CHAPTER FIVE. THE PRICE OF REVENGE
1600 Words
Amelia stared at the phone in her hand.
The call had ended, but the man’s words still echoed in her mind.
Only one of you is coming home.
She looked at Damian.
His expression had changed completely.
The calm, controlled man she had married was gone. In his place was someone who looked ready to tear apart anyone who stood between him and her father.
“We’re leaving,” he said.
Amelia stood.
“Where?”
“The location.”
“There was no location.”
Damian pulled out his phone.
“The number can be traced.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“How long?”
Damian looked at him.
“Give me a minute.”
Daniel nodded.
Amelia looked between the brothers.
“What are we going to do when we find him?”
“We get your father out,” Damian said.
“And then?”
Damian’s eyes hardened.
“Then I find the people responsible.”
Amelia swallowed.
Her mother suddenly grabbed her hand.
“Amelia, please don’t go.”
Amelia turned toward her.
“Mum, Dad needs me.”
“He needs you alive.”
“I’ll be careful.”
Her mother looked at Damian.
“Bring her back.”
Damian held her mother’s gaze.
“I will.”
Something about the certainty in his voice made Amelia pause.
She didn’t know why, but for the first time since she had married him, she believed him.
Less than ten minutes later, Damian’s phone vibrated.
He looked at the screen.
“I have the location.”
Amelia stepped closer.
“Where?”
“An old warehouse near the port.”
Daniel’s expression immediately changed.
“Which warehouse?”
Damian gave him the address.
Daniel went silent.
Damian noticed.
“What?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Our father’s old warehouse.”
Damian frowned.
“I thought it was sold years ago.”
Daniel shook his head.
“It wasn’t.”
Damian stared at him.
“What are you talking about?”
“Dad never sold it.”
Amelia looked between the brothers.
“Then who owns it?”
Daniel’s face darkened.
“That’s what scares me.”
Damian’s eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
Daniel looked toward the door.
“Because after Dad died, that property was supposed to come to me.”
Damian’s expression changed.
“You never told me that.”
“I didn’t know if it was still legally mine. I only knew Dad left the documents with Evelyn.”
At the mention of her name, Amelia remembered the woman they had found in the abandoned house.
Evelyn.
Their father’s first wife.
The woman who had been believed dead for twelve years.
Amelia’s stomach tightened.
“Do you think Evelyn knows something about the warehouse?”
Daniel looked at her.
“She might.”
Damian picked up his keys.
“We’ll ask her later.”
Daniel shook his head.
“If she’s telling the truth, we may not have time.”
Damian looked at him.
“Why?”
Daniel’s voice became low.
“Because whoever took Richard knows about that warehouse.”
Silence filled the room.
Amelia grabbed her bag.
“Let’s go.”
The warehouse stood near the port, hidden behind several abandoned buildings.
Rain had begun falling heavily by the time Damian’s car stopped.
Amelia looked through the windshield.
There were no lights.
No guards.
Nothing.
“This place is deserted,” she whispered.
Daniel looked toward the building.
“That’s what they want us to think.”
Damian turned to Amelia.
“Stay here.”
She immediately shook her head.
“No.”
“Amelia.”
“My father is in there.”
“I don’t know what’s waiting for us.”
“Neither do I.”
She opened the car door.
“But I’m not sitting here while you go inside.”
Damian stared at her.
Then he sighed.
“Stay between Daniel and me.”
Daniel nodded.
“Don’t move away from us.”
They stepped out.
The rain soaked through Amelia’s clothes as they approached the warehouse.
The large metal door was slightly open.
Damian raised a hand.
They stopped.
He listened.
Nothing.
Daniel slowly pushed the door open.
It creaked.
The three of them entered.
“Dad?” Amelia called.
Her voice echoed through the empty building.
No answer.
She took another step.
Then she heard something.
A faint groan.
“Dad!”
Amelia rushed forward.
Damian caught her arm.
“Wait.”
He pointed down.
A thin wire stretched across the floor.
Amelia froze.
Daniel crouched beside it.
“It’s a trap.”
Damian scanned the warehouse.
“Don’t touch it.”
Daniel carefully examined the wire.
“This isn’t an ordinary alarm.”
“What is it?” Amelia whispered.
