CHAPTER Three — The Voice Behind the Door
2023 Words
“That’s my father.”
The words barely left Aria’s lips.
Damian stared at her.
For the first time since she had met him, the calm mask on his face disappeared.
“Are you sure?”
Aria nodded slowly, tears filling her eyes.
“I remember his voice.”
Another gunshot rang through the mansion.
Aria screamed.
Damian grabbed her hand.
“Stay behind me.”
He pulled her toward the study door, but before they could reach it, the lights went out.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Aria froze.
She couldn't breathe.
The darkness.
The gunshots.
The smell of smoke.
It was happening again.
Just like that night.
Eight years ago.
“Mommy…”
Her knees weakened.
“Aria.”
Damian's voice reached her.
“Look at me.”
She couldn't.
Her eyes were fixed on the darkness.
“Aria.”
He stepped closer.
“Look at me.”
She finally raised her eyes.
His face was barely visible in the moonlight.
“You're here,” he whispered. “You're not eight years old anymore.”
Her breathing remained uneven.
“You're safe.”
A loud crash came from downstairs.
Aria flinched and instinctively grabbed his shirt.
Damian looked down at her hand.
She immediately tried to let go.
But he caught her wrist.
“Don't.”
His voice was softer.
“Stay close.”
Footsteps echoed through the hallway.
Slow.
Heavy.
Deliberate.
Someone was coming toward them.
Damian released Aria and raised his weapon.
“Stay behind me.”
The footsteps stopped outside the study.
Silence.
Then a man's voice came through the door.
“Aria.”
She stopped breathing.
It was him.
The same voice from her nightmares.
Her father's voice.
“Daddy?”
Damian's expression hardened.
The door handle slowly turned.
Aria stepped backward.
The door opened.
A tall man stood on the other side.
Older.
His hair was streaked with gray.
His face was harder than she remembered.
But his eyes...
She knew those eyes.
The man stared at her.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then he whispered,
“My little girl.”
Aria's tears fell.
She couldn't move.
“You're alive.”
The man smiled sadly.
“I've been looking for you.”
Damian stepped between them.
“You shouldn't have come here.”
The man's eyes moved toward him.
“Damian.”
There was hatred in the way he said the name.
“So you're the one who found her.”
Damian's grip tightened around his weapon.
“I promised her mother.”
Her father's expression changed.
“Don't mention her.”
Aria looked between them.
“You knew each other?”
Neither answered.
“Tell me the truth!” Aria screamed.
Her voice broke.
“My mother died. You disappeared. Everyone told me you were dead!”
Her father looked at her.
“I didn't abandon you.”
“Then why did you leave?”
“Because staying would have killed you.”
“You should have stayed!”
The words came out like a sob.
“You should have protected me!”
Her father lowered his eyes.
“I tried.”
“No!”
Aria shook her head.
“You weren't there.”
She touched the necklace around her neck.
“You weren't there when she died.”
Her father looked at the necklace.
His face suddenly became pale.
“Where did you get that?”
“My mother gave it to me.”
“No.”
He took a step forward.
“That necklace was supposed to be destroyed.”
Damian looked at Aria.
“What did you find inside it?”
Her father immediately looked at Damian.
“You opened it?”
Damian didn't answer.
Aria's hands trembled.
“There was a message.”
Her father went silent.
“What message?”
Aria swallowed.
“‘He knows everything.’”
The man's face changed.
Fear.
Real fear.
“Who gave you that message?”
“I don't know.”
Her father looked toward Damian.
Then toward the hallway.
“We have to leave.”
Damian shook his head.
“She's not going anywhere with you.”
“She's my daughter.”
“And she's under my protection.”
A tense silence filled the room.
Aria looked at Damian.
“Why?”
He turned toward her.
“Because your mother asked me to protect you.”
Her father laughed bitterly.
“Your mother trusted the wrong man.”
Damian's eyes darkened.
“You're in no position to question her choices.”
“Enough!”
Aria screamed.
Both men fell silent.
She wiped her tears angrily.
“I am tired of everyone deciding things for me.”
She looked at her father.
“I want to know what happened that night.”
Then she looked at Damian.
“And I want the truth from you too.”
Neither man spoke.
Aria's voice trembled.
“No more secrets.”
Her father slowly looked at her.
“You're not ready.”
“I'll decide that.”
He stared at her for a long moment.
Then he whispered:
“Your mother wasn't killed because of your father.”
Aria's heart stopped.
“Then why?”
Her father looked toward Damian.
“Because of him.”
Aria slowly turned.
Her eyes met Damian's.
He said nothing.
Her father continued.
“Ask him what happened eight years ago.”
Damian's face became unreadable.
“Ask him why your mother begged him to take you away.”
Aria stared at Damian
For several seconds, Aria could not move.
Her father's voice still echoed through the room.
“Aria…”
It was impossible.
Her father was dead.
She had spent years believing that.
Years believing that the only family she had left was her mother—the mother who had been taken from her on that terrible night.
Yet that voice...
It was the voice from her memories.
The voice that had called her little girl.
The voice that had once sung to her when she was afraid of thunderstorms.
