Chapter 4–The Truth in the file

Amelia didn’t look back.

Not when the rain soaked through her dress.

Not when the expensive heels she had once carefully chosen for Damian’s approval began to hurt her feet.

And definitely not when her phone started ringing for the third time.

She knew who it was.

Damian.

For three years, she had waited for that man to call her because he wanted to hear her voice.

Now that she had finally walked away, he suddenly couldn’t stop calling.

Amelia pressed the phone against her palm and watched Damian’s name disappear from the screen.

She wouldn’t answer.

Not tonight.

Maybe not ever.

She lifted her face toward the rain and closed her eyes.

Three years.

Three years of being Damian Blackwood’s wife while feeling like a stranger in his house.

Three years of watching him walk past her like she was invisible.

Three years of convincing herself that if she loved him enough, one day he would love her back.

And now it was over.

She had signed the papers.

She was free.

So why did her heart still hurt like something inside her had been ripped apart?

Her phone rang again.

This time, Amelia switched it off.

“Enough,” she whispered.

She didn’t know that only a few miles away, Damian was standing in his office staring at a file that had just changed everything.

⸻

“Tell me exactly what you found.”

Damian’s voice was dangerously calm.

His assistant, Marcus, stood across from his desk with a thick brown folder in his hands.

“I’ve gone through the report twice.”

“And?”

Marcus hesitated.

Damian’s eyes hardened.

“And?”

“There was something unusual about your marriage to Amelia.”

Damian leaned back slowly.

“Unusual?”

Marcus placed the folder on the desk.

“Your grandfather’s lawyer handled some paperwork three years ago. Shortly before you met Amelia.”

Damian frowned.

“What does my grandfather have to do with Amelia?”

“That is what I was trying to find out.”

Marcus opened the file.

“There was a private trust established before your grandfather died. The beneficiary was supposed to remain anonymous until certain conditions were met.”

Damian’s expression changed.

“What conditions?”

Marcus looked directly at him.

“Your marriage.”

Silence.

Damian stared at him.

Then he laughed once.

It wasn’t amusement.

It was disbelief.

“You’re telling me my grandfather created a trust that depended on me getting married?”

“Yes.”

“To Amelia?”

Marcus didn’t answer immediately.

That was enough.

Damian’s jaw tightened.

“Answer me.”

“We haven’t confirmed everything yet.”

“Then confirm it.”

Marcus swallowed.

“Because Amelia’s name appears in the original documents.”

Damian froze.

For the first time that night, the room felt too small.

“Her name?”

“Yes.”

Damian reached for the file.

His fingers moved quickly through the pages until he found it.

There it was.

Amelia Rose Carter.

His wife’s full name.

Except there was something beneath it.

A handwritten note.

Damian stared at the handwriting.

He recognized it immediately.

His grandfather’s.

She must never know the truth until Damian is ready.

Damian’s heartbeat accelerated.

“Why?”

Marcus said nothing.

Damian looked up.

“Why was she not supposed to know?”

“We don’t know yet.”

Damian slammed the file against the desk.

“Then find out!”

Marcus flinched.

Damian rarely lost his temper.

But this wasn’t about business.

This was about Amelia.

The woman he had spent three years pushing away.

The woman who had just signed their divorce papers.

The woman he suddenly couldn’t stop thinking about.

Damian looked back at the file.

Something wasn’t right.

Amelia hadn’t married him for his money.

At least, he had never believed she had.

She had never demanded expensive gifts.

Never asked for access to his accounts.

Never behaved like a woman chasing a billionaire’s fortune.

If anything, she had always been too independent.

Too proud.

Too willing to walk away.

And now she had.

Damian’s chest tightened.

“Marcus.”

“Yes, sir?”

“Find Amelia.”

Marcus hesitated.

“She left the house about an hour ago.”

“I know.”

“Then what exactly do you want me to do?”

Damian’s eyes lifted.

“Find out where she went.”

⸻

Amelia arrived at her best friend’s apartment just before midnight.

The moment the door opened, she stepped inside and burst into tears.

Her friend, Clara, didn’t ask questions.

She simply pulled Amelia into her arms.

And that was all it took.

Amelia cried harder.

“I signed it,” she whispered.

Clara’s expression softened.

“You actually signed the divorce papers?”

Amelia nodded.

“It’s over.”

Clara rubbed her back.

“Are you sure that’s what you wanted?”

Amelia pulled away.

For several seconds, she couldn’t answer.

Then she wiped her cheeks.

“Yes.”

The word came out quietly.

But this time, she believed it.

