Chapter 5 - The Daughter Who Was Never Supposed To Know
The message stayed on my phone screen.
The words burned brighter than the ballroom lights.
The person who destroyed your family was not Dominic Blackwood.
It was Saraphina Vale.
For several seconds, I couldn’t move.
I couldn’t blink.
I couldn’t understand how my own name could be sitting there like a threat.
Around me, three hundred guests stared at their phones.
The whispers started slowly.
Then they became louder.
“She did what?”
“Is this some kind of scandal?”
“Was the bride involved?”
I looked around the room.
Minutes ago, these people had watched Dominic destroy me.
Now they were looking at me like I was the monster.
And the worst part was…
I didn’t know if they were wrong.
I turned toward Adrian.
“What does that mean?”
My voice sounded different.
Smaller.
Afraid.
Adrian didn’t answer immediately.
That scared me.
Because everyone else had been lying with confidence.
My father.
My mother.
Dominic.
But Adrian looked like someone who hated the truth he was about to reveal.
"Saraphina..."
"No."
I stepped closer.
"Don't say my name like you're sorry for me."
My hand shook as I held my phone.
"Explain."
My father moved forward.
"Saraphina, you need to listen carefully."
I looked at him.
"Three years."
My voice cracked.
"Three years I believed you were dead."
His eyes filled with pain.
"And now I find out you were alive."
I pointed at my mother.
"She was alive."
Then I looked at Dominic.
"You were lying to me."
Finally, I looked at Adrian.
"And now I'm being told I destroyed my own family."
I laughed once.
A broken sound.
"Apparently everyone knew my life except me."
Nobody spoke.
Because nobody could deny it.
Adrian opened the folder again.
Inside was a photograph.
A photograph of me.
But younger.
Much younger.
I stared at it.
It was taken when I was seventeen.
I remembered that day.
I was standing outside my father's company building.
Smiling.
Holding a folder.
"What is this?"
Adrian placed another document beside it.
"A company transfer."
I looked at the page.
My name appeared again.
But this time, beneath it was a signature.
My signature.
My hands went cold.
"I never signed this."
Adrian looked at me.
"That's what you were told."
The ballroom disappeared.
The voices.
The cameras.
The guests.
Everything faded.
"What are you saying?"
He lowered his voice.
"Your memory of that night is incomplete."
I looked at my mother.
Her face had gone pale.
"Mom?"
She looked away.
That hurt.
Because my mother had always been the person who looked at me no matter how bad things became.
But now she couldn't even meet my eyes.
"What happened?"
She whispered.
"You were hurt."
"Hurt how?"
Nobody answered.
My patience snapped.
"No more."
My voice echoed through the ballroom.
"No more secrets."
I grabbed the microphone again.
"If there is something about me that I don't know, then everyone is going to tell me right now."
Dominic looked at me.
For the first time, there was something different in his eyes.
Not fear.
Not anger.
Concern.
And somehow that made me more uncomfortable.
Because I didn't want his concern.
Not anymore.
"You really don't remember."
His words made my stomach tighten.
"Remember what?"
He looked at Adrian.
Then my parents.
"You didn't tell her."
My father closed his eyes.
"Dominic."
"No."
Dominic shook his head.
"You wanted to protect her."
He looked at me.
"But you never protected her from herself."
I hated that sentence.
Because a small part of me believed it.
Not because Dominic said it.
Because something inside me reacted.
A memory.
A feeling.
A shadow.
Something I couldn't reach.
I pressed my fingers against my forehead.
Suddenly, a flash appeared.
A room.
A desk.
My father's voice.
A document.
Someone crying.
Then nothing.
I stepped back.
My mother immediately moved toward me.
"Saraphina?"
I looked at her.
"I saw something."
Her expression changed.
"What did you see?"
I shook my head.
"I don't know."
But I did.
I knew there was something hidden inside my own mind.
Something everyone had been protecting me from.
Adrian walked toward the stage.
"The night before your father disappeared, there was a meeting."
My eyes followed him.
"Between who?"
He looked at me.
"You."
My heart stopped.
"What?"
"You met with your father."
I shook my head.
"No."
"You did."
"I was never there."
Adrian placed a recording device on the table.
"You were."
Nobody moved.
He pressed play.
Static filled the ballroom.
Then a voice.
My voice.
Younger.
Frightened.
"I can't do this, Dad."
My knees almost collapsed.
Because I recognized myself.
A recording.
Of me.
"Why don't I remember this?"
My father looked devastated.
"Because we made sure you didn't."
The room went silent.
I stared at him.
"You erased my memories?"
My mother's tears fell.
"We didn't want to."
I stepped away.
"You didn't want to?"
My voice rose.
"You decided what I was allowed to know?"
My father looked at the floor.
"It was the only way."
"The only way to what?"
Nobody answered.
Then Adrian spoke.
"The only way to keep you alive."
A cold silence followed.
I looked at him.
"Alive?"
Adrian nodded.
"After your mother discovered Dominic's illegal operations, she found evidence."
He turned to the screen.
Images appeared.
Bank records.
Private meetings.
Hidden accounts.
"But she also discovered something else."
The next image appeared.
A photograph.
A woman.
A man.
A meeting.
My breath stopped.
Because I knew the woman.
It was my mother.
The man beside her...
Was my father.
But they weren't talking about Dominic.
They were talking about me.
"What is this?"
Adrian looked at me.
"The truth about the night your parents disappeared."
My hands became cold.
"Tell me."
He hesitated.
Then said:
"You weren't protecting your parents."
The room became silent.
"You were protecting yourself."
Nobody spoke.
The words felt impossible.
I looked at my father.
"What did I do?"
He opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
That was the moment I knew.
Whatever happened...
It was real.
I looked at my mother.
"Tell me."
She cried silently.
"I'm sorry."
Those two words destroyed me.
Because apologies only came after something unforgivable happened.
I turned away.
The wedding guests watched.
The cameras recorded.
My entire life was falling apart in front of strangers.
Then Dominic stepped closer.
"Enough."
Everyone looked at him.
His expression was serious.
Not the arrogant billionaire.
Not the cruel groom.
Something else.
Something almost human.
"You need to stop listening to them."
I looked at him.
"Why?"
His eyes met mine.
"Because they are hiding the worst part."
"What worst part?"
He took a breath.
"The night your father disappeared..."
He looked at my parents.
"...you were the last person who saw him alive."
The room froze.
My heart stopped.
"No."
Dominic continued.
"You were there."
I shook my head.
"I don't remember."
"Exactly."
My father looked terrified.
"Dominic, don't."
But Dominic kept going.
"You think they protected you?"
His voice lowered.
"They erased what happened because you were responsible."
The words cut deeper than anything before.
I looked at my hands.
At the ring on my finger.
At the dress I was still wearing.
Everything about tonight felt like a nightmare.
Then my phone vibrated again.
One new message.
Unknown number.
I looked down.
A photo appeared.
A photo taken three years earlier.
The night my father disappeared.
I zoomed in.
My breath stopped.
Because standing beside my father in the picture...
Was me.
Holding a blood-stained envelope.
May you like
And underneath the photo was one sentence:
Ask your father what was inside the envelope before he died.
