Chapter 6 - The Engagement Was a Trap
The answer came from an unexpected place.
Savannah Calloway.
She called Declan at 8:06 that morning.
He answered.
“What do you want?”
Her voice was unusually quiet.
“I know where Amelia is.”
Declan's entire body went still.
“Who told you?”
“No one.”
“You're lying.”
“Probably.”
Declan looked toward the window.
“Say what you called to say.”
Savannah sighed.
“The engagement is not what you think.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No. I expect you to listen.”
She sent an address.
“A hotel in Charlotte.”
Declan frowned.
“Why there?”
“Because my father is meeting someone there tonight.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“You do.”
“I know enough to be afraid.”
The call ended.
Gavin stared at Declan.
“This could be a trap.”
“It is.”
“Then why go?”
Declan picked up his coat.
“Because Savannah just admitted she's afraid of her father.”
Meanwhile, Amelia sat in the church basement staring at the ultrasound photo.
The photograph had been restored from the one she burned.
Declan had found a copy in the hospital archive.
He placed it on the table between them.
“I kept it.”
She looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because I knew someday you'd want it.”
“I didn't think you'd even remember.”
“I remember everything about you.”
She looked away.
“I wish that weren't true.”
He sat quietly.
After a moment, Amelia asked, “Did you know you had a brother?”
“No.”
“Did your father?”
“I don't know.”
“What happens if Matthew is alive?”
Declan didn't answer.
Her voice lowered.
“And if he is the one who fathered the baby?”
Declan's eyes snapped toward her.
“What?”
“That note said the child has two fathers.”
Declan leaned forward.
“No.”
“You don't know.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because I know your medical history.”
She stared.
“You checked?”
“I had doctors verify the pregnancy before I found you.”
“That isn't reassuring.”
He rubbed his face.
“Your child is mine.”
Silence.
Then a gunshot exploded outside.
Glass shattered.
Gavin shouted.
“DOWN!”
Declan grabbed Amelia and pulled her behind a stone wall.
Bullets tore through the church windows.
The guards returned fire.
Amelia covered her head.
Then she heard Declan yell.
Not in anger.
In pain.
She looked up.
Blood darkened his shoulder.
“Declan!”
“I’m fine.”
“You're bleeding.”
“Later.”
Another burst of gunfire.
Then silence.
Gavin returned.
“One attacker dead. Two escaped.”
He crouched beside Declan.
“There's something you need to see.”
He held up a bullet casing.
Stamped into the metal was the same raven symbol.
Declan stared.
“The Belladonna family.”
Gavin shook his head.
“No.”
He pointed to the casing.
“The Voss family used that mark before the Belladonnas ever existed.”
Amelia felt the room tilt.
“Then who are we fighting?”
Gavin looked at Declan.
“Someone using your father's original organization.”
Declan slowly stood.
His eyes were no longer confused.
They were furious.
“Someone who knows the old empire.”
“Someone who knows Matthew.”
“And someone who knew Amelia was here.”
Gavin nodded.
Declan looked at the blood on his sleeve.
Then toward Amelia.
“I have been protecting you from the wrong people.”
Amelia asked quietly, “Who should you have been protecting me from?”
May you like
He looked toward the shattered windows.
“My family.”
