DARK OBSESSION

CHAPTER TWELVE

For several seconds, Ivy couldn't move.

The piece of paper trembled between her fingers.

THE WOMAN YOU CALL MOTHER WASN'T THE WOMAN WHO GAVE YOU LIFE.

She read it again.

And again.

It still didn't make sense.

Elena had been her mother.

She remembered her voice.

Her smile.

The way she used to hold her when she was frightened.

The lullabies.

The warmth of her hands.

Those memories couldn't simply be a lie.

Lena stood beside her, equally stunned.

" Victoria," Ivy whispered. " Tell us the truth."

Victoria looked at the floor.

" I've been trying to protect you."

Ivy's eyes hardened.

" Everyone says that."

She stepped closer.

" But nobody tells me what they're protecting me from."

Victoria finally looked at her.

" Because the truth could destroy everything you know."

Damien stood silently nearby.

His father was gone.

The box was gone.

And now even Elena's identity was being questioned.

" I want the truth," Ivy said.

Victoria closed her eyes.

" Then you deserve to hear it."

THE WOMAN WHO GAVE BIRTH TO THEM

Victoria sat down.

" Elena was not your biological mother."

Lena shook her head.

" That's impossible."

" No," Victoria said softly. " It isn't."

She reached into her handbag and removed an old photograph.

It showed a young woman.

Ivy stared at her.

There was something familiar about the face.

Not exactly Elena.

But close.

Very close.

" Who is she?"

Victoria answered:

" Her name was Amelia Cole."

Ivy's heart skipped.

" Who was she?"

" Your biological mother."

Silence.

Lena took the photograph.

" Then what was Elena?"

Victoria's voice became quieter.

" Her sister."

Ivy stared at the photograph.

" Elena was our aunt?"

Victoria nodded.

" Amelia gave birth to you and Lena. But she died shortly after."

Lena looked shocked.

" How?"

" Complications after childbirth."

Ivy's eyes filled with tears.

" And Elena raised us?"

" Yes."

" Why did nobody tell us?"

" Because Amelia's death wasn't an accident."

The room became silent.

Damien stepped forward.

" What are you saying?"

Victoria looked at him.

" Amelia knew about Richard's illegal activities."

Damien's expression changed.

" She was going to expose him."

Victoria nodded.

" She had evidence."

" And Richard killed her?"

" I don't know whether he directly caused her death."

" But you believe he did."

" Yes."

THE TWO SISTERS

Ivy looked at Lena.

" So our entire childhood..."

" Was built around a secret," Lena finished.

They stood silently beside each other.

Then Lena suddenly remembered something.

" I remember Amelia."

Everyone looked at her.

Ivy frowned.

" How?"

" Not clearly."

Lena closed her eyes.

" There was a woman who used to visit us."

" What did she look like?"

" I don't know."

" Try."

Lena concentrated.

" She had your eyes."

Ivy's heart tightened.

" Mine?"

Lena nodded.

" And she always wore a silver necklace."

Victoria's expression changed.

" The necklace."

Ivy reached into her bag.

She pulled out the necklace she had found inside Elena's wooden box.

" This one?"

Victoria stared at it.

" That's Amelia's."

Ivy looked at the necklace.

Then she noticed something she had never seen before.

There was a tiny compartment hidden beneath the pendant.

She pressed it.

The pendant opened.

Inside was a tiny photograph.

Amelia.

Holding two babies.

Ivy and Lena.

On the back were three words:

MY LITTLE STARS.

Ivy began to cry.

For the first time, she had something that belonged directly to the woman who had given her life.

THE MISSING BOX

Damien suddenly stood.

" Where would Richard take the box?"

Victoria looked at him.

" Somewhere he knows we won't search."

" Where?"

" His old house."

Damien shook his head.

" That house was abandoned."

" Exactly."

Ivy wiped her tears.

" Then we're going there."

Damien looked at her.

" No."

" Why?"

" Because Richard wants you there."

" Maybe."

" That's a trap."

" Everything is a trap now."

She stepped closer.

" But I'm tired of being afraid."

Damien stared at her.

Then he nodded.

" Then I'll go with you."

Lena stepped forward.

" So will I."

Victoria shook her head.

" I'll come too."

Damien looked at his mother.

" You've hidden enough."

" I know."

THE OLD BLACKWOOD HOUSE

The house stood at the edge of the city.

It had been abandoned for years.

Broken windows.

Overgrown gardens.

A rusted gate.

Ivy stared at it.

" This is where everything began."

Damien nodded.

" Probably."

They entered together.

The house was silent.

Too silent.

They searched the ground floor.

Nothing.

Then Ivy noticed a painting.

A portrait of Richard and Victoria.

She moved it.

Behind it was a small compartment.

Inside was a key.

Damien recognized it.

" Room 17."

Ivy's eyes widened.

" There's another Room 17?"

" Not exactly."

He turned the key over.

There was an engraving.

B17.

" The basement."

They found the stairs behind an old bookshelf.

The basement was enormous.

At the far end stood a metal door.

Damien inserted the key.

The door opened.

Inside was a room filled with boxes.

Documents.

Photographs.

Tapes.

And finally—

The black box.

Ivy stepped forward.

Richard's voice came from the darkness.

" Don't."

Everyone froze.

Richard stepped into view.

He looked tired now.

Older.

Almost defeated.

Damien immediately moved in front of Ivy.

" Give me the box."

Richard shook his head.

" You still don't understand."

" Then explain."

Richard looked at Ivy.

" Your mother wasn't the only person trying to expose me."

Ivy stared at him.

" Amelia."

He nodded.

" She discovered everything."

" What did she discover?"

" That your father wasn't working alone."

Damien frowned.

" Who was?"

Richard's eyes moved toward Victoria.

" She was."

