The Devils Game

Chapter Five: The Price of the Truth

The old railway station appeared through the fog like a forgotten graveyard.

Broken tracks disappeared into the darkness. Rusted signs swung above the empty platform, creaking whenever the wind passed through.

Damon killed the headlights.

For several seconds, neither of us moved.

The blue file sat between us.

The only thing standing between us and the truth.

And somewhere inside this abandoned station was my daughter.

"Stay here," Damon said.

I turned toward him.

"No."

"Aria."

"You don't get to tell me where I stay."

His jaw tightened.

"This could be a trap."

"It is a trap."

He paused.

I held his gaze.

"That's why we're going together."

He almost smiled.

Almost.

"You're impossible."

"I've been told."

He opened the door.

Cold air rushed into the car.

I stepped out.

The station was silent.

Too silent.

"Damon."

He stopped.

"What?"

I looked at the empty tracks.

"Where is everyone?"

"Exactly."

We walked toward the abandoned platform.

Every step echoed.

Then a light flickered at the far end.

Once.

Twice.

A door opened.

A man stepped out.

Black coat.

Gloves.

Face hidden beneath a hood.

My heart hammered.

"Where is my daughter?"

The man tilted his head.

"Where is the file?"

I lifted it.

"First, Evangeline."

He laughed.

"You really think you have the power to negotiate?"

Damon stepped forward.

"You have thirty seconds."

The man looked at him.

"You still think you're in control."

"I'm not."

Damon's voice became frighteningly calm.

"But I'm about to be."

The man raised a hand.

A second figure appeared behind him.

Then another.

My stomach dropped.

Damon whispered, "Stay behind me."

I ignored him.

"Where is Evangeline?"

The hooded man finally answered.

"She's safe."

"Let me see her."

"No."

"Then there is no deal."

He laughed again.

"You sound just like your father."

I froze.

"What did you say?"

He turned toward me.

"Your father asked the same questions."

My heart began pounding.

"You knew him."

"I knew him very well."

"Who are you?"

He slowly removed his hood.

I stared at his face.

I didn't recognize him.

But Damon did.

His entire body went rigid.

"No."

The man's smile widened.

"Hello, Damon."

Damon took one step backward.

"That's impossible."

I looked between them.

"Who is he?"

Damon didn't answer.

The man did.

"My name is Adrian Reed."

My blood ran cold.

"Reed?"

Damon's face had gone completely white.

"My brother."

Silence.

I stared at him.

"Your brother is dead."

Adrian smiled.

"That's what everyone was told."

My mind raced.

Damon's father.

The network.

My father's murder.

The mysterious photographs.

Everything suddenly seemed connected.

"You've been alive this whole time?"

"Very much alive."

Damon's voice was barely audible.

"You let me believe you were dead."

"You were supposed to."

"Why?"

Adrian looked at me.

"Because your father discovered the truth."

"What truth?"

Adrian smiled.

"That the Reed family wasn't running the network."

He paused.

"We were protecting it."

The words made my stomach turn.

Damon stared at him.

"You're lying."

"Am I?"

Adrian reached into his coat.

I instinctively stepped backward.

But instead of a weapon, he pulled out a photograph.

He held it toward me.

I took it.

My hands began shaking.

It showed my father.

My mother.

Damon.

And Adrian.

All four of them were standing together.

But the date printed on the back made my blood freeze.

It had been taken after my father's supposed death.

I looked at Damon.

"What is this?"

"I don't know."

Adrian laughed.

"You really don't, do you?"

Damon's expression hardened.

"Where is Evangeline?"

"Safe."

"Bring her here."

"Not yet."

I stepped forward.

"You promised."

"I promised you would hear her voice."

I felt my stomach drop.

Adrian pulled out a phone.

He pressed a button.

"Mama?"

Evangeline.

My entire body reacted.

"Baby!"

"I'm here," she whispered.

"Are you hurt?"

"No."

"Are you scared?"

"A little."

I closed my eyes.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

The call ended.

I stared at Adrian.

"Where is she?"

"Somewhere you can't reach."

Damon moved toward him.

Adrian's men immediately raised their weapons.

"One more step and she disappears."

Damon stopped.

Adrian looked at the blue file.

"Now."

I handed it over.

He opened it.

His expression changed.

Not surprise.

Fear.

He flipped through the pages quickly.

"What did you do?" he whispered.

"I didn't do anything."

He looked at me.

"Where's the final page?"

I frowned.

"What?"

"The final page."

"There isn't one."

Adrian stared at me.

Then he laughed.

A strange, almost nervous laugh.

"Your father really was clever."

Damon stepped closer.

"What are you talking about?"

Adrian closed the file.

