Chapter 6 - The Name Beneath the PhotographEvelyn stared at Damien.
“What are you saying?”
Damien swallowed.
“I don't know everything.”
“Then tell me what you know.”
He pointed toward another photograph.
Noah stood beside Mara.
Behind them was a grave.
The name on the stone was barely visible.
Evelyn moved closer.
Then froze.
Daniel Bell.
The same man from the old photograph.
The driver.
The man she'd believed was dead in the crash.
She remembered him.
A man standing beside the limousine.
A man arguing with Victor.
A man telling her,
“Your father is lying.”
Then the memory shattered.
Evelyn grabbed the table.
“I know him.”
Damien steadied her.
“Who?”
“Daniel Bell.”
Damien's face tightened.
“He was your father's driver.”
“He was in the car that night.”
“Yes.”
“He survived.”
Damien nodded.
“And three days later, he died.”
Evelyn looked at Noah's photograph.
“His son.”
Damien hesitated.
“Noah Bell is your brother.”
The room went silent.
Evelyn's lips parted.
“No.”
“Daniel was your mother's chauffeur before she died.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“My mother died when I was eighteen.”
“Yes.”
“She never had another child.”
Damien looked uncomfortable.
“That's what the family records say.”
“Say.”
Not said.
Evelyn understood the word.
“There are missing records.”
Damien nodded.
“Your mother left a private trust.”
Evelyn whispered,
“For Daniel.”
“For Daniel's child.”
She sat down.
For years, she'd believed the Hartwells were her entire world.
Her mother had died.
Her father had raised her.
She had no siblings.
No hidden family.
No secrets.
Yet here was a ten-year-old boy with her mother's eyes.
A child who somehow knew how to help her stand.
A child Victor had spent years watching.
Evelyn whispered,
“Why did nobody tell me?”
Damien looked at her.
“Because your father destroyed the trust.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel discovered what happened to the brakes.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
The memory returned.
Rain.
Mountain road.
A scream.
A hand pulling a lever.
Then Daniel shouting,
“Hold on!”
She opened her eyes.
“I remember.”
Damien stared at her.
“What?”
“Daniel didn't lose control.”
She looked toward the screens.
“He was trying to stop the car.”
Her voice shook.
“Someone had already cut the brakes.”
At that moment, every light in the room went off.
Darkness.
A second later, the security alarm screamed.
Damien pulled his weapon.
“Stay behind me.”
A door slammed somewhere in the mansion.
Footsteps.
Then a voice came through the speakers.
“Evelyn.”
Victor.
“Come upstairs.”
Evelyn stared into the darkness.
Victor continued.
“You've remembered enough.”
The speakers crackled.
Then he said,
“But not everything.”
A camera above them turned on.
Victor's face appeared.
Beside him stood Noah.
His hands were tied.
Evelyn's blood ran cold.
“Dad.”
May you like
Victor smiled.
“Now we can talk.”
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