Beneath His Empire

Chapter 11: The Truth About My Father

"Tell me everything."

The words came out sharper than I intended.

But I didn't care.

Not anymore.

For days, Damien had been feeding me fragments of the truth.

Small pieces.

Half-answers.

Carefully guarded secrets.

I was done being kept in the dark.

The photograph remained clenched in my hand.

My father stood beside Damien, both smiling at the camera.

Comfortable.

Familiar.

Friends.

The image shattered everything I thought I knew.

Because if Damien had known my father all these years...

Then none of this was a coincidence.

Not my investigation.

Not our meeting.

Not even Project Eclipse.

Damien stared at the photograph for several seconds before speaking.

"Your father saved my life."

The words stole the air from my lungs.

"What?"

His eyes met mine.

Dark.

Heavy.

Filled with memories.

"Eight years ago, before I became CEO, I spent most of my time working with the Eclipse research team."

My heart pounded.

"My father was part of it."

"Yes."

The answer came quietly.

Painfully.

"As one of the lead scientists."

I swallowed hard.

Every answer only created more questions.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

A shadow crossed Damien's face.

"Because your father wasn't just involved in Eclipse."

Fear crawled through me.

"What does that mean?"

Silence.

Then—

"He helped create it."

The room tilted.

For a second, I thought I had misheard him.

"No."

My voice barely worked.

"No, he wouldn't."

Damien looked away.

The reaction alone terrified me.

"He believed he was helping people."

My stomach twisted.

"Helping people how?"

"He thought the program would save lives."

I hated how sincere Damien sounded.

Because it meant he believed it.

And if he believed it...

Then my father had probably believed it too.

"What exactly was Eclipse?"

Damien hesitated.

Then slowly sat down.

For the first time since meeting him, he looked exhausted.

Like a man carrying years of guilt.

"Eclipse began as a medical research program."

I blinked.

Medical?

That wasn't what I'd expected.

Not even close.

"It was supposed to develop advanced treatments for neurological disorders."

My pulse quickened.

Disease research.

Medicine.

Hope.

Not corruption.

Not conspiracies.

At least, not in the beginning.

"What changed?"

Damien laughed bitterly.

"The people funding it."

The answer sent a chill through me.

Of course.

Money.

Power.

Control.

Those things corrupted everything eventually.

"Eclipse stopped being about medicine."

His jaw tightened.

"It became about enhancement."

The word felt wrong.

Dangerous.

"What kind of enhancement?"

His eyes darkened.

"The kind governments pay billions for."

Silence.

Then understanding slowly dawned.

Not medicine.

Weapons.

Human weapons.

The realization made me sick.

"They experimented on people."

Damien nodded once.

The movement was barely visible.

Yet it changed everything.

"Oh my God."

"They promised volunteers they were helping humanity."

His voice hardened.

"They lied."

The room suddenly felt too small.

Too warm.

Too suffocating.

Twelve people died in the explosion.

How many before that?

How many after?

I wasn't sure I wanted the answer.

---

Hours passed.

Neither of us left the panic room.

Outside, security teams continued searching for Olivia.

Inside, my entire world was falling apart.

Every truth I'd uncovered felt heavier than the last.

My father had helped create Eclipse.

Aiden Cross was alive.

Olivia had been kidnapped.

And somehow all of it connected back to me.

I stared at the photograph again.

Trying to reconcile the smiling scientist with the man Damien described.

Then I noticed something.

A small detail.

A date written on the back.

My breath caught.

The date was only two weeks before my father's death.

Two weeks.

Not years.

Not months.

Two weeks.

My stomach tightened.

"Damien."

His gaze lifted.

"What?"

I handed him the photograph.

His expression changed instantly.

"What is it?"

"The date."

His eyes moved to the back.

For the first time that day, genuine shock crossed his face.

"No."

The word came out almost like a whisper.

"What?"

Damien stood abruptly.

The chair nearly toppled backward.

"This isn't possible."

Fear raced through me.

"Damien."

His eyes locked onto mine.

"Your father didn't die eight years ago."

The room went silent.

Completely silent.

Every heartbeat.

Every breath.

Every thought.

Stopped.

"What?"

My voice cracked.

The word barely escaped.

Damien looked pale.

Actually pale.

And that terrified me more than anything.

Because Damien Blackwood didn't scare easily.

"He couldn't have."

I stared at him.

Not understanding.

Not wanting to understand.

"You were at the funeral."

His gaze darkened.

"Yes."

"You saw the body."

Another silence.

Then—

"No."

The answer hit like a truck.

"What?"

"There wasn't a body."

My knees nearly gave out.

The memory surfaced instantly.

Closed casket.

Flowers.

Condolences.

A grieving mother.

No body.

No explanation.

At the time, I'd been too devastated to question it.

Now...

Now it felt important.

Very important.

"Are you saying my father is alive?"

The question sounded ridiculous.

Impossible.

Yet neither of us laughed.

Neither of us dismissed it.

Because suddenly it wasn't impossible anymore.

It was a possibility.

A terrifying possibility.

Before Damien could answer, every screen inside the panic room suddenly flickered.

Both of us froze.

The monitors went black.

Then static appeared.

A second later, a face emerged.

Aiden Cross.

My heart nearly stopped.

He stared directly into the camera.

As if he could see us.

As if he were standing inside the room.

Smiling.

The smile sent chills through my body.

"Good evening, Damien."

The voice echoed through the speakers.

Calm.

Confident.

Dangerous.

Damien's expression became stone.

"Aiden."

Aiden laughed softly.

"It's been a long time."

No one spoke.

The tension was unbearable.

Then Aiden's eyes shifted.

Directly toward me.

My blood ran cold.

"Hello, Aria."

The way he said my name made my skin crawl.

"You've been asking a lot of questions."

Damien stepped in front of me immediately.

Protective.

Instinctive.

Possessive.

Aiden smiled wider.

"There it is."

His gaze returned to Damien.

"The reason Olivia is suffering."

Every muscle in Damien's body tensed.

"Leave her out of this."

Aiden laughed again.

"No."

His expression darkened.

Instantly.

Violently.

"You left me to die."

The room felt colder.

Much colder.

Aiden leaned closer to the camera.

And then he delivered the sentence that shattered everything.

"Ask Aria where her father is."

My breath caught.

The room spun.

Damien went completely still.

Aiden smiled.

Victorious.

Because he knew exactly what he'd done.

Exactly how deeply he'd cut.

Then the screen went black.

And the silence that followed was far more terrifying than anything he had said.