Aria's lips trembled.
“Daddy?”
Damian immediately grabbed her hand.
“Don't.”
She looked at him.
“That's my father.”
“I know.”
“You said he disappeared.”
“He did.”
“Then why is he here?”
Damian's expression hardened.
“I don't know.”
A loud crash came from downstairs.
Aria jumped.
Damian pulled her behind him.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Aria.”
“I want answers.”
“You'll get them.”
“When?”
“When I know you're safe.”
She stared at him.
“You always say that.”
“And I'm always right.”
Another sound echoed through the mansion.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Unhurried.
Someone was walking through the house.
Damian raised his gun.
“Stay behind me.”
Aria nodded.
They stepped into the hallway.
The lights flickered.
Then went out.
Darkness swallowed the mansion.
Aria grabbed Damian's sleeve.
“Damian…”
“I've got you.”
The words were barely audible.
But they calmed her.
For the first time, Aria realized something terrifying.
She trusted him.
Not completely.
Not yet.
But enough to hold onto him in the dark.
A door creaked somewhere downstairs.
Damian's grip tightened around his weapon.
“Stay here.”
He started walking away.
Aria caught his arm.
“Don't leave me.”
He stopped.
Their eyes met in the darkness.
Something changed in his expression.
Something dangerously soft.
“I won't.”
He turned back toward her.
“Not this time.”
Downstairs, the front door was wide open.
The rain poured through it.
But there was no one there.
Damian slowly lowered his gun.
Then he noticed something on the floor.
A single photograph.
He picked it up.
His face changed.
Aria saw it.
“What is it?”
Damian didn't answer.
She walked toward him.
He tried to hide the photograph.
“Damian.”
“Aria, don't.”
She snatched it from his hand.
Her heart stopped.
The photograph showed her mother.
Standing beside a man.
Her father.
But there was something else.
A third person stood behind them.
A much younger Damian.
Aria stared at him.
“You knew my father.”
“Yes.”
“You knew him before my mother died.”
“Yes.”
“You knew both of them.”
“Yes.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Then why did you lie to me?”
Damian stepped closer.
“I never lied.”
“You said you weren't a stranger.”
“I wasn't.”
“Then who were you?”
He looked at the photograph.
“I was your father's closest friend.”
Aria's face went blank.
Her father had a friend.
Damian.
The man who had been watching her for eight years.
The man who had promised her mother to protect her.
The man she was beginning to trust.
“You were there that night,” she whispered.
Damian didn't answer.
“You were there when my mother died.”
His silence was confirmation.
Aria stepped backward.
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
Her voice broke.
“Did you see her die?”
Damian's eyes lowered.
“Yes.”
A tear rolled down Aria's cheek.
“Why didn't you save her?”
Damian's jaw tightened.
“I tried.”
“Not hard enough.”
The words came out before she could stop them.
Damian looked at her.
There was pain in his eyes now.
Real pain.
“I failed her.”
Aria wiped her tears angrily.
“Then why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn't.”
He stepped closer.
“But I will spend the rest of my life making sure I don't fail you too.”
Aria looked away.
Her heart hurt.
She wanted to hate him.
It would have been easier.
But something about his voice made her believe him.
Then a sound came from behind them.
A slow clap.
They both turned.
A man stood in the doorway.
Tall.
Dressed in black.
His face partially hidden by the shadows.
Aria stopped breathing.
Damian immediately raised his gun.
“Adrian.”
The man's lips curved into a faint smile.
“It's been a long time, Cross.”
Aria stared at him.
Her entire body went cold.
That face.
Older.
Changed.
But still familiar.
Her father's eyes met hers.
“Hello, Aria.”
She couldn't speak.
He took one step forward.
“Did you miss me?”
Aria's eyes filled with tears.
“You're dead.”
Adrian smiled sadly.
“Your mother wanted you to believe that.”
“Why?”
His smile disappeared.
“Because she knew what I had become.”
Damian stepped between them.
“Don't go near her.”
Adrian laughed quietly.
“You still protect her.”
“I promised her mother.”
“No.”
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
“You promised me.”
Damian froze.
Aria looked between them.
“What does that mean?”
Neither man answered.
Adrian slowly reached inside his coat.
Damian raised his gun.
“Don't.”
Adrian stopped.
Instead, he pulled out a small envelope.
He dropped it onto the floor.
“For my daughter.”
Then he turned around.
“Wait!”
Aria ran forward.
Damian caught her around the waist.
“Let me go!”
“It's a trap.”
“My father!”
“He wants you to follow him.”
Aria struggled against Damian.
“Let me go!”
Adrian looked over his shoulder.
His expression suddenly became serious.
“Aria.”
She stopped fighting.
“There is one thing your mother never told you.”
“What?”
Adrian's eyes moved toward Damian.
“Ask him why he was the last person to see her alive.”
Then he disappeared into the darkness.
Aria slowly turned toward Damian.
Her voice was barely a whisper.
“Why?”
Damian said nothing.
“Damian…”
His eyes met hers.
And for the first time since she had met him, he looked afraid.
Not for himself.
For her.
Because whatever answer he lwas about to give her...
would change everything.
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