“I wanted Damian to love me,” Amelia said. “I spent three years hoping he would wake up one morning and realize I was his wife. Not some obligation. Not some woman he had to tolerate.”

Clara sighed.

“And now?”

“Now I realize I can’t keep begging someone to choose me.”

Her voice broke.

“So I chose myself.”

Clara hugged her again.

Amelia closed her eyes.

For the first time in three years, she allowed herself to imagine a life without Damian Blackwood.

No waiting.

No loneliness.

No wondering whether he would come home.

No pretending she wasn’t hurt.

She could start again.

She could finally become the woman she had forgotten how to be.

But then her phone buzzed.

Amelia frowned.

She had switched it off.

She reached into her bag and pulled it out.

The screen was still dark.

“It isn’t my phone,” she whispered.

Clara looked confused.

Amelia checked her bag.

Then she found it.

A small black phone she had never seen before.

Her brows pulled together.

“What is that?”

“I don’t know.”

Amelia turned it over.

There was no case.

No name.

No identification.

Just one notification glowing on the screen.

UNKNOWN NUMBER: You need to leave before Damian finds out who you really are.

Amelia stopped breathing.

Clara stared at the message.

“What does that mean?”

Amelia didn’t answer.

Another message appeared.

UNKNOWN NUMBER: Your marriage was never an accident.

Her fingers went cold.

A third message followed.

UNKNOWN NUMBER: Ask Damian about your mother.

Amelia’s face drained of color.

Her mother.

That was impossible.

Her mother had died when Amelia was eight.

There was nothing Damian could possibly know about her.

Nothing.

At least, that was what Amelia had always believed.

“Amelia?”

She looked at Clara.

“I need to go.”

“Go where?”

Amelia grabbed her bag.

“To Damian.”

Clara’s eyes widened.

“After everything that just happened?”

Amelia stared at the phone.

Her heart was pounding.

“I don’t want him back.”

She swallowed.

“But I need answers.”

⸻

Across the city, Damian stood beside the window of his office.

Marcus walked in.

“Sir.”

Damian turned.

“Where is she?”

Marcus hesitated.

“We found her.”

Damian’s eyes sharpened.

“Where?”

“She went to Clara Bennett’s apartment.”

Damian grabbed his jacket.

Marcus immediately stopped him.

“Sir, there’s something else.”

Damian turned around.

“What?”

Marcus held out another document.

“We found the original marriage arrangement.”

Damian’s expression darkened.

“What arrangement?”

Marcus looked uncomfortable.

“The marriage wasn’t arranged by you.”

Damian stared at him.

“Then who arranged it?”

Marcus slowly answered.

“Your grandfather.”

Damian’s face went completely still.

“And Amelia’s family agreed.”

For several seconds, Damian said nothing.

Then his eyes moved toward the document.

At the bottom were two signatures.

His grandfather’s.

And Amelia’s father’s.

Damian’s blood ran cold.

His wife’s family had known.

His grandfather had known.

Everyone had known.

Except him.

“There’s more,” Marcus said.

Damian looked up.

“What?”

Marcus took a breath.

“Your grandfather left one final instruction.”

“Read it.”

Marcus looked down at the paper.

“‘If Damian and Amelia ever separate, the truth must be revealed immediately.’”

Damian’s heart dropped.

He looked toward the door.

Amelia had already left him.

The divorce papers were signed.

And now the truth was finally coming.

His phone suddenly rang.

Unknown number.

Damian answered.

“Who is this?”

There was silence.

Then a woman’s voice whispered:

“Damian Blackwood…”

His entire body stiffened.

“Who are you?”

“You’re looking for Amelia.”

Damian’s eyes narrowed.

“Where is she?”

The woman gave a quiet laugh.

“You still don’t understand, do you?”

“Understand what?”

“She was never supposed to fall in love with you.”

Damian’s blood ran cold.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

The call ended.

Damian stared at his phone.

Then another message appeared.

She knows about her mother now.

Damian stopped breathing.

Because there was only one person who knew the truth about Amelia’s mother.

His grandfather.

And he had been dead for five years.

Damian grabbed his keys.

“Marcus.”

“Yes?”

“Get the car.”

“Where are we going?”

Damian looked at the divorce papers sitting on his desk.

For three years, he had believed Amelia was the woman who needed him.

Now he was beginning to realize something terrifying.

Maybe he had been the one who needed her all along.

“I’m going to find my wife.”

And somewhere across the city, Amelia was already on her way to him.

Neither of them knew that by sunrise, their entire marriage would be exposed.