CHAPTER 14 — THE TRAP
1584 Words
Amara stared at the empty chair where Lucas had been sitting only hours earlier.
The room felt different without him.
Not safer.
More dangerous.
Daniel stood near the window, his expression hard as he watched the darkness outside. Damian was beside Amara, his jaw tight, his phone still pressed against his ear.
“Nothing?” Amara asked.
Damian lowered the phone.
“His phone is off.”
Daniel turned from the window.
“Then they took him.”
Amara’s heart sank.
“Who?”
Daniel looked at her.
“The same people who took me.”
Silence filled the room.
Damian stepped closer to his father.
“You said the person behind this isn't Victor.”
“I said Victor didn't order my disappearance,” Daniel replied.
Damian's eyes narrowed.
“Then who did?”
Daniel hesitated.
“That is what I've spent seven years trying to discover.”
Amara stared at him.
“But you said someone I already trusted was behind everything.”
Daniel nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
Amara's frustration rose.
“You don't know?”
“I know the person has access to information,” Daniel said. “They knew where I was hiding. They knew about the ledger. They knew about Richard. And now they know about Lucas.”
Damian looked at Amara.
“And they know about you.”
Her stomach tightened.
The note from the train station suddenly felt heavier in her mind.
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHO BETRAYED YOUR FATHER, COME TO THE OLD TRAIN STATION ALONE.
Daniel walked toward her.
“Don't go there.”
Amara looked at him.
“What if that's where they are keeping Lucas?”
“They want you to think that.”
“But what if you're wrong?”
Daniel's face hardened.
“They've been waiting seven years for someone to make a mistake.”
Damian reached for Amara's hand.
She looked down at their joined hands.
For a moment, everything else disappeared.
The fear.
The secrets.
The revenge she had once promised herself.
Damian squeezed her fingers.
“You're not going anywhere alone.”
Amara looked into his eyes.
“You can't protect me from everything.”
“No,” he said quietly. “But I'll try.”
Her heart skipped.
She hated how easily he could make her forget why she had come into his life.
She had returned to destroy the Blackwoods.
And now she was standing beside one of them, wanting nothing more than to keep him safe.
That frightened her more than the anonymous messages ever had.
Her phone suddenly vibrated.
Everyone froze.
Amara pulled it from her pocket.
One message.
YOU SHOULD HAVE COME ALONE.
Another arrived immediately.
NOW LUCAS PAYS FOR YOUR CHOICE.
Amara's blood ran cold.
Damian saw the screen.
“They're watching us.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Give me the phone.”
Before Amara could respond, another message appeared.
This time, there was a photograph.
Lucas.
His hands were tied behind his back. His face was bruised, but he was alive.
Amara covered her mouth.
“Oh God…”
Damian took the phone.
At the bottom of the picture was a message.
ONE HOUR. OLD TRAIN STATION. COME ALONE.
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
Damian looked at him.
“They have Lucas.”
“And they want you to walk into a trap.”
“I know.”
“Then don't go.”
Damian's expression changed.
“They're not asking for me.”
His eyes moved to Amara.
“They're asking for her.”
Amara swallowed.
Daniel stepped between them.
“No one is going.”
Amara stared at the photograph again.
Lucas was terrified.
And she knew something Daniel didn't.
Lucas had once warned her.
He had told her to stay away from the Blackwood secrets.
He had risked himself to find answers.
And now he was being punished for helping.
“We have to go,” Amara whispered.
Daniel immediately shook his head.
“No.”
“I can't leave him there.”
“You don't know what they will do to you.”
“I know.”
Damian looked at her.
“I'll come with you.”
The words were firm.
Daniel looked between them.
“That is exactly what they don't want.”
Damian stepped forward.
“Then we'll make them believe she's alone.”
Daniel stared at him.
“What are you planning?”
Damian's eyes hardened.
“To turn their trap against them.”
THE OLD TRAIN STATION
Forty minutes later, the abandoned train station stood beneath a sky heavy with clouds.
The place had been closed for years.
Broken windows.
Rusting signs.
Weeds growing between the old railway tracks.
Amara stood inside the entrance, her heart pounding.
Damian was nowhere in sight.
That was the plan.
