Chapter 5 - The Person I Trusted Most
The person standing in the doorway didn't speak.
Neither did I.
Because I knew that face.
I had seen it every morning.
Every night.
For six years.
The person who walked into the hidden room was the one person I never thought I needed to fear.
"Damien..."
Her voice shook.
I stared at her.
My children's nurse.
Margaret Collins.
The woman who had cared for Noah and Lily since they were born.
The woman who knew their favorite meals.
Their fears.
Their habits.
The woman my children called "Miss Maggie."
She looked at the phone in my hand.
Then at the files scattered across the room.
And I saw it.
A flash of panic.
Small.
Almost invisible.
But I saw it.
"You knew."
Her lips parted.
"Damien..."
"You knew."
This time my voice was louder.
The woman who had spent six years holding my children's hands looked like she was about to break.
"I can explain."
I stepped forward.
"Everyone says that."
The room became silent.
Dr. Adrian Vale moved closer to Elena.
Not to protect Margaret.
To protect us.
"Damien, listen to her."
I turned sharply.
"Why?"
"Because she may be the only person who can tell you what happened."
I looked back at Margaret.
"Then tell me."
She looked at Noah and Lily.
Her eyes filled with tears.
"I never wanted them to be hurt."
My hands tightened.
"But they were."
"I know."
"Because of you?"
She closed her eyes.
And that was the answer I feared.
"No."
The word came out softly.
"No, Damien. Not because of me."
"Then why are there hundreds of pictures of my children in a secret room?"
Margaret looked at the wall.
"I was told to document everything."
"By who?"
She didn't answer.
I walked closer.
"By who?"
Her voice became a whisper.
"Your father."
The anger inside me exploded.
"My father is dead."
Margaret looked at me.
"No, he isn't."
I stared at her.
How many more times would I hear that?
How many more pieces of my life would fall apart?
"You knew?"
She nodded slowly.
"I knew three years after Clara died."
"And you said nothing."
Tears rolled down her face.
"Because I tried."
"Try harder."
She flinched.
"I tried to leave."
"Then why didn't you?"
"Because they threatened the children."
The room went quiet.
My anger paused.
Not disappeared.
Paused.
"What did they threaten?"
Margaret looked toward Noah and Lily.
"Their medication."
My stomach turned.
"What?"
She wiped her tears.
"Every month, someone came to check their treatment."
"Doctors."
"Some were doctors."
The way she said it made my blood run cold.
"Some weren't."
I looked at Adrian.
He looked down.
"You knew."
He didn't deny it.
"I suspected."
I turned back to Margaret.
"Start from the beginning."
She took a deep breath.
"After Clara discovered the research, she started investigating the Mercer Foundation."
"I know."
"No, Damien."
Margaret shook her head.
"You don't."
She walked toward the desk.
She picked up one of the files.
"Clara didn't discover the experiment."
She opened the folder.
"She discovered why it was created."
I looked at the documents.
"The Mercer bloodline."
Margaret nodded.
"Your father believed your family carried something rare."
"Something?"
"A genetic trait."
I felt disgusted.
"My children are not research."
"I know."
"Then why?"
"Because your father didn't see them as children."
Her voice broke.
"He saw them as the future of the Mercer name."
I looked at Noah and Lily.
My son.
My daughter.
The two people who had taught me what love actually meant.
Someone had looked at them and seen an opportunity.
Something to own.
Something to control.
I wanted to destroy everything.
But I needed answers first.
"Why didn't Clara tell me?"
Margaret looked away.
"Because she found out something worse."
"What?"
"She found out someone close to you was helping him."
My chest tightened.
"Who?"
Margaret didn't answer.
She looked at Elena.
Then Adrian.
Then me.
"I don't know."
I didn't believe her.
"Everyone knows something."
She looked down.
"But nobody knows everything."
The room became quiet.
Then Noah spoke.
"Daddy."
I turned.
He was awake.
I immediately walked to him.
"Hey, buddy."
His eyes moved around the room.
He looked scared.
"Are we going to another hospital?"
My heart broke.
"No."
"Are they going to take Lily and me away?"
I froze.
Because six-year-old children shouldn't ask questions like that.
I sat beside him.
"No one is taking you anywhere."
He looked at me.
"Promise?"
I held his hand.
"Promise."
Lily reached for me too.
Then she looked at Margaret.
"Miss Maggie?"
Margaret started crying.
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"You knew Mommy?"
The room stopped.
Margaret looked like she had been hit.
"What?"
Lily's eyes were heavy.
"Mommy used to talk to you."
I looked at Margaret.
"About what?"
The nurse didn't answer.
"Lily."
My daughter's fingers tightened around mine.
"Mommy said Miss Maggie was the only person she trusted."
Margaret covered her mouth.
A sound escaped her.
A sound filled with years of guilt.
I looked at her.
"Why would Clara trust you?"
She slowly reached into her pocket.
And pulled out something.
A small key.
Old.
Rusted.
I recognized it immediately.
Because Clara wore it on a necklace.
Every day.
Before she died.
"Where did you get that?"
Margaret looked at me.
"She gave it to me."
"When?"
"The night before the accident."
The room became silent.
"You had something from Clara for six years?"
She nodded.
"She told me not to give it to you unless the truth started coming out."
My heart pounded.
"What does it open?"
Margaret looked toward the hidden room.
Then toward the mansion.
"Something your father never wanted you to find."
I took the key.
"Where?"
She hesitated.
"Under the old west wing."
My face changed.
The west wing had been closed for years.
My father told me it was damaged after a fire.
Nobody entered.
Nobody.
Except apparently someone had.
I turned toward the hallway.
"We're going there."
Adrian immediately stepped forward.
"No."
I looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because if your father knew Clara left that key..."
He stopped.
Too late.
I saw the fear in his eyes.
"What?"
He looked at me.
"Because he already knows you have it."
Before I could respond, every light in the mansion went out.
The security system died.
The cameras shut down.
The entire house fell into darkness.
Then my phone vibrated.
One message.
Unknown number.
A photo.
I opened it.
It was taken from inside the mansion.
From the hallway outside the children's room.
The picture showed me standing there.
Holding Clara's key.
And behind me...
A person was standing in the darkness.
May you like
The message underneath contained only five words.
"Turn around, Damien. I'm behind you."
