Chapter 4 - The Father Who Was Never Dead
The photograph slipped from my fingers as I whispered: "That's impossible."
When Dominic saw the picture, he grabbed the old newspaper clipping hidden behind it.
The headline had one sentence circled in black ink: "Richard Carter confirmed dead after the accident."
Dominic suddenly realized the man I thought I lost years ago had been alive all along.
I stared at the photograph.
Then at Dominic.
Then back at the photograph.
The man standing beside me looked familiar.
Not because I remembered him.
Because some part of me recognized him.
The shape of his face.
The way he stood.
The small scar above his eyebrow.
Something buried deep inside my mind was screaming that I knew him.
But my memories refused to come back.
"My father is dead."
The words left my mouth slowly.
Like I was trying to convince myself.
Dominic didn't answer.
And that was the moment I knew.
He wasn't shocked by the idea.
He was afraid of it.
"Say something."
My voice became sharper.
"Dominic, say something."
He looked at Victoria.
She looked away.
That hurt more than anything.
Because it meant they had already discussed this.
They had already shared this secret.
A secret about my own life.
Without me.
"How long have you known?"
Dominic lowered his eyes.
"Emma..."
"How long?"
He took a breath.
"Since before we met."
The room went silent.
I felt something inside me break.
Before we met.
Those four words changed everything.
Because suddenly I started questioning every moment of my marriage.
Every conversation.
Every coincidence.
Every time Dominic told me he loved me.
Was it real?
Or was I just part of a plan?
"You knew my father was alive?"
Dominic nodded slightly.
"Yes."
I laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because it was unbelievable.
"You knew my father was alive, and you married me anyway?"
"I didn't marry you because of him."
"Then why?"
Dominic looked at me.
And for a second, I saw pain in his eyes.
"I married you because I loved you."
I wanted to believe that.
I really did.
But love did not erase lies.
Love did not explain secrets.
Love did not explain why my husband had spent five years protecting everyone except me.
"Then tell me the truth."
Dominic stayed silent.
I stepped closer.
"Who was my father?"
Victoria answered quietly.
"Richard Carter was not just your father."
I looked at her.
"What does that mean?"
She swallowed.
"He was involved in something much bigger than you knew."
"What?"
She looked at Dominic.
And Dominic finally spoke.
"Your father discovered a network of people who were laundering money through several major companies."
I frowned.
"And?"
"And he tried to expose them."
The words felt heavy.
"What happened?"
Dominic looked at the photograph.
"Someone tried to stop him."
I looked down.
"By killing him."
Dominic nodded.
"But he survived."
My heart raced.
"Then why did everyone think he was dead?"
No one answered immediately.
That silence told me there was something worse.
Something they still weren't telling me.
"Because someone needed him to disappear."
I looked at Dominic.
"Who?"
His face tightened.
"Richard Vale."
The name again.
The same name from the photograph.
The same name that made Victoria afraid.
"Who is Richard Vale?"
Dominic walked back to his desk.
He opened a locked compartment.
Inside was a folder.
Not old.
Not hidden by accident.
Carefully protected.
He placed it in front of me.
"This is everything I know."
I opened it.
The first page was a report.
My father's name was written at the top.
Richard Carter.
Below it was a list of dates.
Meetings.
Locations.
Names.
Then I saw something that made my hands freeze.
My name.
Emma Carter.
Written in the middle of the document.
Beside it was a note.
"Memory recovery must be prevented."
I looked up.
"What is this?"
Dominic looked away.
"I don't know."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"No."
His honesty surprised me.
"I expect you to believe that I was trying to protect you."
I closed the folder.
"No."
My voice was calm.
"But you were protecting yourself."
He didn't deny it.
That was worse.
I walked toward the kitchen.
I needed space.
I needed air.
I needed one moment where nobody was watching me.
But when I reached the hallway mirror, I stopped.
There was something scratched into the glass.
Something I had never seen before.
Four numbers.
10-14-19.
The same date engraved on the necklace.
I touched the mark.
"Dominic."
He walked over.
The moment he saw it, his face changed.
"What?"
He didn't answer.
"Dominic."
His voice was barely a whisper.
"That date..."
"What about it?"
He looked terrified.
"That was the day you disappeared."
I turned around.
"What?"
Victoria appeared behind him.
Her face was pale.
"Emma..."
I stared at both of them.
"I never disappeared."
Victoria looked at me.
"That's what you were told."
My heart stopped.
"What does that mean?"
She walked closer.
"Six years ago, after your accident, you weren't unconscious for three days."
I waited.
"How long was I gone?"
She didn't answer immediately.
Then she said:
"Six months."
The hallway seemed to spin.
Six months.
Impossible.
I remembered waking up in the hospital.
I remembered Dominic beside me.
I remembered doctors telling me I was lucky.
But I remembered nothing before that.
Nothing.
"What happened during those six months?"
Dominic looked away.
And that was when I knew.
He knew.
He knew exactly what happened.
"You were looking for your father."
I stared at him.
"No."
"Emma."
"No."
My voice shook.
"I never knew my father was alive."
Dominic stepped closer.
"You didn't."
"Then why was I looking for him?"
Nobody answered.
Because they couldn't.
A memory suddenly flashed through my mind.
A dark room.
A phone.
A man's voice.
My voice crying.
A sentence.
"Don't let Dominic know I remembered."
I grabbed the edge of the table.
The memory disappeared as quickly as it came.
But it was enough.
Because I had just heard my own voice.
A voice from six years ago.
A voice I didn't remember.
"Emma?"
Dominic looked worried.
I looked at him.
"Did I know you before my accident?"
His face went completely still.
That was the answer.
I stepped back.
"You did."
"No."
"You did."
"Emma, listen—"
"You knew me before."
The room became silent.
Victoria closed her eyes.
Like she had been waiting for this moment.
Finally, she spoke.
"Dominic wasn't a stranger when you met him."
I looked at her.
"What was he?"
Victoria looked at my husband.
Then at me.
"He was the man your father trusted to protect you."
I couldn't breathe.
Dominic had not entered my life by chance.
He had been placed there.
My entire marriage suddenly felt like a mystery I had been living inside.
I grabbed my coat.
"I need answers."
Dominic followed.
"Emma, wait."
"No."
I opened the front door.
But before I could step outside, my phone vibrated.
A new message.
Unknown number.
I looked down.
One sentence appeared.
"Come to the old Carter house if you want to know why your father disappeared."
I froze.
Then another message arrived.
A picture.
A recent picture.
Of my father's old house.
May you like
And standing in front of the door...
was the man I had spent my entire life believing was dead.
