Chapter 14 — The First Shift
1836 Words
The First Shift
“I was there when your father disappeared.”
The words remained suspended in the darkness.
Amara stared at Damian.
“You were there?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“The hospital.”
Her heart pounded.
“Blackwood Memorial?”
“Yes.”
“The night I was born?”
“Yes.”
She stepped backward.
“And you never told me.”
“I didn't know how.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“I know.”
“You've known this whole time?”
“No.”
“Then when did you find out?”
Damian looked toward the locked door.
“After my father died.”
Amara's eyes narrowed.
“You're lying.”
“I'm not.”
“Then explain.”
He took a breath.
“After Victor died, I found documents in his private study. Most of them were incomplete. Some names had been removed. Some dates had been changed.”
“And mine?”
“Your name wasn't there.”
“Then what was?”
“Your father's.”
Amara went still.
“What was his name?”
Damian hesitated.
“Daniel Vale.”
The name hit her strangely.
She had never heard it.
Not once.
“That's impossible.”
“Why?”
“My mother said my father left before I was born.”
“He didn't.”
“Then where was he?”
“I don't know.”
“Damian!”
“I don't know.”
Her voice broke.
“You keep saying that.”
“Because that's the truth.”
Celine finally spoke.
“Daniel wasn't supposed to be at the hospital.”
Amara turned toward her.
“You knew his name.”
Celine looked down.
“Yes.”
“You knew him.”
“Yes.”
“Was he my father?”
Celine's eyes filled with tears.
“Yes.”
Amara stopped breathing.
The room seemed to disappear.
For twenty-four years, she had believed her father abandoned her before she was born.
But he had a name.
Daniel Vale.
He had been real.
And her mother had known.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
Celine swallowed.
“Because he was gone.”
“When?”
“That night.”
Amara covered her mouth.
Damian looked at Celine.
“You told me he disappeared.”
“He did.”
“You knew he was gone?”
“I knew he was taken.”
Amara looked between them.
“Taken?”
Celine nodded.
“Daniel discovered what Victor was investigating.”
“The fraud?”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“He found evidence that someone inside the Blackwood family was moving money.”
Damian's expression hardened.
“Who?”
Celine shook her head.
“I never knew for certain.”
“But someone took him.”
“I don't know.”
“You just said he was taken.”
“I saw him being forced into a car.”
Amara's eyes widened.
“You saw it?”
Celine nodded.
“From the hospital window.”
“Why didn't you stop them?”
“I couldn't.”
“Why didn't you call the police?”
Celine's face crumpled.
“Because they had you.”
Amara froze.
“They threatened me?”
“They told me if I spoke, you would disappear too.”
Silence.
Amara looked down.
The truth was beginning to hurt in places she hadn't known existed.
“So you lied.”
“Yes.”
“You told me he left.”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe he didn't want me.”
Celine cried silently.
“I thought that was safer than letting you know he had been taken.”
Amara turned away.
She couldn't look at her mother.
Not yet.
Damian stepped toward the door.
“We need to get out.”
Amara looked at him.
“You knew Daniel was taken.”
“I suspected.”
“But you were there.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“I was nine.”
Amara stared at him.
“You were nine?”
“Yes.”
“You remember?”
“Pieces.”
“What pieces?”
He closed his eyes.
“My father had received a call.”
“What kind?”
“I don't know.”
“Where did he go?”
“The hospital.”
“Why?”
“To meet someone.”
“Who?”
“I never knew.”
Amara's voice softened.
“Then how do you remember my father?”
“I saw him.”
“Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“What did he look like?”
“Tall. Dark hair. He was arguing with my father.”
“About what?”
“I don't know.”
“Then what happened?”
Damian looked at Celine.
“She was there.”
Celine nodded.
“I was.”
“And?”
“My father told me to stay in the car.”
“But you didn't.”
“No.”
His expression darkened.
“I followed him.”
Amara stared.
“What did you see?”
“Daniel came out of the hospital.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
“A black car arrived.”
“And?”
“Two men got out.”
Damian's voice became quieter.
“They took him.”
Amara felt cold.
“Did you see their faces?”
“No.”
“Did Victor?”
“I think so.”
“Then why didn't he stop them?”
Damian looked at Celine.
“Because my father was talking to someone else.”
“Who?”
“We don't know.”
Celine whispered,
“I do.”
Both looked at her.
Celine's face had gone pale.
“Who?”
She didn't answer.
“Mom.”
Celine's lips trembled.
“I shouldn't say it.”
