Chapter 6 - The Guardian Who Disappeared
The name on the document was impossible.
I stared at it.
Then I looked again.
And again.
Because my mind refused to accept what my eyes were seeing.
The person legally appointed to protect me twelve years ago was not Evelyn Carter.
It was not my father.
It was not even someone from my family.
It was Damian Romano.
The bakery became silent.
Not the tense silence from before.
Something different.
A silence filled with disbelief.
I slowly lifted my eyes toward him.
Damian looked like he had been waiting for this moment for years.
But he didn't look victorious.
He looked broken.
"You knew."
My voice came out quiet.
Damian didn't deny it.
That hurt more.
"You knew you were supposed to protect me?"
His eyes lowered.
"Yes."
My hands tightened around the document.
"Then why didn't you?"
The question stayed between us.
Heavy.
Painful.
Damian took a breath.
"Because I failed."
Nobody spoke.
Even Adrian looked away.
The powerful man everyone feared.
The man who controlled businesses, people, and entire rooms with one look.
He stood there admitting he had failed.
And somehow that made me angrier.
"You don't get to say that like it's enough."
"I know."
"No, you don't."
My voice cracked.
"You knew my whole life was built on lies."
"I knew pieces."
"Pieces?"
I held up the document.
"This says you were my guardian."
Damian nodded.
"Yes."
"Then where were you?"
That question finally broke through his control.
His expression changed.
Not anger.
Pain.
"I was trying to find the person who ordered your mother’s death."
I froze.
"And you thought leaving me alone was the best way?"
"No."
His voice was immediate.
"I thought staying away was the only way to keep you alive."
I wanted to argue.
I wanted to tell him he was wrong.
But a part of me remembered something.
The strange feeling that followed Damian since the first day.
The way he watched every entrance.
The way he noticed every person who came near me.
The way he reacted when the bakery door opened.
He wasn't watching me like someone trying to own me.
He was watching me like someone expecting danger.
"Tell me everything."
Damian looked at Adrian.
Then Evelyn.
Then me.
"Your parents discovered someone was stealing money from the company they built with my family."
I listened.
"The person responsible knew they had been discovered."
"And they killed my mother."
Damian's silence confirmed it.
"But why fake everything?"
Adrian answered.
"Because killing your parents would have created questions."
He looked at the bakery around us.
"Destroying their reputation was easier."
My stomach tightened.
"What do you mean?"
Damian looked at me.
"They wanted everyone to believe your father was involved."
"But he wasn't."
"No."
"Then why did people believe it?"
Evelyn spoke softly.
"Because the person behind it controlled the evidence."
I looked at her.
For a moment, I saw the woman who had comforted me as a child.
Then I remembered the recording.
My mother's warning.
Do not believe everything she tells you.
I stepped away.
"I don't know who to trust anymore."
Evelyn closed her eyes.
"I understand."
"No, you don't."
My voice became sharper.
"You knew the truth."
Tears appeared in her eyes.
"I was afraid."
"Everyone was afraid."
I pointed around the bakery.
"Everyone had a reason."
A pause.
"But I was the one who lived a lie."
Nobody answered.
Because nobody could.
Then Damian's phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
His expression changed instantly.
"What is it?"
He didn't answer.
That scared me.
Damian Romano didn't hesitate.
He didn't freeze.
But now he did.
"Damian?"
He looked at me.
"The person who sent the photograph knows we're here."
A cold feeling moved through me.
"How?"
Before he could answer, the bakery lights flickered.
Again.
The same way they had before.
Everyone turned.
Damian immediately moved.
"Stay behind me."
This time, I didn't argue.
Because I saw his face.
This wasn't suspicion.
This was certainty.
Someone was coming.
The back door suddenly slammed.
Adrian moved toward it.
"Impossible."
"What?"
He looked confused.
"That door only has one key."
My heartbeat increased.
"Who has it?"
Nobody answered.
Then Evelyn whispered:
"I do."
Everyone turned toward her.
Her face lost all color.
"I lost it three days ago."
The bakery went silent.
Three days.
The same day Damian arrived.
The same day someone started watching me.
Damian looked at Evelyn.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't know it was gone."
"Where did you lose it?"
She hesitated.
And that hesitation was enough.
"Where?"
Evelyn looked at me.
"I was at your apartment."
My blood ran cold.
"What?"
"I went there because I wanted to find something before they did."
"What did you find?"
She didn't answer.
Damian stepped closer.
"What did you find, Evelyn?"
Her eyes filled with fear.
"Your mother's journal."
Nobody moved.
My mother's journal.
A piece of my mother that had been missing for twelve years.
"Where is it?"
Evelyn looked toward the back door.
"I hid it."
"Where?"
She whispered:
"Somewhere only Clara would look."
I thought about it.
My childhood.
My memories.
The places my mother loved.
Then I realized.
The bakery.
Not the shelves.
Not the kitchen.
Somewhere else.
A place nobody would think to search.
My father's old office.
The room I had kept locked since he died.
I looked toward the hallway.
Damian noticed.
"You know."
I nodded slowly.
"My father’s office."
Before anyone could stop me, I walked.
The key was still around my neck.
I had worn it for years.
I didn't even know why.
I unlocked the old door.
The room smelled like dust and memories.
My father's desk was exactly how he left it.
His notebook.
His old glasses.
His favorite pen.
Everything untouched.
I stepped inside.
Damian followed.
"Clara."
I ignored him.
I didn't know if I trusted him.
But I knew I needed answers.
I searched through the desk.
Nothing.
The shelves.
Nothing.
The drawers.
Nothing.
Then I saw it.
A small scratch on the wooden floor.
Near the bookshelf.
My father had always been careful.
He never scratched furniture.
I moved the bookshelf.
Behind it was a hidden compartment.
Inside was a small box.
My hands trembled as I opened it.
Inside was a journal.
Old.
Worn.
With my mother's handwriting on the cover.
I almost cried.
After twelve years.
She was finally speaking to me again.
I opened the first page.
The first sentence made my blood freeze.
"Clara, if you are reading this, Damian has already found you."
I looked at him.
His face changed.
The journal continued.
"I need you to know the truth about the man you were told to fear."
I turned the page.
And then I saw the sentence that made me stop breathing.
"Damian Romano did not abandon you."
A pause.
"He saved your life."
I looked up.
Damian was staring at the journal.
Like he already knew what was written inside.
Then my eyes moved to the final line on the page.
My mother had written it just before she disappeared.
And it revealed the one secret nobody had been willing to tell me.
"Clara, the person who betrayed us is not the one you think..."
I turned the page.
But the next page was missing.
May you like
Only one torn edge remained.
And on the back of that missing page was a fresh fingerprint.