Everyone turned.

Victoria's face went pale.

" Richard..."

Damien looked at his mother.

" No."

Richard laughed bitterly.

" Your mother helped me build the empire."

Damien stepped backward.

" You lied to me."

" I did what I had to do."

Richard continued.

" Victoria handled the finances. I handled the people."

Ivy stared at Victoria.

" Is that true?"

Victoria began crying.

" Yes."

Damien looked devastated.

" Mother..."

" I was young."

" You were an accomplice."

" I know."

Richard lifted the box

" But Amelia found out."

Ivy's voice trembled.

" And Elena?"

" Elena tried to protect you."

" And what happened to Amelia?"

Richard's expression changed.

"I didn't kill her."

Ivy stared at him.

" Then who did?"

Richard looked towards Victoria.

Victoria closed her eyes.

" I did."

THE TRUTH

Nobody moved.

Victoria's confession seemed to drain the air from the room.

" I didn't mean to kill her," she whispered.

Damien stared at her.

" What did you do?"

" Amelia threatened to expose everything."

Victoria's voice shook.

" I confronted her."

" What happened?"

" We argued."

" And?"

" She fell."

Ivy covered her mouth.

" You let her die."

Victoria began crying.

" I panicked."

" Then what about Elena?"

" I told Elena what happened."

" And she hated you."

" Yes."

" So she took us and ran."

Victoria nodded.

" She tried to save you."

Richard interrupted.

" But I found her."

Ivy looked at him.

" What did you do?"

" I separated the girls."

" Why?"

" Because Elena had the evidence."

" The box?"

Richard nodded.

" She hid it."

Ivy stared at the box.

" Where?"

Richard smiled faintly.

" Inside one of you."

Everyone froze.

" What?"

Richard looked directly at Ivy.

" Your mother didn't hide the evidence in a building."

He pointed toward the twins.

" She hid it in a memory."

Ivy's heart raced.

" Whose memory?"

Richard smiled.

" Yours."

THE MEMORY

Suddenly, Ivy remembered

.

The staircase.

The rain.

Elena holding a small box.

Her mother kneeling in front of her.

" Ivy, listen to me."

She remembered Elena placing something in her hands.

A tiny object.

Then whispering:

" You must never forget this."

Ivy gasped.

" The necklace."

Everyone looked at her.

She touched the pendant.

Inside the hidden compartment was a tiny memory card.

Damien stared.

" That's the evidence."

Ivy removed it.

Richard's expression changed.

" Give it to me."

" No."

For the first time, Ivy wasn't afraid.

Richard stepped toward her.

Damien blocked him.

" Don't touch her."

Richard laughed.

" You're protecting her again."

Damien's voice was cold.

" Yes."

" But you can't protect her forever."

Police sirens suddenly sounded outside.

Richard's expression changed.

Nathan appeared at the basement entrance with several officers.

" We have enough evidence."

Richard looked around.

There was nowhere to go.

He slowly lowered his hands.

Damien looked at Ivy.

" Are you okay?"

Ivy nodded.

But she couldn't stop staring at the memory card.

Twenty-four years of secrets were stored inside something smaller than her fingernail.

THE FINAL RECORDING

That night, the memory card was opened.

It contained documents.

Photographs.

Financial records.

And one video.

Elena appeared on the screen.

Older than in Ivy's memories.

Tired.

But smiling.

" My little girls," she said.

Ivy's tears returned.

" If you're watching this, then you've finally discovered the truth."

Lena held Ivy's hand.

Elena continued.

" I am sorry I couldn't stay with you."

She paused.

" But I need you to know something."

She smiled.

" You were never unwanted."

Ivy began crying.

" You were never abandoned."

Elena's voice softened.

" I left because I loved you enough to disappear."

The recording continued.

Then came the final words.

" Trust the person who has been protecting you, even when you don't understand why."

The screen went black.

Ivy looked at Damien.

He stared back

.

Neither spoke.

Then another file appeared.

A name.

DAMlEN BLACKWOOD.

Ivy clicked it.

A document opened.

It contained a secret written by Richard.

A secret that could change everything.

Damien read it.

His face went completely pale.

Ivy looked at him.

" What is it?"

He couldn't answer.

She reached for the document.

And when she read it, her heart stopped.

Because the truth wasn't about his father.

It wasn't about Elena.

It wasn't even about Amelia.

It was about Damien himself.

And suddenly, everything about his obsession with Ivy made sense.

EPILOGUE

One year later, Ivy returned to the old Blackwood property.

The house had been renovated.

Not into another symbol of power.

Not into another prison of secrets.

She had turned it into something completely different.

A foundation.

A place that helped families affected by financial abuse and manipulation.

Lena worked alongside her.

Together, they had transformed the place that once represented fear into something that represented hope.

Damien stood outside the building.

Ivy walked toward him.

" You came."

" I said I would."

She smiled.

" Things are different now."

" They are."

She looked at the building.

" For so long, I thought darkness was something I had to escape."

" And now?"

She looked at him.

" Now I know darkness doesn't disappear."

Damien waited.

" You just learn not to let it control you."

He smiled.

Ivy looked at Lena, who was waiting by the entrance.

Then she looked toward the sky.

She thought about Amelia.

About Elena.

About everything they had lost.

And everything they had survived.

The past would always be part of her.

But it no longer owned her.

She took one final breath.

And walked forward.

Not as Elena's daughter.

Not as Amelia's lost child.

Not as a girl trapped inside the secrets of the Blackwood family.

But simply as Ivy.

A woman who had survived the darkness.

A woman who had chosen her own path.

A woman whose future belonged to her.

And as the sun disappeared beyond the horizon, Ivy finally understood the meaning of the words Elena had left behind:

You were born into darkness.

But you were never meant to remain there.

THE END 🖤📖