CHAPTER TWO- THE SECRET
1196 Words
Amelia couldn't move.
The words kept echoing inside her head.
She's pregnant.
No. That couldn't be right.
She looked at Damian, waiting for him to laugh or correct the man on the phone. He did neither. His face had gone completely still.
“Say that again,” Damian ordered.
A voice answered through the speaker.
Damian's jaw tightened. “Run the test again.”
He ended the call.
Amelia swallowed. “What did he mean?”
“The hospital ran bloodwork after last night.”
“Bloodwork?”
“You were unconscious for a short time.”
Her heart pounded. “And?”
“The test was positive.”
Amelia stared at him.
The room seemed to tilt.
“No.”
Damian took one step toward her.
She immediately stepped back.
“No. That's impossible.”
“Amelia—”
“I can't be pregnant.”
Her hand moved instinctively to her stomach.
She thought about the nausea she'd blamed on champagne. The dizziness. The exhaustion she'd ignored.
Her eyes burned.
“One night,” she whispered. “It was one stupid night.”
Damian's expression hardened.
“It only takes one.”
She glared at him.
“You're enjoying this?”
His eyes flashed.
“No.”
“Then stop looking at me like I'm another problem you need to solve.”
Something softened in his face.
“You're not a problem.”
“Then what am I?”
He didn't answer.
That silence frightened her more than anything.
Her phone rang.
Lily.
Amelia answered immediately.
“Lily?”
No response.
“Lily, can you hear me?”
A man's voice answered instead.
“Amelia Hart.”
She froze.
“Who is this?”
“Someone who knows exactly who you are.”
Damian reached for the phone, but Amelia moved away.
“Where is my sister?”
A quiet laugh came through the line.
“Still asking about your sister when you should be asking about yourself.”
“What do you want?”
“Come to the Blackwood estate.”
“Why?”
“Because your family has been hiding the truth from you.”
The call ended.
Amelia stared at her phone.
Damian's expression had become dangerously cold.
“You're not going anywhere.”
“My sister is missing.”
“I know.”
“Then help me find her.”
“I will.”
“Now.”
He grabbed his jacket.
“Stay behind me.”
They left the penthouse together.
The elevator ride was silent.
Amelia kept thinking about the pregnancy.
A baby.
Damian's baby.
Her contract marriage had already been complicated. Now there was a child involved.
When the elevator doors opened, Damian's security team surrounded them.
Amelia looked at him.
“Is this really necessary?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever took Lily knows about you.”
They reached the car.
Damian opened the door for her.
She hesitated.
“You're coming with me?”
“Obviously.”
She climbed inside.
Minutes later, they were speeding through the city.
Amelia stared through the window.
“Tell me about your father.”
Damian's hands tightened around the steering wheel.
“Victor Blackwood was a brilliant scientist.”
“And?”
“He became obsessed with genetics.”
“What kind of genetics?”
“Human genetics.”
Amelia's stomach twisted.
“Did he experiment on people?”
Damian didn't answer.
“Damian.”
“Yes.”
The word landed heavily.
She stared at him.
“My mother knew him.”
“I think so.”
“You think?”
“I found her name in some old records.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I didn't know if the records were real.”
“Or because you knew I would ask questions.”
He looked at her.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because it's true.”
“From your father?”
“Yes.”
A chill moved through her.
“Is he alive?”
Damian's face changed.
“My father died three years ago.”
“That wasn't my question.”
He looked away.
“I don't know.”
The car stopped outside a huge iron gate.
Amelia stared at the Blackwood estate.
It looked less like a home and more like a fortress.
Security guards opened the gates.
Inside, the mansion stood beneath a dark sky.
Damian parked.
“Stay close.”
They entered.
The house was silent.
Too silent.
Then a woman's voice floated from the hallway.
“Amelia?”
She stopped breathing.
The voice was familiar.
Impossible.
She turned.
A woman stepped from the shadows.
Older.
Paler.
Her eyes filled with tears.
Amelia's handbag slipped from her fingers.
“Mom?”
Damian went completely still.
The woman covered her mouth.
“Oh, my baby.”
Amelia couldn't move.
She had spent twenty-six years believing her mother was dead.
Now she was standing in front of her.
Alive.
Amelia's eyes filled with tears.
“You're alive.”
Her mother rushed toward her.
Amelia stumbled backward.
“No.”
Her mother stopped.
“Amelia, please.”
“You died.”
“I had to disappear.”
“Why?”
Her mother looked at Damian.
Then her face filled with fear.
“Because of his father.”
Damian stepped forward.
“What did Victor do?”
Her mother shook her head.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain it.”
She looked at Amelia's stomach.
Her face went white.
“You're pregnant.”
Amelia nodded.
Her mother began trembling.
“No.”
“What?” Amelia asked.
“No, no, no.”
She backed away.
“That child cannot be born.”
Amelia felt the floor disappear beneath her.
“Why?”
Her mother looked directly into her eyes.
“Because Victor has been waiting for this.”
Damian's expression hardened.
“Waiting for what?”
“For the child.”
The lights suddenly went out.
Amelia gasped.
Someone grabbed her from behind.
She screamed.
Damian lunged forward.
A gunshot exploded through the darkness.
Then everything went black.
Amelia heard Damian shout her name.
She fought against the arms around her, kicking wildly.
“Let me go!”
A cloth covered her mouth.
A sharp chemical smell filled her lungs.
Her mother's voice screamed somewhere nearby.
“Don't hurt her!”
Another voice answered calmly.
“We don't want to hurt her.”
Amelia's vision blurred.
“Then what do you want?”
The stranger leaned close enough for her to hear his whisper.
“We want what she's carrying.”
Her heart stopped.
The baby.
Damian's baby.
She tried to scream, but the darkness was already swallowing her.
The last thing she saw was Damian's silhouette rushing toward her.
Then a second gunshot cracked through the mansion.
Her mother's scream followed.
And Amelia knew, with terrifying certainty, that the contract she had signed hours earlier had become a fight for the life of her unborn child.
And she finally understood the truth: marrying Damian Blackwood had not saved her life. It had placed a target on her back forever.
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