Two hours after I left his office for some air, Damian came to my location .
I'm sitting in a coffee shop when he walked in.
He joins me .
"I knew you'd be here " he says
How ? anyways that not important
"What brings you here" I ask
"Well I just wanted to make sure you're okay, I mean the air you needed is quite enough I think"
he smiles but I don't
"I just wanted to be sure you're not swallowed by the air "
I finally smile
He actually cares and to be honest I like his bossy way of caring .
"I'm okay" I say
"Since you're okay it's time I get going. I have some things I need to look into in my archive "
"Your archive?" I ask
"Uhm yes , you wanna tag along?"
I stand up without saying a word but he knows I mean yes so he smiles and walks me to his car.
We get to the penthouse.
I'm surprised because I live here with Damian but he never mentioned anything about archive .
"Follow me "he says
The door leading to the vault is unnoticeable. I would never have found out about it.
He quickly taps on a few digits to open the vault but my sharp eyes caught the last digit.
Inside the vault I see the weight of every secret pressing down like living things.
Don't touch anything without my permission" he says
I nodded but my eyes scanned the room like I was searching for something
Finally I asked " Why do you keep so many files"
"Because some truths are dangerous. Because some lies… can ruin lives if they fall into the wrong hands." He says
"And why are we in your private vault? "I ask
"Because this is the only place no one can alter documents "
I expect to see secrets but not the piles of files here in this room.
Then I saw a document labeled the forgeries written in an unusual style.
I stretch my hands towards it but Damian's voice made me hesitate for moment.
"Don't, except you promise you can handle the truth ."
He gives me a chair to sit and I opened the file.
My eyes becomes wide
These are the exact same things I saw the other day.
The signature ,the transfers made to NovaArc.
My Uncle ?
I'm not so sure yet ,it's possible someone is also trying to make him look bad.
The wrong date before my father passed away and —
"What's this ?"I ask
"Let me see"he says
I hand over the file to Damian
The next statement that comes out from his mouth is shocking
"What…How?" "This is insane "he says
"Aria this stamp is high level clearance stamp. " "I'm the only one allowed to use this. This signifies that I authorized a contract with your father ."
He breaks down.
Who would have thought that the CEO kneels ?
"This shows everything points to me " He says
No wonder I think he's the cause of everything
"But you didn't…you wouldn't right?
" I didn't , Aria I told you before now" he continues
If everything shows NovaArc then your Uncle orchestrated this."
"We don't have enough evidence for such accusations " I say
"There's more " he says
He pulls out another document in an envelope .
My eyes met his
"What is that?" I ask
He hesitates and finally speaks "These are evidence of manipulations, falsified contracts ,forged signatures, things that were never meant to be discovered."
For a moment ,I realize this goes beyond just my father's case.
This is personal, Someone had gone to lengths I couldn't yet comprehend to rewrite the past.
"Do you… know who did this?" I ask cautiously, my fingers still hovering above the folder.
He shook his head slightly. "I have my suspicions. Whoever it is… they have access to information only a few people could reach. And some of it… comes from my mother's old documents."
" Your mother ?" I ask
My uncle had told me a few things about Damian's mother but I didn't know the past still has control over the present.
I open the file and realize everything I was told about my father had been a lie. They wanted me to believe he wasn't innocent.
That's impossible," I choke out. "He was in the hospital. He couldn't sign anything."
"This isn't real " I added
"No it isn't …Someone is rewriting history and wants you to believe he is a traitor." Damian said
I stand , still in shock. All those accusations I heard growing up about my father taking Blackwood's funds secretly was all a lie and now the forged signatures hit me like a punch.
Damian's eyes remain focused. "We know enough to act," he says. "But we don't know everything. Whoever is behind this… they're careful, Calculated, Dangerous."
I closed the folder slowly, trying to remain calm.
"Why didn't you tell me before?" I ask
"I did , but you needed more evidence ." Also he continues I was trying to protect you Aria and now I can't shield you anymore."
Those words are not words of anger but a trust forming in the middle of all this danger.
Before I could respond, his phone buzzed sharply. He glanced at it.
"It's the board," he said, voice tight. "Something's happening."
"We need to head back, now "he commands
At Blackwood Corp, Silence filled the hallway.
I could feel each and everyone's gaze on us like we're criminals.
Something definitely isn't right but what could it be?
The only thing I could think as we walked to the conference room is how Damian kept saying my Uncle orchestrated it all.
If this is true then my world— the one I built on lies ,loss and loyalty shatters completely.