was barely a whisper. "And with what we know now about werewolves...I think that they’re werewolves too."

Iris’s lips parted, her voice a mere ghost of a sound. "Oh... my... God."