Chapter 6 - THE FATHER WHO CAME BACK FROM THE DEAD
Damian returned to the estate with Elena beside him and two trusted guards behind them.
The east wing had been sealed off. Rosalind waited at the staircase, her face drained of color.
"He came through the service entrance," she explained. "He asked for you. Then he collapsed."
"Where is he?"
"In your father's old bedroom."
Damian climbed the stairs.
The man lying beneath the blankets looked thinner than the photographs, his hair almost completely white. A scar crossed his temple. His hands trembled as he tried to sit up.
But his eyes were unmistakable.
"Damian."
The word broke something inside him.
For eleven years, Damian had visited his father's grave on the anniversary of the bombing. He had carried grief like a private debt, never admitting how much he wanted one more conversation, one more argument, one more chance to hear the old man's laugh.
Now his father was alive.
And Damian couldn't move.
"Why?" he finally asked.
His father closed his eyes.
"I was trying to protect you."
"You let me bury an empty coffin."
"I know."
"You let me believe you were dead."
"I know."
"You let me build an empire while believing everyone who loved us had abandoned us."
His father's face crumpled.
"I thought I had time to explain."
"Eleven years?"
His father had no answer.
Elena remained near the doorway, watching the reunion with a grief Damian couldn't understand.
Then his father noticed her.
"Maria's daughter."
Elena stepped forward.
"You knew my mother?"
"She saved my life."
"Then why did she disappear?"
His father looked toward Rosalind.
"Because she discovered what happened to your mother, Damian."
The room seemed to shrink.
Damian approached the bed.
"Tell me."
His father took a shaky breath.
"The bombing was meant to kill me. Your mother discovered the plan and tried to warn me. She had proof that someone inside our family was financing the people who wanted me dead."
"Who?"
"Rafael found out. He helped me escape, but he couldn't save your mother."
Damian shook his head.
"Rafael said he didn't order the bombing."
"He didn't."
"Then who did?"
His father looked directly at him.
"The woman who raised Isabella Vale."
Damian frowned.
"Isabella's mother died when she was a child."
"That's the story we were told."
His father reached beneath his pillow and removed a folded document.
"Isabella's mother was the financial architect behind the operation. She used charity foundations, political donations, and shell companies to move money through my businesses. Your mother found the records."
"And Maria?"
"Maria helped her hide them."
Elena's eyes filled with tears.
"Where is my mother now?"
His father struggled to answer.
"I don't know."
The honesty hurt more than another lie would have.
"She disappeared after the fire," he continued. "I believed she had been killed. Then, six months ago, I received a message in her handwriting."
He handed Elena a small piece of paper.
Four words were written across it.
THE DAUGHTER KNOWS NOTHING.
Elena pressed the note against her chest.
Damian turned to his father.
"Why did you come back now?"
"Because someone found the ledger. And because the person who ordered the bombing knows I'm alive."
A noise sounded in the hallway.
The guards reached for their weapons.
The bedroom door opened.
Rafael stepped inside.
His eyes went immediately to the bed.
For a moment, the two brothers stared at each other.
Then Rafael lowered his head.
"I should have told you years ago."
Damian's voice turned cold.
"You should have told me everything."
Rafael nodded.
"You're right."
Before anyone could say more, the lights flickered.
A gunshot cracked through the room.
Damian lunged toward his father.
Elena screamed.
When the guards rushed forward, Rafael was on the floor, blood spreading across his shirt.
His hand clutched Damian's wrist.
"Don't trust the person who brought you the ledger," he gasped.
Then his eyes shifted toward Elena.
"Your mother is alive."
He tried to speak again.
Only one final sentence emerged.
May you like
"She's the one who shot me."
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