Chapter five
1117 Words
Eddie was finding it difficult to sleep.
She curled herself up in the corner of
her bed.with Damon’s folder on her
laps, the anonymous message still haunting her mind.
You shouldn't have told him, now you are part of the game.
The word echoed over and over in
her head,louder than the city noise
beyond the penthouse windows.
Her thoughts spun out of control through
every conversation with Damon, Every warning from Maya, every lie, and half-truth.
She felt like a puppet in someone's twisted drama.
But whose?
Was Damon saying the truth? Was Maya?
Or where they both manipulating her
for their own advantage.
With shaking hands, she locked the folder
Inside her suitcase, and switched off her phone.The fear that someone might be watching her, tracking her, listening to her conversations made her shudder.
This wasn't just a marriage anymore.
This was a war.
Before morning, Eddie had made a decision.
She needed to start playing smart.
If Damon wanted to act like a cold
strategist, Then she has to stop being a
native bride, and start investigating.
She couldn't rely on either side's version of the story. She had to find out the truth herself.
During breakfast, she studied Damon from across the long dining table.
He was reading the Wall Street Journal like always, coffee in hand,sleeves rolled up
just enough to expose his expensive watch.
Calm, controlled, intimidating.
“You never mentioned Maya's bracelet.”
she said casually, savoring a piece of
Pineapple in her mouth.
,”I told John to leave it in your room.”
Why now?
He didn't look up, “because I thought it
would mean something to you.”
It does, she said gently” “Maya never took
it off, not even once, not until she disappeared.”
He lifted his brow a little, but he didn't answer,
“Why did you keep it?” She asked.
This time he lowered the paper, meeting her eyes, “Because I couldn't throw it away”
For a split of second, Eddie saw something flicker through his eyes,not love but regret.
Then it was gone.
I'm going to the hospital today, to visit Ethan, she said pushing her chair back.
Damon nodded.”take the guards with you”
“I don't need a security to see my brother”
“You do now, “you are a Blackwood, and that makes you a target.”
She hated that he was right, But she dislikes it more that he said it like a fact,
not a warning.
Later that day, Eddie sat beside Ethan's hospital bed, holding his hand. He was still
in coma from surgery, but his complexion had returned to normal, and his breathing sounded stronger.
“I did this for you,” she whispered,
All of this, “I hope that one day you'll
understand.”
The nurse came in with a clipboard.
your husband gave instructions to
upgrade your brother's treatment plan.
Full Recuperation coverage.
Eddie nodded gently, “Thank you”
She didn't want to be grateful.Not when
the price is her life, being wrapped in a lie.
But still.. Ethan was alive, recovering.
And Damon was the reason.
As she stood up to leave, she passed by
a nurse’s station, and Suddenly she heard a voice whisper her name.
“Eddie.”
She turned, and a woman in scrubs approached her, the lady glanced around
before slipping her a folded note, “someone left this for you earlier.”
Eddie's heart was pounding as she opened it.
He lied about the file, meet me it all began,
Midnight, don't bring him.
No signature,No name, just one sentence
with a lot of implications.
She tore the note with her hands.
Where it all began?
She exactly knew where that was,
The Lake House.
At midnight, Eddie was standing outside
The old Winslow family Lake House,her
hoodie pulled tight against the cold breeze
coming off the water.
This place had been abandoned for years
Her father had stopped coming here after
Maya's disappearance.But was where the sisters spent every summer while growing up, sneaking out after curfew, telling themselves teenage secrets under the stars.
She summoned courage, and stepped inside.
The floor made sound beneath her boots,
dust covered everywhere. The Moonlight
filtered through cracked windows.
“Eddie” a soft voice called her.
Maya stepped out of the shadows,
hoodie pulled low over her head.
“You came.”
Of course, I did. “What are you doing here? Eddie whispered.
I want to show you something,
Damon..is not a simple person,
He is hiding more than just what he showed you.
Eddie frowned, ‘the financial records.?’
Maya shook her head and brought out a flash drive, “ This drive has email's, transcripts real ones, I copied them before I disappeared. Damon was already planning to partner with Dad's biggest competitor before they even fought.
Eddie paused for a moment “Why would he show me fake records.?
“To cover up his tracks”Eddie don't you get. Maya said bitterly “To make you hate me” not him. But there's more, “Damon knew about the money Dad was shifting to a foreign bank. “He knew before it ever happened.because he helped Dad do it.”
Eddie felt dizzy, she felt like falling.
“Why?”
Because he taught he could control Dad that way. But when tried to double cross him, he decided to take everything instead.
Eddie's heart was drumming loudly in her ears.
“So why come to me now?”
Because you are in danger, Eddie. Maya said,he won't let you go, “not when he knew that you've discovered everything that he did.”
Suddenly, headlight swept across the windows.
A black car pulled up.
Maya froze, you didn't inform him, did you?
“No,” I didn't Eddie gasped, “I swear.’
“That means they followed you.”
Footsteps approached inside.
Maya quickly gave her the flash drive. “Hide it don't trust anyone.”
A voice called out.
Eddie ?are you here?
It was Mr John's voice.
Eddie panicked.
Go, Maya whispered, disappearing through the back door like a ghost.
Eddie shoved the drive into her pocket, just before John inside.
“There you are” he said gently,Mr. Blackwood was worried.
“I needed air”
He looked around,”in an abandoned place?”
Eddie smiled nervously. “Nostalgia.”
The car's waiting outside,Mr John said.
As they were driving home, Eddie held the flash drive tightly in her pocket unaware that a hidden camera in the lake house,had just sent footage directly to Damon's private server.
- Writer