At least, that was what she had been told.
She moved slowly through the empty station.
“Lucas?”
Her voice echoed.
No answer.
She walked farther.
A light flickered above her.
Then another.
Then darkness.
Amara froze.
A man's voice came from behind her.
“You actually came.”
She turned.
No one.
Her breathing quickened.
“Where is Lucas?”
A slow clap came from somewhere in the darkness.
“You still care about him.”
“Where is he?”
“Interesting.”
The voice sounded calm.
Almost familiar.
Amara's skin prickled.
“Show yourself.”
Footsteps approached.
A figure emerged from the shadows.
His face remained hidden beneath a dark hood.
Amara took a step back.
“Who are you?”
The stranger stopped several feet away.
“You really don't remember me?”
Her heart began racing.
“What are you talking about?”
The stranger laughed softly.
“Your father told you the truth about one thing.”
“What?”
“The person behind this has already been close to you.”
Amara's blood ran cold.
“Who?”
The stranger reached into his coat.
Amara tensed.
But instead of a weapon, he pulled out a photograph.
He held it toward her.
Amara stared.
It was an old photograph.
Seven years ago.
Daniel.
Victor.
Richard.
And another man.
She had never seen him before.
Except—
Her eyes widened.
She had seen him.
Recently.
At a place she trusted.
A place she had visited more than once.
Her fingers trembled.
“No…”
The stranger smiled.
“Now you're beginning to understand.”
Amara took another step backward.
“Where is Lucas?”
“You'll see him soon.”
A sound came from the far end of the station.
A chair scraping against the floor.
Then Lucas's voice.
“AMARA!”
She turned.
Lucas was tied to a chair in the middle of the platform.
His mouth was bleeding.
“Don't come closer!”
Two armed men appeared behind him.
Amara stopped.
The hooded stranger stepped beside her.
“You have one choice.”
Amara stared at Lucas.
“What choice?”
“Your father's location.”
She said nothing.
The stranger leaned closer.
“Tell us where Daniel is…”
He paused.
“…or Lucas dies.”
Amara's eyes filled with tears.
Then she noticed something.
Lucas wasn't looking at the stranger.
He was looking past him.
Toward the broken clock above the station entrance.
His eyes moved twice.
Then he blinked.
A signal.
Amara suddenly understood.
Lucas wasn't asking her to surrender.
He was warning her.
Don't tell them.
Her heart pounded.
The stranger smiled.
“Well?”
Amara slowly raised her eyes.
“You want Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“Then let Lucas go.”
The stranger laughed.
“You're in no position to negotiate.”
Amara smiled faintly.
“Maybe not.”
She looked directly at him.
“But you made one mistake.”
The stranger's smile disappeared.
“What mistake?”
“You brought me here.”
A loud crash suddenly echoed through the station.
The lights exploded.
Gunfire erupted.
The two armed men dropped behind cover.
Lucas threw himself sideways with the chair.
Amara ducked.
Then a familiar voice shouted from the darkness.
“AMARA! RUN!”
Damian.
Her heart leapt.
She ran toward Lucas.
But before she reached him, the hooded stranger grabbed her arm.
He leaned close to her ear.
“You still don't know who you're trusting.”
Then he shoved her forward and disappeared into the darkness.
Amara turned.
“Damian!”
He rushed toward her.
But the stranger was already gone.
Lucas lay on the ground, still tied to the chair.
Damian dropped beside him and began cutting the ropes.
“Are you hurt?”
Lucas looked at him.
“Not badly.”
Damian helped him stand.
Amara looked around the station.
The stranger had vanished.
But something remained on the floor where he had stood.
A small black envelope.
Amara picked it up.
Her hands trembled as she opened it.
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
Five words were written across it.
ASK YOUR FATHER ABOUT SOPHIA.
Amara's breath caught.
Damian read the message over her shoulder.
Lucas went completely still.
And Daniel's warning suddenly came back to Amara's mind.
Someone you already trusted.
She slowly looked at Damian.
Then at Lucas.
Then at the photograph of the four men.
For the first time, she wondered whether the person they were searching for had been watching them from the beginning.
And somewhere in the darkness outside the station, someone was already making the next move.
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