Daniel looked up.
“Explosive.”
Amelia’s eyes widened.
Before anyone could move…
CLICK.
The warehouse exploded.
Amelia screamed.
Damian grabbed her and pulled her against him as the blast sent debris flying across the room.
Daniel was thrown backward.
“Daniel!”
Amelia tried to move toward him.
Damian held her tightly.
“Stay down!”
Smoke filled the warehouse.
Amelia coughed.
“Daniel!”
A shadow appeared through the smoke.
Daniel slowly stood.
“I’m okay.”
Amelia exhaled in relief.
Damian looked around.
Then a voice came from somewhere inside the warehouse.
“Welcome, Damian.”
Damian’s expression hardened.
“Show yourself.”
A quiet laugh echoed through the building.
“You really thought you could walk in here and take him?”
Amelia stepped forward.
“Where is my father?”
The voice answered.
“Alive.”
Her heart jumped.
“Let me speak to him!”
There was silence.
Then Richard’s weak voice came through the darkness.
“Amelia…”
“Dad!”
“Don’t come any closer!”
Amelia covered her mouth.
“Dad, where are you?”
“I’m sorry.”
“What?”
“I should have told you everything.”
The voice interrupted him.
“That will be enough.”
Richard’s voice disappeared.
Amelia turned toward the darkness.
“What do you want?”
The answer came slowly.
“Your husband.”
Damian’s eyes narrowed.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
Amelia looked at him.
The mysterious voice continued.
“Damian Blackwood has spent years believing he was controlling this revenge.”
A pause.
“He wasn’t.”
Damian stepped forward.
“Who are you?”
The voice laughed.
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
Daniel suddenly looked toward the far end of the warehouse.
“There.”
A light switched on.
A man stood several metres away.
Amelia’s breath caught.
She knew him.
Her father’s former business partner.
The same man from the photograph.
The man who had been standing beside Richard and Damian’s father twelve years ago.
Damian stared at him.
“You.”
The man’s lips curved into a smile.
“It’s been a long time, Damian.”
Daniel moved beside his brother.
“What are you doing here?”
The man looked at Daniel.
“You survived.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“You knew I was alive?”
“Of course.”
Damian looked between them.
“What is going on?”
The man laughed softly.
“You still don’t understand.”
He looked at Amelia.
“Your father didn’t destroy my family.”
Amelia’s eyes widened.
“Then who did?”
The man’s smile disappeared.
“You did.”
Amelia froze.
“What?”
He took a step forward.
“Not you personally, of course.”
His eyes moved to Damian.
“Your marriage did.”
Damian’s jaw tightened.
“What are you talking about?”
“You were supposed to destroy the Carter family.”
He smiled.
“And Amelia was supposed to hate you.”
He looked at them both.
“But something went wrong.”
Amelia’s heart began pounding.
“What went wrong?”
The man looked directly at Damian.
“You started caring about her.”
Damian said nothing.
The man’s expression became cold.
“And that was never part of the plan.”
He turned toward the darkness behind him.
“Bring him out.”
Two men dragged Richard into the light.
Amelia gasped.
“Dad!”
Richard looked battered and exhausted, but he was alive.
“Amelia, don’t!”
She tried to move toward him.
Damian stopped her.
The man smiled.
“Now we can finally finish what started twelve years ago.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
“You’re the one who framed Richard.”
“Yes.”
Damian stared at him.
“Why?”
The man’s smile returned.
“Because your father discovered the truth.”
“What truth?”
The man looked at Damian.
“That I was the one who caused his downfall.”
Damian went completely still.
“And then,” the man continued, “I made sure both families blamed each other.”
Amelia looked at Damian.
Everything was changing.
The revenge Damian had built his entire life around had been based on a lie.
The man raised his hand.
“Now you have a choice.”
He pointed at Richard.
“Save her father.”
Then he looked at Damian.
“Or save yourself.”
Damian stared at him.
“What happens if I choose Richard?”
The man smiled.
“You’ll finally learn what happened to your father.”
The warehouse fell silent.
Daniel looked at Damian.
Amelia’s heart raced.
And for the first time, Damian realized the revenge he had spent twelve years planning had never truly belonged to him.
Someone else had been writing his story all along.
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