"Your father didn't put the secret in the file."

He looked at me.

"He put it somewhere else."

My pulse quickened.

"Where?"

Adrian smiled.

"Inside you."

I stared at him.

"What?"

"Your father knew they would search his house. His office. His accounts. He knew they would search everywhere."

He stepped closer.

"So he chose the one place nobody would think to look."

Damon's expression changed.

"Aria."

I shook my head.

"No."

Adrian nodded.

"Your father left something with you before he died."

"I was a child."

"Exactly."

I remembered.

A memory I'd buried so deeply I had almost forgotten it.

My father kneeling in front of me.

His hands on my shoulders.

A small silver necklace around my neck.

Never take this off, Aria.

My hand immediately went to my throat.

The necklace.

I hadn't taken it off in years.

Damon noticed.

"What is that?"

I pulled it from beneath my shirt.

Adrian smiled.

"There it is."

My fingers trembled.

"This?"

"Open it."

I looked at Damon.

He nodded.

I examined the tiny pendant.

There was a nearly invisible seam.

I pressed it.

Click.

The pendant opened.

Inside was a tiny black memory chip.

My breath caught.

Damon stared.

"Your father hid it there."

Adrian's expression became almost triumphant.

"Give it to me."

I closed my hand around it.

"No."

His smile disappeared.

"You don't understand what you're holding."

"Then explain it."

"That chip contains everything."

"Everything?"

"The names. The accounts. The locations. The people involved."

He stepped closer.

"Your father spent years collecting evidence."

"And now you want it."

"I need it."

"Why?"

For the first time, fear appeared in his eyes.

"Because if that information gets out, people will come for all of us."

Damon looked at him.

"You're afraid."

Adrian's expression hardened.

"I'm warning you."

"No," Damon said quietly.

"You're afraid."

Adrian looked toward me.

"Give me the chip, Aria."

I shook my head.

"Bring me my daughter."

A long silence followed.

Then Adrian smiled.

"Fair enough."

He reached into his pocket.

My heart lifted.

But instead of calling Evangeline, he pulled out another photograph.

He handed it to me.

I looked down.

And everything inside me stopped.

It was Evangeline.

But she wasn't alone.

Standing beside her was my mother.

Alive.

Healthy.

And smiling.

The photograph had been taken three years ago.

I slowly raised my eyes.

"My mother knew you."

Adrian didn't answer.

I turned toward Damon.

"You knew."

"No."

"You knew she was alive."

"I didn't."

"Then why does everyone except me seem to know what's happening?"

Damon stepped toward me.

"Aria, listen."

I backed away.

"No."

The photograph slipped from my fingers.

My mother's words came rushing back.

Your daughter was never supposed to become part of this.

Then another memory surfaced.

Something Evangeline had said.

I've seen her.

The woman near the garden.

The woman who looked like my mother.

My mother had been watching my daughter.

For years.

Without coming to me.

Without telling me she was alive.

I looked at Adrian.

"Where is my mother?"

He smiled.

"Closer than you think."

A voice came from behind me.

"He's right."

I froze.

Damon's eyes widened.

Slowly, I turned around.

My mother stood at the entrance of the station.

But something was different.

She wasn't afraid.

She wasn't trembling.

She wasn't the helpless woman I'd met at Saint Orchard.

She looked calm.

Prepared.

And in her hand was a second blue file.

"Mom?"

She looked at me.

"I'm sorry, Aria."

Damon stepped forward.

"You knew."

She ignored him.

Her eyes remained on me.

"I didn't tell you the truth because I needed to know whether I could trust you."

My voice broke.

"Trust me?"

She looked at the necklace around my neck.

Then at the chip in my hand.

"You still don't understand."

"Understand what?"

Her expression hardened.

"Evangeline was never the secret."

She looked at Damon.

"The secret was always you."

Silence.

I couldn't breathe.

"What does that mean?"

My mother smiled sadly.

"Your father didn't choose you to protect the evidence, Aria."

She took one step toward me.

"He chose you because you are the heir."

The lights above us suddenly went out.

A train whistle screamed somewhere in the darkness.

And when the lights flickered back on...

My mother was gone.

So was Adrian.

So was the blue file.

But one thing remained on the platform.

A small pink ribbon.

Evangeline's.

I picked it up.

And beneath it was a note.

Six words.

Ask Damon what happened six years ago.

I looked at him.

His face had gone pale.

"Damon?"

He said nothing.

"Damon."

He finally looked at me.

And for the first time since I'd known him...

He looked terrified of my question.

"Tell me what happened six years ago."

He swallowed.

"Aria..."

"Tell me."

He closed his eyes.

"The night you disappeared..."

He opened them again.

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