The Devils Game

Chapter 6: The Night We Forgot

"The night you disappeared..."

Damon's voice cracked.

"...you weren't the only one who vanished."

I stared at him.

The railway station suddenly felt too small.

Too cold.

Too quiet.

"What does that mean?"

Damon looked toward the tracks.

"Six years ago, I woke up in a hospital."

I frowned.

"What?"

"I had no memory of the previous forty-eight hours."

My breath caught.

"You expect me to believe that?"

"I don't expect anything from you."

He looked at me.

"I'm telling you what happened."

"Then start talking."

Damon took a slow breath.

"Three days before you disappeared, your father contacted me."

"Why?"

"He wanted to meet."

"About what?"

"The network."

My stomach tightened.

"What did he tell you?"

"That someone close to him was working with them."

"Who?"

"I never found out."

"You were supposed to meet him."

"I did."

"When?"

"The night everything happened."

I stared at him.

"And?"

"He gave me a warning."

"What warning?"

Damon's eyes met mine.

"He told me not to trust your mother."

My heart stopped.

"No."

"He said she had been hiding something for years."

"My mother?"

"Yes."

"You expect me to believe my father trusted you more than her?"

"I don't know who he trusted."

"Then what happened?"

Damon looked away.

"I went to meet him."

"And?"

"He never showed."

"Why?"

"Because someone attacked me before I reached him."

I stared.

"Who?"

"I don't know."

"Then how do you know what happened?"

"Because I woke up with blood on my clothes."

My stomach twisted.

"Whose blood?"

He looked at me.

"Your father's."

Silence.

I stepped backward.

"You said you didn't kill him."

"I didn't."

"Then how did his blood get on you?"

"I don't know."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"No."

His voice was painfully calm.

"I expect you to understand that I have been trying to figure it out for six years."

I looked at the necklace in my hand.

The tiny memory chip suddenly felt heavier.

"What happened to me?"

Damon hesitated.

"I found you."

My heart stopped.

"What?"

"You were unconscious."

"Where?"

"In an abandoned warehouse."

I stared at him.

"Was I alone?"

"No."

My pulse quickened.

"Who was there?"

Damon's expression changed.

"Evangeline."

The room seemed to tilt.

"What?"

"You were holding her."

I couldn't breathe.

"That's impossible."

"You were pregnant when you disappeared."

"I didn't know."

"I know."

"Then how..."

"Because someone took you."

My hands began trembling.

"Who?"

Damon shook his head.

"I don't know."

"Stop saying that."

"I wish I could."

I turned away.

Six years.

Six years of believing my life had been destroyed by one man.

And now I was discovering that even my memories couldn't be trusted.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You disappeared."

"I came back."

"Six years later."

I spun around.

"I was searching for my daughter!"

"I know."

"No, you don't."

Damon stepped closer.

"I searched for you too."

I froze.

"What?"

"I spent three years looking for you."

"Then why did everyone tell me you didn't care?"

"Because I stopped looking publicly."

"Why?"

"Because every time I got close, someone disappeared."

My blood ran cold.

"Who?"

"People helping me."

Damon's voice lowered.

"Your father's lawyer. My security chief. Two investigators. A journalist."

He paused.

"Then Margaret."

I frowned.

"The nanny?"

"She wasn't just Evangeline's nanny."

"What was she?"

"She worked for your father."

I stared at him.

"You're lying."

"I wish I were."

A noise came from behind us.

We both turned.

Footsteps.

Damon immediately moved in front of me.

"Who's there?"

No answer.

Then a phone appeared on the floor.

It began ringing.

I looked at Damon.

Neither of us moved.

The phone rang again.

Finally, I picked it up.

A video started playing automatically.

Evangeline appeared on the screen.

She was sitting on a chair.

Her eyes were red.

But she was alive.

"Mama?"

I covered my mouth.

Then the camera shifted.

A woman stepped into view.

My mother.

