Chapter 5 - My Father Was Alive—and Damian Had Been Using Me to Find the Fortune He Hid From EveryoneWe found my father three days later.
Not in a prison.
Not in a hidden mansion.
In a small hospital under a false name.
He was weaker than I remembered.
Older.
But alive.
I stood beside his bed.
He opened his eyes.
“Isabella.”
I cried.
He reached for my hand.
“I knew you'd find me.”
“Why didn't you come home?”
“Because I couldn't.”
“Who stopped you?”
He looked at Adrian.
Then Lila.
Then me.
“Gideon.”
I sat beside him.
“Tell me everything.”
He explained.
Years earlier, he discovered that Gideon had built a network using legitimate businesses as fronts.
My father wanted out.
Gideon threatened my family.
Then Damian became involved.
At first, Damian seemed different.
He wanted to protect me.
But Gideon manipulated him.
He convinced Damian that my father's trust was the key to controlling the network.
I stared.
“So Damian married me for the trust.”
My father hesitated.
“Partly.”
“Partly?”
“He loved you.”
The words broke something inside me.
“Then why did he hurt me?”
“Because he believed fear would keep you from leaving.”
My father closed his eyes.
“By the time he realized what he had become, it was too late.”
I didn't know what to feel.
Anger.
Love.
Pity.
Nothing made sense.
My father gave me a key.
“The trust is in an underground vault beneath the old Mercer theater.”
“What's inside?”
“Evidence.”
“Against Gideon?”
“Against everyone.”
“How much?”
“Enough to destroy them.”
Adrian looked at him.
“And enough to destroy Isabella.”
My father nodded.
“If the wrong people get it.”
We returned to the theater.
The vault was deeper than expected.
We opened it.
Inside were records.
Money.
Property deeds.
Political favors.
Names.
And a video.
My father had recorded it years earlier.
He explained the final plan.
The trust was designed to dismantle the network.
Not control it.
Every asset would be liquidated under specific conditions.
The money would go to victims.
The companies would be dissolved.
And all evidence would be released.
But there was a catch.
The final trigger required two signatures.
One Mercer.
One Voss.
I looked at Adrian.
“Why a Voss?”
My father said it would force the next Voss heir to choose.
Power or truth.
Dominic.
The only person legally capable of activating the final phase was Damian.
I stared.
“He has to help us.”
“Yes.”
“Will he?”
My father looked at me.
“That depends on whether the man beneath the monster still exists.”
I didn't want to believe there was anything left.
Yet I remembered the man I once married.
The man who held my hand on our first date.
The man who cried when we lost a pregnancy before Clara was ever born.
The man who promised he would never hurt me.
That man had vanished.
Maybe permanently.
We contacted Damian.
He arrived alone.
No guards.
No weapons visible.
He looked exhausted.
“I knew you'd find this.”
I stood.
“You knew my father was alive.”
“Yes.”
“Why did you let me believe he was dead?”
“Because Gideon would have killed him.”
“You hurt me.”
“I know.”
“You humiliated me.”
“I know.”
“You imprisoned me.”
His eyes closed.
“I know.”
“Why?”
“Because I was afraid.”
I almost laughed.
“You?”
“Yes.”
He looked at Adrian.
“I was afraid of Gideon.”
Then at me.
“And afraid of losing you.”
“You lost me anyway.”
“Yes.”
Silence.
Then Damian revealed the final truth.
Gideon had threatened him with Clara.
My niece.
My cousin's daughter.
I didn't understand.
Then Damian showed me the file.
The child wasn't related to me.
She was Gideon's granddaughter.
And Gideon had planned to use her as leverage because Damian had become emotionally attached to her after years of family contact.
I stared.
The web was endless.
Everyone had been used.
Everyone had lied.
Everyone had been afraid.
Damian looked at me.
“I should have told you.”
“Yes.”
“I thought I could solve it.”
“You always think that.”
“I know.”
I turned away.
“Why are you here now?”
“Because I want to end it.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“Will you sign?”
Damian looked at him.
“If I do, you destroy everything.”
“Yes.”
“My company.”
“Yes.”
“My family's legacy.”
“Yes.”
Damian looked at me.
“What happens to Isabella?”
“She walks free.”
He nodded.
“Then I'll sign.”
I stared.
“What?”
He reached for the pen.
Then stopped.
“One condition.”
My heart sank.
“What?”
“After this, you never let me near you again.”
I looked at him.
He lowered his eyes.
“I don't trust myself to know when I'm protecting you and when I'm controlling you.”
It was the first thing he had said that sounded like love.
Not possession.
Love.
I nodded.
“Agreed.”
He signed.
I signed.
The vault unlocked.
And the entire Voss empire began to collapse.
But Gideon knew.
He had been waiting for this moment.
And before we could release the evidence, every door in the vault slammed shut.
The lights went red.
A voice came through the speakers.
“Well done.”
Gideon.
“You finally found the truth.”
May you like
Then he laughed.
“Now let's see which of you survives it.”
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