Chapter 5: The Father Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Damon stared at the photograph until his hands stopped feeling like his own.
The man standing beside Emma was impossible.
Impossible.
Because Damon had watched him die.
He had stood at the cemetery.
He had listened to the priest speak.
He had lowered his head as the world buried one of the most powerful men in the Whitmore family.
Alexander Whitmore.
His father.
Dead for eight years.
But the photograph in his hands said otherwise.
Yesterday.
Alive.
Standing beside Emma.
Damon slowly looked up.
“No.””
The word came out barely above a whisper.
Ethan didn’t move.
“Damon…”
“No.””
Damon held up the photograph.
“This is fake.””
Ethan’s expression didn’t change.
“I wish it was.””
Damon looked at Victoria.
She was staring at the photograph too.
But unlike him, she wasn’t shocked.
She was terrified.
“You knew,” Damon said.
Victoria’s eyes lifted.
“I…”
“You knew my father was alive.””
Her silence answered him.
Damon stepped back.
The room suddenly felt smaller.
Everyone he trusted.
Everyone who had stood beside him.
Everyone who had comforted him.
They all knew something.
Something he didn’t.
“Five years,” Damon whispered.
Nobody spoke.
“Five years, I woke up every morning believing my wife was gone.””
His voice cracked.
“I visited her grave.””
He looked at Ethan.
“I cried in front of you.””
Then Victoria.
“I let you hold my hand while I destroyed myself.””
His jaw tightened.
“And all of you knew.””
Ethan looked down.
“Not all of it.””
Damon laughed bitterly.
“Then tell me the part you did know.””
Ethan took a slow breath.
“Your father wasn’t just alive.””
Damon waited.
“He was the reason Emma disappeared.””
The words landed heavily.
Lily looked up at Damon.
“Daddy?””
He immediately looked at her.
“It’s okay.””
But it wasn’t.
Nothing was okay.
Damon turned back to Ethan.
“Start from the beginning.””
Ethan hesitated.
Damon’s voice became sharper.
“Start.””
Ethan walked toward the table and placed another folder down.
“Six years ago, before the accident, Emma discovered something about your father’s company.””
“My father’s company?””
“Yes.””
Damon frowned.
“My father retired years ago.””
“That’s what everyone believed.””
Ethan opened the folder.
Inside were financial documents.
Bank transfers.
Names.
Numbers.
Damon scanned the pages.
His expression changed.
“These are from Whitmore Holdings.””
Ethan nodded.
“Hidden accounts.””
“For what?””
Ethan looked at him.
“Illegal operations.””
Damon stared.
His first instinct was denial.
His father had been many things.
Cold.
Demanding.
Controlling.
But criminal?
No.
That couldn’t be true.
“You’re lying.””
Ethan didn’t react.
“I knew you would say that.””
“Because you’re accusing my dead father.””
“Because he wasn’t dead.””
Damon looked away.
The room went silent.
Ethan continued.
“Emma found records showing your father had been moving money through fake companies for years.””
Damon flipped through the documents.
“What did she do?””
“She confronted him.””
“When?””
“Three days before the crash.””
Damon’s chest tightened.
Three days.
“Why didn’t she tell me?””
Ethan looked at him sadly.
“Because she was protecting you.””
Damon shook his head.
“That makes no sense.””
“It does when you understand Alexander.””
Damon looked at him.
“Explain.””
Ethan sat down.
“Your father controlled everything around him. Employees. Lawyers. Friends.””
He glanced toward Victoria.
“People who challenged him disappeared from his life.””
Damon’s face hardened.
“And Emma?””
Ethan looked at the floor.
“Emma was the first person who wasn’t afraid of him.””
A memory flashed through Damon’s mind.
Emma standing in their kitchen.
Angry.
Frustrated.
Telling him something he didn’t understand at the time.
Your father doesn’t love control, Damon. He loves ownership.
Back then, Damon thought she was being unfair.
Now those words felt different.
“What happened the night of the accident?””
Ethan was quiet.
Then he answered.
“Emma was driving to meet someone.””
“Who?””
“Me.””
Damon froze.
“You?””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
“Because she had evidence.””
Damon looked at the documents.
“She was going to expose him.””
Ethan nodded.
“She wanted to tell you first.””
Damon closed his eyes.