She looked directly into the camera.

"Aria."

My heart sank.

"If you're watching this, then you've found the truth."

I stared at the screen.

"Why are you doing this?"

She continued.

"There are things your father never told you."

Damon's expression hardened.

"He trusted the wrong people."

My mother paused.

"And so did I."

The video suddenly distorted.

A second image appeared.

It was an old recording.

My father.

Alive.

Standing in a room I didn't recognize.

And beside him...

Damon.

But they weren't fighting.

They were working together.

I stared.

"What the hell?"

Damon's face had gone pale.

"I've never seen this."

On the recording, my father placed a file on a table.

"You need to protect her."

Damon nodded.

"I will."

"Even if she hates you."

"I know."

My father's expression softened.

"She'll hate you anyway."

Damon gave a bitter smile.

"Probably."

Then my father said something that made the world stop.

"Because when the time comes, you'll have to make her believe you betrayed her."

The recording ended.

I slowly turned toward Damon.

"You knew."

"No."

"You knew!"

"I didn't."

"You were working with my father!"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"To protect you."

I laughed.

A broken, humorless sound.

"Everyone keeps saying they're protecting me."

I looked at the screen.

"My father."

"My mother."

"You."

"And yet somehow I'm always the person left in the dark."

Damon didn't answer.

I stepped toward him.

"What did you promise my father?"

His eyes met mine.

"That I would keep you alive."

"And did you?"

He hesitated.

"I tried."

"Then why did you let me disappear?"

"I didn't."

His voice broke.

"I was unconscious too."

Silence.

I stared at him.

"Then who took us?"

A new voice came from the phone.

"Me."

We both froze.

The video had ended.

But someone was speaking through the phone.

A man's voice.

Calm.

Almost amused.

"You've spent six years blaming the wrong person."

Damon grabbed the phone.

"Who are you?"

The voice laughed.

"Ask Aria."

I frowned.

"Ask me what?"

"Ask her what she remembers about the night she disappeared."

I closed my eyes.

Nothing.

Darkness.

A car.

Rain.

My father's voice.

Then...

A lullaby.

A woman's voice singing softly.

My eyes opened.

"I remember."

Damon stared at me.

"What?"

"I remember the woman."

"What woman?"

"The night I disappeared."

My voice trembled.

"Someone was singing."

"Who?"

I looked at him.

"My mother."

Damon went completely still.

The phone crackled.

The mysterious voice whispered:

"Now you're getting closer."

The call ended.

Then the station lights suddenly came back on.

A single envelope lay on the floor.

My name was written across it.

I opened it.

Inside was a photograph.

Me.

Six years ago.

Holding newborn Evangeline.

But there was something wrong.

I looked at the date.

My daughter had been born two weeks before I disappeared.

I stared at Damon.

"You told me I didn't know she existed."

"I thought you didn't."

"Then why am I holding her?"

He looked at the photograph.

His face drained of color.

"I don't know."

I turned the photograph over.

There was writing on the back.

Three words.

YOU REMEMBERED HER.

My heart pounded.

Then another line appeared beneath it.

YOU JUST FORGOT WHY.

A sound came from the darkness behind us.

A woman's voice.

Soft.

Familiar.

"Aria?"

I turned.

My mother stood at the end of the platform.

But this time she wasn't alone.

Evangeline was standing beside her.

Alive.

Safe.

And holding her hand.

"Mom?"

Evangeline looked at me.

"Mama!"

She ran toward me.

I caught her and held her tightly.

For one precious moment, nothing else existed.

Then I looked over her shoulder.

My mother was crying.

Damon stood frozen.

And behind my mother was another person.

A man.

Older.

Grey-haired.

His eyes fixed on Damon.

Damon whispered one word.

"Father?"

The man smiled.

"Hello, son."

My heart stopped.

Because Damon's father had supposedly been dead for nine years.

And he was standing right in front of us.

Alive.