Chapter 20 — Homecoming
430 Words
Amelia returned to her hometown with Damian beside her.
Everything looked smaller than she remembered.
The old streets.
The school she once attended.
The house where she had grown up.
Her mother walked slowly behind them.
“I never thought I'd come back,” Maria said.
Amelia took her hand.
“You're home now.”
They reached the old Carter house.
Victor was waiting outside.
Damian stepped forward.
“You said you knew the truth.”
“I do.”
“Then tell us.”
Victor looked at Maria.
“She knows more than I do.”
Maria nodded.
“It is time.”
She took a small box from her bag.
Inside was a letter.
She handed it to Damian.
He opened it.
It was written by his father twenty years ago.
To my son, if you ever read this, know that I made mistakes. But the greatest mistake was trusting the wrong person.
Damian continued reading.
The person who betrayed us was someone inside our own family.
He stopped.
Victor's face became serious.
Amelia looked at him.
“Who?”
Victor took a deep breath.
“Your father's brother.”
Damian froze.
“My uncle?”
Victor nodded.
“Your father's older brother.”
“But my father said he died.”
“He didn't.”
Amelia looked at Maria.
“Then where is he?”
Maria pointed toward the road.
A black car had stopped outside the house.
An elderly man stepped out.
Damian stared at him.
He knew that face.
It was the face from the old family photographs.
His father's brother.
The man everyone believed was dead.
The stranger smiled.
“Hello, Damian.”
Damian stepped forward.
“Who are you?”
The man smiled again.
“You've spent twenty years searching for the wrong enemy.”
Amelia moved closer to Damian.
The man's eyes turned toward her.
“And you must be Amelia.”
She held Damian's hand.
“How do you know me?”
He laughed softly.
“Because your mother took something from me twenty years ago.”
“What?”
“The truth.”
He walked closer.
“And now I'm here to take it back.”
Damian stood between him and Amelia.
“You're not touching my wife.”
The man's smile disappeared.
“Then prepare yourself, Damian.”
He looked at Amelia.
“Because your marriage is the only thing standing between me and everything I want.”
Amelia's heart raced.
Their love had survived the contract.
The secrets.
The danger.
But the greatest battle had only just begun.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD