EpisodesThree
1320 Words
The Truth He Hid
By eight the next morning, Amelia was standing outside Blackwood Enterprises.
The building rose above the city like a wall of glass and steel.
She looked up at the enormous black letters above the entrance.
BLACKWOOD ENTERPRISES.
For one second, she considered turning around.
Then she remembered her mother's frightened face.
She walked inside.
The receptionist looked up.
“Good morning. How can I help you?”
“I'm here to see Mr. Blackwood.”
The receptionist typed something into her computer.
“Name?”
“Amelia Carter.”
The woman's expression changed slightly.
“He's expecting you.”
Of course, he was.
Amelia followed a security officer toward the private elevators.
As the doors closed, her reflection stared back at her.
She looked nervous.
She hated that.
Damien Blackwood had already taken enough control of her life.
She wasn't going to give him her fear too.
The elevator opened on the top floor.
A woman in a black suit approached her.
“Mr. Blackwood is waiting.”
Amelia followed her through a quiet hallway.
The doors to Damien's office opened.
He was standing beside the floor to ceiling windows, his back toward her.
“You came.”
Amelia crossed her arms.
“You knew I would.”
Damien turned around.
He looked exactly as he had the night before.
Calm.
Perfectly dressed.
Completely unreadable.
“I told you I'd answer your questions.”
“Then start talking.”
He studied her for a moment.
“You're direct.”
“I don't have time for games.”
“Neither do I.”
He motioned toward a chair.
She didn't sit.
“What happened between our families?”
Damien remained silent.
Then he walked to his desk and picked up a file.
He handed it to her.
Amelia opened it.
The first page contained her father's name.
Robert Carter.
Her breath caught.
She turned the page.
Bank records.
Business agreements.
Letters.
Photographs.
Everything had been kept in one place.
“You've been investigating my father?”
“No.”
Damien's voice was quiet.
“This is what I inherited when my father died.”
Amelia looked at him.
“What does it say?”
“That your father didn't simply lose money.”
Damien paused.
“He was blamed for a financial disaster that wasn't entirely his fault.”
Amelia frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“My father believed Robert Carter betrayed him.”
“Did he?”
Damien's jaw tightened.
“We never found proof.”
“Then why did my father disappear from the business world?”
“Because someone made sure he did.”
Amelia's heart beat faster.
“Who?”
Damien looked directly at her.
“We don't know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I don't expect you to believe anything.”
He opened another file.
“This was found after your father's death.”
He handed her a small photograph.
Amelia stared at it.
Her father was sitting at a restaurant.
Across from him was the same mysterious man she had seen in the photograph from the night before.
“Mr. Gray,” she whispered.
Damien's eyes narrowed.
“You know him?”
“My father used to mention him.”
“What did he call him?”
“Just Mr. Gray.”
Damien took the photograph back.
“We've been trying to identify him for years.”
“Why?”
“Because he disappeared the same week my father's company collapsed.”
Amelia stared at Damien.
“You think he caused everything?”
“I think he knows what happened.”
“And you think my father knew too?”
“Yes.”
Amelia shook her head.
“My father would never do that.”
“You're defending a man whose secrets you never knew.”
“My father was a good man.”
Damien stepped closer.
“So was mine.”
The words hung between them.
For the first time, Amelia saw something behind Damien's cold expression.
Pain.
Old pain.
“Then why me?” she asked.
He didn't answer immediately.
Finally, he said, “Because your father left something behind.”
“What?”
“A key.”
Amelia's brow furrowed.
“What key?”
Damien reached into a drawer and placed a small silver key on the desk.
Her breath stopped.
She recognized it.
It had belonged to her father.
She had seen it many times hanging from a chain around his neck.
After his death, it disappeared.
“Where did you get that?”
“Your father gave it to my father.”
“When?”
“Three days before he died.”
Amelia stepped closer.
“What does it open?”
“We don't know.”
She looked at Damien suspiciously.
“And you think I can help you find out?”
“I'm certain of it.”
“Then marriage isn't about needing a wife.”
“No.”
His answer was immediate.
Amelia's stomach tightened.
“Then why marry me?”
Damien looked at her.
“Because whoever is looking for that key is watching you.”
Silence.
“Someone was outside my house last night,” Amelia said.
“I know.”
Her eyes widened.
“How?”
“I had someone watching your house.”
“You lied to me.”
“I told you I didn't send the person in the black car.”
Amelia stared at him.
“You still had someone watching me.”
“To keep you alive.”
“I don't need a bodyguard.”
“You do now.”
She stepped back.
“I don't even know if I can trust you.”
“You shouldn't.”
The unexpected answer made her stop.
Damien came closer.
“Trust isn't something I expect from you, Amelia.”
He picked up the marriage contract.
“I need you to understand the danger you're in.”
He placed it in front of her.
“If you marry me, you'll have my protection.”
“And if I don't?”
His face became hard.
“Then you'll be alone.”
Amelia stared at the contract.
There it was again.
The impossible choice.
Her mother.
The house.
Her father's secrets.
And Damien Blackwood.
She picked up the pen.
Damien watched her silently.
“You said one year,” she whispered.
“Yes.”
“No love.”
“Yes.”
“No questions about the past.”
“That was the original agreement.”
She looked up.
“I'm changing the rules.”
For the first time, Damien looked surprised.
“What rules?”
“I want the truth.”
“Amelia”
“If I'm going to become your wife, I deserve to know what I'm getting into.”
Damien studied her.
Then, slowly, he nodded.
“Agreed.”
She signed her name.
Her hand trembled slightly.
Amelia Carter.
The moment the pen left the paper, Damien picked up the contract.
He looked at her signature.
Then at her.
“It's done.”
Amelia felt a strange chill.
“What happens now?”
Damien stepped closer.
“Now you come home with me.”
She frowned.
“Why?”
“Because your house is no longer safe.”
Her heart stopped.
“What happened?”
Damien's expression changed.
Before he could answer, his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
Then his face became completely unreadable.
“What's wrong?” Amelia asked.
Damien slowly raised his eyes.
“Your mother is missing.”
Amelia's blood ran cold.
“What?”
He picked up his coat.
“We're leaving.”
She grabbed his arm.
“Where are we going?”
Damien looked at her.
“To find her.”
And suddenly, Amelia realized that signing the marriage contract had been the easiest decision she had made all day.
The real nightmare was only beginning.
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