Evelyn Vance took two fast steps backward on the wide stone steps of City Hall.
Her small shoes rubbed against the hard stone.
The old yellow piece of paper shook wildly between her cold fingers.
Evelyn Vance looked down at the massive platinum ring with the giant square diamond on her left hand.
The diamond ring felt very heavy now.
The ring felt like a heavy metal chain.
Evelyn Vance looked up at Damien Vance.
Her wide eyes were filled with absolute terror.
The bright morning sun shone on his handsome face, but to Evelyn Vance, his face now looked like the face of a dangerous monster.
Evelyn Vance shouted to Damien Vance, “You lied to me!
Your family caused the terrible house fire five years ago!
Your family killed my biological mother!
You only married me today to steal the Ross family land!”
Damien Vance did not move his body.
Damien Vance stood completely still on the stone steps.
His dark eyes did not look angry.
His dark eyes looked very sad and very dark.
Evelyn Vance turned her body around quickly.
Evelyn Vance tried to run down the wide stone steps toward the busy morning street.
She wanted to escape from Damien Vance immediately.
But Damien Vance moved like lightning.
His big right hand reached out and caught Evelyn Vance’s slim arm firmly.
He did not hurt her arm, but his grip was like a strong steel band.
Evelyn Vance could not move away.
Evelyn Vance screamed, “Let me go, Damien Vance!
Let me go right now!”
Damien Vance pulled Evelyn Vance gently toward his chest.
Damien Vance reached down with his left hand and took the old yellow piece of paper from her shaking fingers.
Damien Vance held the burnt page in front of his eyes.
Damien Vance read the elegant cursive handwriting of her dead mother line by line.
A deep, heavy sigh came out of Damien Vance’s chest.
The dark look of deep sorrow on his face grew much bigger.
Damien Vance looked down into Evelyn Vance’s terrified eyes.
Damien Vance said to Evelyn Vance, “Your biological mother was completely right to write these words, Evelyn.
Five years ago, the Vance family was a very evil family.
But you do not know the whole truth about that terrible night.”
Evelyn Vance shook her head wildly.
Tears ran down her pale cheeks.
Evelyn Vance said to Damien Vance, “The paper says your family did it!
Why should I believe a word you say?”
Damien Vance turned his head to look at his head of security.
Damien Vance said to Leo Chang, “Open the back door of the limousine immediately, Leo.
We must leave this public space right now.”
Leo Chang replied to Damien Vance, “Yes, Mr.
Vance.
I am opening the limousine door immediately.”
Leo Chang ran down the steps and pulled open the heavy door of the long black limousine.
Damien Vance guided Evelyn Vance down the stone steps.
He kept his strong hand on her arm so she could not run into the busy traffic.
Damien Vance helped Evelyn Vance into the back seat of the vehicle.
Damien Vance stepped inside right behind her and closed the heavy door.
Leo Chang jumped into the driver’s seat.
Leo Chang pressed his foot down on the gas pedal.
The long black limousine accelerated quickly away from City Hall.
The vehicle moved smoothly into the morning traffic.
Inside the back seat of the limousine, the air was very quiet and very tense.
The dark glass windows blocked all the noise from the outside world.
Evelyn Vance pressed her body against the far corner of the leather seat.
She stayed as far away from Damien Vance as possible.
Damien Vance looked at the burnt piece of paper in his hand. The source of this chapter is g.com.
Damien Vance said to Evelyn Vance, “Five years ago, the head of Vance Enterprises was not me.
The head of the family was my cruel grandfather, Charles Vance.
Charles Vance was a ruthless man who only cared about money and power.
Charles Vance wanted the Ross family land because he discovered the golden secret underneath the soil.”
Evelyn Vance listened to his deep voice.
She did not speak, but her eyes stayed focused on his face.
Damien Vance continued speaking, “My grandfather, Charles Vance, ordered his secret thugs to set fire to your mother’s house.
He wanted to destroy her documents and force her to sell the land.
I was only twenty-five years old back then.
I did not know about his evil plan until the fire had already started.”
Evelyn Vance bit her lower lip.
Evelyn Vance said to Damien Vance, “You are just saying these words to protect your name.
You are a Vance too!”
Damien Vance did not argue with her.
Instead, Damien Vance raised his big hands to his neck.
Damien Vance unbuttoned the top three buttons of his crisp white dress shirt.
Damien Vance pulled the white fabric down away from his right shoulder.
Evelyn Vance gasped loudly.
She placed her right hand over her open mouth.
Across Damien Vance’s right shoulder and down his upper back, there was a massive, jagged scar.
The skin was uneven, discolored, and rough.
It was the clear, undeniable mark of a terrible fire burn.
In the center of the jagged burn scar, there was also a small, round indentation.
It was the unmistakable scar of a bullet wound.