“You've already said too much.”
“I know.”
“Then finish it.”
Celine closed her eyes.
“The person who took Daniel…”
She opened them.
“…worked for the Blackwood family.”
Damian's expression hardened.
“Who?”
“I don't know his name.”
“You saw him?”
“Yes.”
“What did he look like?”
“Older. Grey hair. Scar on his left cheek.”
Damian went completely still.
Amara noticed.
“You know him.”
Damian didn't answer.
“Damian.”
He looked at her.
“I know the description.”
“Who is he?”
“My father's former security chief.”
“The man in the photograph.”
“Yes.”
Amara's heart sank.
“The man who disappeared twenty-four years ago.”
Damian nodded.
Celine whispered,
“He wasn't alone that night.”
Everyone went silent.
“Who was with him?” Amara asked.
Celine looked at Damian.
“Your father's sister.”
“Vivienne?”
Celine nodded.
Amara's stomach tightened.
“Vivienne Blackwood took my father?”
“I never saw her give the order.”
“But she was there.”
“Yes.”
“Then why is she still alive?”
Celine looked at her.
“Because nobody ever proved anything.”
The door suddenly rattled.
Everyone froze.
Damian stepped in front of Amara.
“Who's there?”
No answer.
He reached for the handle.
Locked.
He looked at Celine.
“You said someone followed you.”
“Yes.”
“Could they have followed us here?”
“I don't know.”
The handle moved again.
This time harder.
Damian motioned for them to step back.
Then a voice came through the door.
“Damian.”
Vivienne.
Amara's heart dropped.
Damian looked at Celine.
Celine's face went white.
“How did she know?”
Damian didn't answer.
Vivienne spoke again.
“Open the door.”
Damian remained silent.
“You cannot keep me outside forever.”
Amara looked at him.
“Maybe we should let her in.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because she shouldn't know we're here.”
Celine whispered,
“She knows.”
The handle stopped moving.
Then Vivienne said something that made Amara feel a chill.
“I know about Daniel.”
Silence.
Damian's expression changed.
Amara stepped toward the door.
“Who is Daniel?”
Vivienne answered immediately.
“Your father.”
Amara looked at Damian.
Vivienne continued.
“And if you want to know what happened to him, you should ask Celine what she did the night he disappeared.”
Celine closed her eyes.
Amara turned.
“What does she mean?”
Celine didn't answer.
“Mom?”
Still nothing.
Damian looked toward the door.
“Vivienne, leave.”
A quiet laugh came from the hallway.
“You still think you can protect her.”
“Leave.”
“You don't understand what your father started.”
“I said leave.”
Vivienne's voice became colder.
“Victor knew the truth.”
A pause.
“And now the girl does too.”
Footsteps moved away.
Then silence.
Amara looked at Celine.
“What did you do?”
Celine's eyes filled with tears.
“I made a choice.”
“What choice?”
“The kind a mother makes when someone threatens her child's life.”
Amara felt her chest tighten.
“What did you give them?”
Celine looked at the floor.
“Evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“The evidence Daniel had found.”
“Where is it now?”
“I don't know.”
Damian suddenly looked toward the desk.
The folder.
The original records.
The photograph.
The key.
Something was missing.
He searched the room.
Then stopped.
“The birth certificate.”
Amara looked at him.
“What?”
“The original document.”
He turned toward Celine.
“You took it.”
Celine shook her head.
“No.”
“It was here.”
“I didn't touch it.”
Damian searched again.
Nothing.
Then Amara noticed something beneath the chair.
A small piece of paper.
She picked it up.
There was handwriting on it.
Not Victor's.
Not Celine's.
A single sentence:
DANIEL VALE WASN'T THE MAN WHO DISAPPEARED THAT NIGHT.
Amara stared.
“What does that mean?”
Damian read the note.
His expression changed.
Celine began to cry.
Amara looked at her.
“Mom?”
Celine whispered:
“Because there were two people.”
Amara's heart stopped.
“Two?”
“Yes.”
“Who was the other man?”
Celine looked directly at Damian.
And said:
“Victor Blackwood.”
The room went silent.
Amara stared at her.
“Victor was there?”
Celine nodded.
“He wasn't just investigating your father.”
She wiped away a tear.
“He was the reason your father was at that hospital.”
Amara's voice barely came out.
“Why?”
Celine looked at the locked door.
“Because Daniel had discovered something about Victor's family.”
“What?”
Celine's eyes met hers.
“He had discovered who the missing child really was.”
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