CHAPTER FOUR: LITTLE KINGSLEY
1546 Words
“Run!”
Damian didn’t wait for me to understand.
He grabbed my hand and pulled me down the corridor.
“Wait—my father!”
“He’s coming with us.”
I looked back.
My father was struggling to get out of the bed.
Damian’s security team rushed into the room, surrounding him.
“Move!”
We ran.
My heart pounded so violently I could barely hear anything else.
The hospital had become chaos.
Nurses screamed.
Patients were being rushed into rooms.
Security guards shouted into radios.
And somewhere behind us, the stranger was laughing.
We reached the emergency staircase.
Damian pushed the door open.
“Down.”
“What about the man?”
“I’ll deal with him.”
“No.”
I stopped.
Damian turned.
“What?”
“You keep telling me to trust you, but you won’t tell me anything.”
“Now isn’t the time.”
“It is exactly the time!”
His eyes hardened.
“Aria, someone is trying to kill you.”
“And I deserve to know why!”
He stepped closer.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then his voice dropped.
“Because your biological father is alive.”
My breath caught.
“What?”
“That’s what the man meant.”
“You know who he is?”
“No.”
“You’re lying.”
“I don’t know his identity.”
“Then why are you so afraid?”
Damian looked at me.
“Because I’ve seen what that family does to people who get in their way.”
A gunshot echoed above us.
He grabbed my waist and pulled me against the wall.
“Quiet.”
I could feel his heartbeat.
Fast.
For the first time, Damian Blackwood looked vulnerable.
Not frightened.
But alert in a way I’d never seen before.
His face was inches from mine.
“Stay behind me,” he whispered.
I nodded.
He released me slowly.
Something strange passed between us.
Something neither of us acknowledged.
Then we continued down the stairs.
We reached the underground parking garage.
Damian’s driver was waiting.
He opened the rear door.
I climbed inside.
Damian followed.
My father was brought down by two guards moments later.
The doors slammed shut.
“Drive!”
The car accelerated.
I looked at my father.
“Dad.”
He avoided my eyes.
“Tell me who my biological father is.”
He remained silent.
“Please.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“I don’t know his name.”
“Then what do you know?”
He looked at Damian.
“Everything started with your mother.”
I waited.
“She worked for the Kingsleys.”
Damian frowned.
“My father knew them?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
My father shook his head.
“I don’t know the full story.”
“Then tell us what you know.”
He took a shaky breath.
“Your mother discovered that the Kingsleys were involved in something dangerous.”
“Illegal business?”
“More than that.”
“What?”
He looked at me.
“They were buying people.”
My stomach turned.
“People?”
“Not slaves.”
He lowered his voice.
“Identities.”
I frowned.
“I don’t understand.”
“They had connections in government, shipping, banking, even security agencies. They could make someone disappear from every official record.”
Damian’s expression darkened.
My father continued.
“Your mother found evidence.”
“And she ran?”
“She tried.”
“From them?”
“Yes.”
“Then where does Damian’s father come in?”
My father looked at him.
“Damian’s father helped her.”
Silence.
Damian stared at him.
“My father helped my mother?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Damian’s jaw tightened.
“My father never told me.”
“Because he was protecting you.”
“From what?”
My father didn’t answer.
I suddenly noticed something.
“Dad.”
He looked at me.
“What did you mean when you said my mother wasn’t running from my biological father?”
His face changed.
“She was running with you.”
I frowned.
“I was a baby.”
“She had already discovered who your father was.”
“Who?”
He closed his eyes.
“Your mother believed he would come for you.”
“Why?”
“Because you weren’t supposed to exist.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
Damian looked at me.
My father whispered,
“You were the result of a secret relationship between two rival families.”
I couldn’t speak.
Then he added the words that changed everything.
“Your mother was a Kingsley.”
I stared at him.
“No.”
“She changed her name before she met me.”
“No.”
“Your grandfather was the head of the Kingsley family.”
My hands began shaking.
“And my father?”
My father looked at me.
“He was a Blackwood.”
The car went silent.
Damian slowly turned toward me.
I looked at him.
Neither of us spoke.
Because suddenly the marriage contract made sense.
Not completely.
But enough to terrify me.
My mother was a Kingsley.
My biological father was a Blackwood.
Damian was a Blackwood.
And someone had deliberately brought us together.
I whispered,
“Am I related to you?”
Damian’s face hardened.
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because my father’s only child was me.”
“But if he had another child—”
“He didn’t.”
“How can you be sure?”
Damian leaned forward.
“Because my father had a medical condition that made it almost impossible for him to have children.”
My breathing slowed.
Then Damian’s eyes narrowed.
“Wait.”
“What?”
He looked at my father.
“You said Aria was born eighteen years ago.”
“Yes.”
“My father died nineteen years ago.”
My father nodded.
Damian’s expression changed.
“That means…”
He stopped.
I stared at him.
“What?”
He looked at me.
“My father couldn’t be your biological father.”
Relief washed over me.
But it lasted only seconds.
Because my father suddenly whispered,
“That’s what everyone was supposed to believe.”
Damian went completely still.
“What are you saying?”
My father reached into his pocket.
His hands trembled as he pulled out a small, old key.
He placed it in my palm.
“Your mother gave me this the night before she died.”
I stared at it.
“What does it open?”
He looked at Damian.
“His father’s private vault.”
Damian’s expression became cold.
“That vault was sealed after my father’s death.”
“I know.”
“Who has access?”
“No one.”
My father shook his head.
“Except the person your mother trusted.”
“Who?”
My father looked at me.
“You.”
I stared at the key.
Then my phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A message appeared.
You have the key.
Another message followed.
Now go to the Blackwood estate.
Then a third.
And don’t let Damian know what you find.
I slowly lifted my eyes.
Damian was watching me.
“Who messaged you?”
I locked my phone.
“No one.”
His expression darkened.
“Aria.”
“I said no one.”
He leaned closer.
“You’re a terrible liar.”
I stared back at him.
“And you’re a terrible husband.”
His lips curved slightly.
“Not yet.”
The words sent an unexpected shiver through me.
He noticed.
Of course he noticed.
His eyes dropped briefly to my lips.
Then back to my eyes.
“Soon,” he murmured.
My pulse jumped.
I hated him for noticing.
I hated myself for reacting.
Then the car suddenly stopped.
The driver turned around.
“Sir…”
Damian immediately reached for the weapon beneath his jacket.
“What?”
The driver pointed ahead.
A black SUV blocked the road.
Another appeared behind us.
Damian’s expression turned deadly.
“Everyone stay inside.”
He opened the door.
I grabbed his arm.
“Don’t.”
He looked down at my hand.
“Aria.”
“I just found out my entire life is a lie.”
My voice trembled.
“Don’t leave me.”
For one second, the ruthless billionaire disappeared.
There was only a man looking at the woman who had somehow become his weakness.
His fingers closed around mine.
“I won’t.”
Then he kissed my forehead.
Not my lips.
Just my forehead.
A strangely gentle gesture that frightened me more than a kiss would have.
He released me.
“Lock the door.”
Then he stepped out.
Three men emerged from the SUVs.
One of them shouted,
“Blackwood!”
Damian stood between them and the car.
“What do you want?”
The man smiled.
“The girl.”
Damian’s expression changed.
“You’ll have to kill me first.”
The man laughed.
“That was always the plan.”
A gun was raised.
And before anyone could move—
the first shot was fired.
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