Damien Vance said to Evelyn Vance, “Look at this shoulder, Evelyn.
Five years ago, when I discovered what my grandfather was doing, I drove to your mother’s house alone.
The building was already covered in giant orange flames.
I did not care about the danger.
I ran directly into the burning house to try to save your biological mother.”
Evelyn Vance stared at the massive scar in total shock.
Her voice became very small.
Evelyn Vance asked Damien Vance, “You…
you went inside the fire?”
Damien Vance nodded his head slowly.
Damien Vance pulled his white shirt back up and buttoned the buttons with calm fingers.
Damien Vance replied to Evelyn Vance, “Yes.
I found your mother in the back room.
I tried to pull her out of the flames.
But my grandfather’s chief thug was still inside the house.
He shot me in the shoulder.
The bullet broke my bone, and the burning ceiling fell down on top of my body.
I became unconscious.
My security man, Leo Chang, dragged my bleeding body out of the fire just before the house collapsed completely.
I stayed in a hospital bed for three full months.”
Damien Vance looked out the dark window of the limousine.
His jaw was very tight.
Damien Vance said, “Your mother died in that fire, Evelyn.
I failed to save her life.
When I finally left the hospital, I took total control of Vance Enterprises by force.
I sent my grandfather, Charles Vance, away to a dark prison in a foreign country where he died alone.
I spent the last five years hunting down every single person who caused that fire.
The only man left alive who knows the secret is Julian Sterling.”
Evelyn Vance felt the freezing ice in her blood begin to melt.
She looked at Damien Vance’s serious face.
She realized that he carried the painful scars of her mother’s tragedy on his own flesh.
He was not the killer.
He was the man who tried to save her mother.
Evelyn Vance moved away from the corner of the seat.
Evelyn Vance said to Damien Vance, “I am sorry, Damien.
I am sorry for doubting your heart.
I understand the truth now.”
Damien Vance turned his head and looked at her.
A soft, gentle look appeared in his dark eyes for a brief moment.
Damien Vance said to Evelyn Vance, “We are allies now, Evelyn.
We are husband and wife.
Together, we will make Julian Sterling pay for his crimes.”
The long black limousine slowed down.
The vehicle turned into the long private road of the Vance estate.
The limousine drove through the massive black iron gates and stopped smoothly on the stone driveway in front of the grand mansion.
Damien Vance and Evelyn Vance stepped out of the limousine.
They walked up the stone steps and entered the grand entrance hall of the mansion.
Suddenly, Evelyn Vance stopped walking.
She felt a cold shiver run down her back.
The grand mansion was completely dark.
All the bright crystal chandeliers were turned off.
The long hallways were completely quiet and empty.
Damien Vance noticed the darkness immediately.
His eyes became sharp and dangerous once again.
Damien Vance shouted, “Leo!
Mark!
Why are the mansion lights turned off?”
There was no verbal answer from the darkness.
Damien Vance walked quickly down the long hallway toward the private security room.
Evelyn Vance followed Damien Vance closely, holding the edge of his suit jacket.
Leo Chang walked in front of them with a black pistol held tightly in his right hand.
They reached the heavy door of the private security room.
The door was completely open.
Leo Chang stepped inside the room first.
Leo Chang lowered his pistol and gasped in surprise.
Damien Vance and Evelyn Vance stepped into the security room right behind him.
The room was filled with the glowing light of many computer monitors.
But the main security monitors were not showing the security cameras.
The main monitors were flickering with grey digital static.
In the center of the room, Mark Davis was tied tightly to his heavy rolling chair with thick yellow ropes.
Mark Davis’s head was hanging down toward his chest.
There was a dark red line of wet blood flowing down his forehead from a deep cut.
Mark Davis was completely unconscious.
Leo Chang ran over to the chair.
Leo Chang checked the pulse on Mark Davis’s neck.
Leo Chang said to Damien Vance, “He is alive, Mr.
Vance.
He was hit on the head with a heavy metal object from behind.
The traitor was already inside our security system.”
Suddenly, the large central computer monitor stopped flickering with grey static.
The screen turned completely black for two seconds.
Then, large, bright red digital letters began to appear on the center of the screen one by one.
Evelyn Vance walked closer to the glowing screen.
Evelyn Vance read the bright red written words out loud in a shaking voice.
Evelyn Vance read, “Thanks for making her a Vance, Damien.
Now that the Ross family land belongs to both of you by law, I only have to eliminate one of you to take the property for myself.
See you both at the Vance Enterprises Corporate Gala tonight.
Sincerely, Julian Sterling.”
The red letters on the computer screen began to flash quickly.
Evelyn Vance turned her head slowly to look at Damien Vance.
Her eyes were wide with deep shock.
Damien Vance stared at the glowing red screen.
His face became an absolute mask of cold, deadly, and dangerous rage.