The Devils Game

Chapter 7 :The man who should be dead

Chapter Seven: The Man Who Should Be Dead

"Father?"

The word barely left Damon's mouth.

The man standing across the railway platform smiled.

Not warmly.

Not lovingly.

Like he'd been waiting years to hear his son say it.

Evangeline clung to my waist.

I held her tighter.

My mother stood beside the stranger, her face unreadable.

"Damon," she said quietly. "It's time."

Damon didn't move.

"You're dead."

The man laughed.

"That's what I wanted everyone to believe."

Damon's hands curled into fists.

"You watched me mourn you."

"I watched you become stronger."

"You watched me suffer."

"I watched you survive."

Damon took a step forward.

"Why?"

His father's smile disappeared.

"Because you needed to learn that love makes people weak."

I felt something inside me turn cold.

I looked at my mother.

"You knew."

She lowered her eyes.

"Yes."

"For how long?"

"Almost nine years."

I stared at her.

"Nine years?"

She nodded.

"And you never told me?"

"You weren't ready."

"Stop saying that."

My voice echoed through the station.

"Everyone keeps deciding what I'm ready to know."

I looked at Damon.

Then his father.

Then my mother.

"Well, I'm ready now."

No one answered.

I stepped forward.

"Who killed my father?"

Damon's father looked at me.

"That depends on which father you're asking about."

My blood ran cold.

"What does that mean?"

He smiled.

"Your father wasn't the only man who died that night."

Damon's expression changed.

"What did you do?"

His father ignored him.

He looked at Evangeline.

"She has her grandfather's eyes."

I moved between them.

"Don't look at her."

His smile faded.

"Protective."

"She's my daughter."

"No."

His eyes sharpened.

"She's the heir."

My mother suddenly stepped forward.

"Enough."

He looked at her.

"You've kept her hidden long enough."

"She was a child."

"She is no longer a child."

I felt Evangeline's fingers tighten around mine.

I looked down at her.

She was staring at the old man.

Then she whispered:

"I know him."

My heart stopped.

"What?"

Evangeline looked frightened.

"He came to my room."

Damon immediately turned toward his father.

"You've been inside my house?"

His father smiled.

"Many times."

Damon's face became terrifyingly still.

"You went near my daughter."

"I went near what belongs to the family."

Damon stepped forward.

"She doesn't belong to you."

"No," his father said calmly.

"She belongs to history."

I felt sick.

"What does that mean?"

His father looked at me.

"Your father discovered something that should have remained buried."

"The network."

"That is only the beginning."

He reached into his coat and removed a small black box.

"Your father believed this was the key."

I stared at it.

"What's inside?"

"Proof."

"Of what?"

"Who really controls the network."

He looked at Damon.

"And who has been betraying it."

Damon's face hardened.

"Who?"

His father smiled.

"You."

Silence.

I looked at Damon.

"What?"

"I didn't betray anyone."

His father laughed.

"You betrayed me."

Damon stared at him.

"I was trying to protect Aria."

"And that's exactly why you failed."

My mother's face suddenly changed.

"Give me the box."

His father looked at her.

"No."

She stepped closer.

"You promised."

"I promised nothing."

"After everything I did for you..."

"Everything you did was for yourself."

My mother went pale.

I stared between them.

"What did you two do?"

Neither answered.

Then Evangeline spoke.

"Grandma?"

My mother looked at her.

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"Why did you tell the bad man where we were?"

The entire station went silent.

My mother's face drained of color.

I stared at her.

"What did she just say?"

My mother shook her head.

"Aria, I never..."

"You told him?"

"No."

Evangeline looked confused.

"You did."

My mother knelt.

"Sweetheart, I would never hurt you."

"But you told him."

"Who?"

"The man who came to the house."

Damon's eyes narrowed.

"What man?"

Evangeline pointed toward his father.

"That man."

My mother's expression collapsed.

Damon turned toward his father.

"You sent someone to the estate."

His father smiled.

"Of course."

Damon moved toward him.

"You took my daughter."

"Your daughter was never mine to take."

Damon stopped.

"Then whose was she?"

His father looked at me.

"That's the question you've been avoiding."

I felt my stomach twist.

"She's mine."

"Biologically, yes."

He smiled.

"But blood isn't the only thing that makes someone family."

I looked at Evangeline.

"What are you saying?"

He opened the black box.

Inside was a photograph.

I took it.

My hands began trembling.

It showed my father holding a newborn baby.

Beside him stood Damon.

But that wasn't the shocking part.

Written on the back were the words:

Evangeline Blake-Reed. Biological mother: Aria Blake. Biological father: Unknown.

I looked at Damon.

He looked genuinely stunned.

"What is this?"

His father smiled.

"The truth."

Damon shook his head.

"No."

I stared at the photograph.

"Unknown?"

My voice barely worked.

"You told me she was your daughter."

Damon looked at me.

"I believed she was."

"Believed?"

"I was told she was mine."

"By who?"

His eyes moved slowly toward my mother.

I felt the world tilt.

My mother looked away.

"No."

I stepped backward.

"You knew."

She began crying.

"Aria..."

"You knew."

"I was trying to protect you."

"From what?"

She couldn't answer.

I looked at Damon.

"Is Evangeline yours?"

His eyes filled with something I had never seen before.

Fear.

"I don't know."

The words shattered something inside me.

Evangeline looked between us.

"Am I bad?"

I immediately dropped beside her.

"No, baby."

"Then why is everyone scared?"

I pulled her into my arms.

"Because adults are very good at making simple things complicated."

Damon crouched beside us.

"You are not bad."

Evangeline looked at him.

"Are you my daddy?"

He swallowed.

"I will always be your daddy."

"But are you?"

He couldn't answer.

I looked at his father.

"What have you done?"

He closed the box.

"Nothing."

"You've destroyed everything."

"No."

He smiled.

"I've finally shown you the first piece."

Suddenly, a phone rang.

My mother's.

She looked at the screen.

Her face changed.

She answered.

"Hello?"

Silence.

Then she whispered:

"She's awake."

I frowned.

"Who?"

My mother slowly lowered the phone.

"Your father."

My heart stopped.

"What?"

She looked at me.

"Your father is alive."

I couldn't breathe.

Damon stared at her.

"That's impossible."

My mother shook her head.

"No."

Her voice trembled.

"That's the problem."

A loud crash came from the station entrance.

Everyone turned.

A figure stood in the doorway.

A man.

Tall.

Older.

Bloodied.

His eyes locked onto mine.

I knew that face.

I'd spent six years remembering it.

My father.

He looked at me.

Then at Evangeline.

And whispered:

"Aria..."

I couldn't move.

He took one step forward.

"I've been trying to find you."

Then he looked at Damon.

His expression hardened.

"And I finally know who betrayed us."

The lights went out.

A gunshot echoed through the station.

When they came back on, my father was gone.

And lying on the floor beside us was the black box.

Open.

Empty.

Inside it was a single piece of paper.

I picked it up.

Five words were written across it.

TRUST NO ONE. NOT EVEN ME.