She had tried.
Emma had tried to come back.
She had tried to tell him.
And someone had stopped her.
“Then why did everyone say she died?””
Ethan looked toward Victoria.
“She wasn’t supposed to survive.””
The words were quiet.
But they changed everything.
Damon looked at Victoria.
Her face was pale.
“What do you mean?””
Ethan answered.
“The accident was arranged.””
Damon’s hands curled into fists.
“By my father?””
“Yes.””
“And Victoria?””
Ethan didn’t answer immediately.
That hesitation said enough.
Damon turned toward her.
“Tell me.””
Victoria looked like she was fighting herself.
“I didn’t know the whole plan.””
Damon stared.
“But you knew something.””
She nodded slowly.
“Yes.””
The honesty was worse than another lie.
Damon looked disgusted.
“What did you know?””
Victoria wiped her face.
“Your father contacted me.””
“When?””
“After the accident.””
“Why?””
“He needed someone close to you.””
Damon felt sick.
“You.””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
Victoria looked down.
“Because you were broken.””
The room went silent.
She continued.
“He knew you would need someone. Someone to help you move forward.””
Damon’s expression changed.
“You were never my fiancée.””
Victoria didn’t answer.
The truth was obvious.
She had been placed there.
A replacement.
A distraction.
A way to keep him from looking backward.
Damon stepped away.
“How long?””
Victoria whispered.
“Five years.””
He shook his head.
“Five years.””
“I tried to leave.””
“When?””
“Several times.””
“But you didn’t.””
“No.””
“Why?””
Victoria looked terrified.
“Because Alexander threatened my family.””
Damon looked at Ethan.
“And you?””
Ethan looked away.
“I made mistakes.””
“That’s not an answer.””
Ethan swallowed.
“I helped hide Emma.””
Damon went completely still.
The confession hurt more than anything else.
“You.””
Ethan’s voice broke.
“I thought I was protecting her.””
“You helped take my wife away.””
“I helped keep her alive.””
Damon grabbed the edge of the table.
“Where is she?””
Ethan looked at Lily.
Then at Damon.
“She’s close.””
Damon’s heart jumped.
“Close where?””
Before Ethan could answer, the lights suddenly went out.
The mansion dropped into darkness.
Lily gasped.
Damon immediately reached for her.
“Stay with me.””
Rain hit the windows violently.
Then a sound came from outside.
A car door.
Someone arriving.
Ethan’s expression changed.
“No.””
Damon noticed.
“Who is it?””
Ethan didn’t answer.
Then the security alarm started.
A red light flashed near the entrance.
Victoria whispered:
“He found us.””
Damon looked at her.
“Who?””
Nobody answered.
Then the front door opened.
Slowly.
A figure stepped inside.
Older.
Calm.
Powerful.
A face Damon had only seen in photographs for eight years.
Alexander Whitmore.
His father.
Alive.
The man looked around the mansion like he had never left.
Then his eyes landed on Damon.
A faint smile appeared.
“Hello, son.””
Damon couldn’t speak.
Alexander looked at Lily.
Then smiled again.
“And I see you finally found what belonged to me.””
Damon moved in front of Lily.
“She is not yours.””
Alexander’s expression hardened slightly.
“Everything in this family belongs to me.””
Damon felt rage rising.
“You’re supposed to be dead.””
Alexander adjusted his coat.
“Death is useful.””
He stepped forward.
“People stop asking questions when they think you’re gone.””
Damon stared at him.
“Where is Emma?””
For the first time, Alexander’s expression changed.
A small smile.
Almost cruel.
“You still think she’s waiting for you?””
Damon froze.
Alexander reached into his pocket.
He pulled out a phone.
Pressed a button.
Then held it up.
A video began playing.
The screen showed a woman sitting in a dark room.
Emma.
Older.
Tired.
But alive.
Damon’s breath disappeared.
“Emma…”
Her eyes lifted toward the camera.
Then she spoke.
But the words weren’t meant for him.
They were a warning.
“If Damon found Lily…”
Emma looked directly into the camera.
“…then Alexander knows where we are.””
The video stopped.
Alexander smiled.
And whispered:
“Now you understand why your wife never came home.””
He looked at Damon.
“Because she was never trying to escape me.””
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A pause.
“She was trying to escape you.””
