Chapter Ten
1292 Words
Chapter Ten
Genevieve's POV
“I was there when they took him.”
The words echoed in my head.
I couldn't move.
I couldn't even breathe properly.
Eleanor sat on the wooden bench inside the greenhouse, her hands trembling as she held the edge of her coat. The guard we'd been told about stood a few feet behind her, looking exhausted but conscious.
Damien was beside me.
“What do you mean you were there?” I asked.
Eleanor looked at me, and something in her expression made my stomach twist.
“Your father didn't die the night of the accident.”
I shook my head.
“That isn't possible.”
“I wish it wasn't true.”
“My father died on the road.”
“No.” Her voice broke. “Your father was taken from the road.”
I stared at her.
“Taken where?”
Eleanor looked toward Damien.
He stepped forward.
“Tell her everything.”
She shook her head.
“Not everything.”
My heart sank.
“Why not?”
“Because some things are safer left forgotten.”
“I've spent four years believing my father died in an accident. I think I've earned the right to know what happened.”
Eleanor lowered her eyes.
“Your father came to the Devereaux estate three days before his death.”
I looked at Damien.
He seemed surprised.
“You didn't know?”
“No.”
Eleanor nodded.
“He came to speak with your father.”
“About the ledger?”
“Yes.”
I swallowed.
“What ledger?”
“The one everyone has been searching for.”
Damien moved closer.
“Where is it?”
“I don't know.”
“You expect us to believe that?”
Eleanor looked at him.
“Your father believed I knew where it was.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“But Julian trusted me.”
My chest tightened.
“Why?”
“Because I was the last person he spoke to before he disappeared.”
The greenhouse became silent.
“What did he say?” I asked.
Eleanor looked down at her hands.
“He told me that if anything happened to him, I was to find his daughter.”
I felt tears burn behind my eyes.
“He knew he was in danger?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't he tell me?”
“Because you were young.”
“I was old enough to know my father was in trouble.”
“He wanted to protect you.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Damien looked at me.
I turned away.
I was tired of being protected by secrets.
“Tell me what happened three days later.”
Eleanor took a slow breath.
“Your father left the estate late that evening. He was supposed to meet someone at the lighthouse.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“But you followed him?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was afraid.”
She looked toward the greenhouse windows.
“When I reached the lighthouse, your father was already there.”
“What happened?”
“I saw another vehicle.”
“Whose?”
“I couldn't see the driver.”
“Then what did you see?”
Eleanor's face tightened.
“Three men.”
Damien's expression changed.
“Three?”
“Yes.”
“What did they do?”
“They surrounded your father.”
My hands began shaking.
“And then?”
“One of them struck him.”
I closed my eyes.
I didn't want to imagine it.
Eleanor continued carefully.
“They forced him into the vehicle.”
“Why didn't you help him?”
“I was terrified.”
Her voice cracked.
“I was alone. I had no weapon. I knew they would kill me too.”
I opened my eyes.
“Where did they take him?”
“I followed them as far as I could.”
“Where?”
“Blackwater.”
Damien went completely still.
My heart sank.
“So my father was taken to Blackwater?”
“Yes.”
“And that's where he died?”
Eleanor shook her head.
“No.”
I stared at her.
“He survived.”
The words barely registered.
“What?”
“He survived the night at Blackwater.”
Damien stepped closer.
“How long?”
“Two days.”
I looked at him.
“My father was alive for two days after they took him?”
“Yes.”
“Then what happened?”
Eleanor's eyes filled with tears.
“He escaped.”
I couldn't speak.
“He escaped from Blackwater?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I don't know.”
“Then how do you know he escaped?”
“Because he came back to the estate.”
My heart stopped.
“When?”
“The morning before he died.”
Damien looked stunned.
“My father saw him?”
“No.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“He came when the house was asleep.”
“Why?”
“To give me something.”
“What?”
Eleanor reached into her coat and pulled out a small envelope.
My name was written across it.
I stared at it.
“That's my father's handwriting.”
“Yes.”
I reached for it.
My fingers trembled as I opened the envelope.
Inside was a single photograph.
It showed my father standing beside a little girl.
Me
I looked at the photograph in confusion.
I couldn't have been more than seven.
On the back, my father had written
She doesn't know yet.
My stomach dropped.
“What doesn't she know?”
Eleanor looked at me.
“Your father discovered something about you.”
My heart began pounding.
“What?”
She shook her head.
“He never told me.”
“Then why did you say he discovered something about me?”
“Because of what he said before he left.”
“What did he say?”
Eleanor's voice dropped to a whisper.
“He said, ‘When she remembers, they'll come for her.’”
A chill moved through me.
“Remembers what?”
Nobody answered.
I looked at Damien.
He wasn't looking at Eleanor.
He was looking at me.
“You know something.”
His eyes met mine.
“I know what your father was afraid of.”
“What?”
Before he could answer, the greenhouse lights went out.
The guard shouted.
Eleanor gasped.
Damien grabbed my hand.
“Stay with me.”
A loud crash came from outside.
Then another.
Someone was running through the garden.
Damien pulled me behind him.
“Elias, secure the door.”
Elias rushed forward.
The guard moved toward Eleanor.
Then we heard a voice from outside.
A woman's voice.
Calm.
Almost gentle.
“Genevieve.”
I froze.
The voice came again.
“You really should have listened to your father.”
Damien's grip tightened around my hand.
I stared at the dark glass.
“Who are you?”
A soft laugh came from the other side.
Then a piece of paper was pushed underneath the greenhouse door.
Damien picked it up.
He unfolded it.
His face changed.
“What?”
He handed it to me.
There were only six words.
You were never supposed to remember him.
I looked at Damien.
“Remember who?”
He didn't answer.
Because suddenly, somewhere deep inside my mind, a memory began to surface.
A memory from when I was seven.
A room I'd never remembered.
A woman I'd forgotten.
And my father's voice whispering:
“Don't tell anyone she came here.”
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