CHAPTER 5 — The Secret Beneath The Ocean
The ocean remembers everything.
That was something my commander once told me.
People think the sea hides the truth.
They are wrong.
The sea doesn't hide anything.
It keeps every secret.
Every ship that disappears.
Every order that was never supposed to exist.
Every person who never made it home.
Six years ago, beneath the freezing black waters of the South China Sea...
I almost became one of those secrets.
The night of the Black Tide incident replayed in my mind every time I closed my eyes.
The explosion.
The screams.
The alarms.
The smell of burning metal.
The feeling of the ship breaking apart beneath us.
But there was one thing I never forgot.
One question that haunted me.
Why?
Why was my ship carrying classified equipment?
Why were our safety systems disabled?
Why did the rescue coordinates send us directly into danger?
For years, I believed I would never know.
Until now.
I stood inside Admiral Reed's private office.
The same office where he kept decades of military records.
On the wall behind him were photographs of missions.
Commanders.
Ships.
Heroes.
But tonight...
He wasn't looking at those photographs.
He was looking at me.
"You need to see this."
He placed a small device on the table.
An old military data recorder.
Damaged.
Burned.
Almost destroyed.
"Where did you get that?"
I asked.
"From the wreck."
My heart stopped.
"The wreck was recovered?"
"No."
He shook his head.
"It was never officially recovered."
I frowned.
"Then how?"
Admiral Reed looked at me.
"Because someone else was searching for it."
The room became silent.
"Who?"
He didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he connected the device.
The screen flickered.
Static.
Broken images.
Then...
A recording appeared.
A dark ocean.
The inside of a ship.
My ship.
My breathing stopped.
I was watching the final moments before everything collapsed.
A younger version of myself appeared on the screen.
Giving orders.
Calm.
Focused.
Then the camera moved.
A crew member was running toward the command deck.
"Commander!"
My younger self turned.
"What happened?"
The sailor looked terrified.
"The cargo manifest."
"What about it?"
A pause.
"It doesn't match."
The recording glitched.
Then a new voice appeared.
A voice I recognized.
Nathan.
My blood turned cold.
His voice came through the speakers.
"Make sure she doesn't discover what's inside."
The room froze.
I stared at the screen.
Unable to move.
Admiral Reed watched me carefully.
"I know."
I looked at him.
"You knew?"
"I suspected."
The recording continued.
Nathan's voice again.
"If Celeste finds out, the entire operation collapses."
A second voice responded.
Older.
Colder.
More powerful.
My father's voice.
"Then make sure she doesn't find out."
The recording ended.
No explosion.
No fire.
No final moment.
Just silence.
But somehow...
That silence hurt more.
Because for years, I had wondered if my family abandoned me.
Now I knew.
They didn't just abandon me.
They sacrificed me.
I walked outside the office.
I didn't remember leaving.
I didn't remember opening the door.
I only remembered breathing.
Trying to understand how the people who shared my blood could do this.
Admiral Reed followed.
"Celeste."
I stopped.
"Don't."
He went quiet.
I looked at him.
"I spent years believing I wasn't enough."
My voice shook.
Not from weakness.
From anger.
"I thought my father hated me because I failed."
A pause.
"But I didn't fail."
I looked back at the building behind us.
"They failed me."
That night, I returned to the Reed mansion.
Not because I wanted to.
Because I needed answers.
The house looked exactly the same.
Beautiful.
Expensive.
Empty.
My father's empire had always been like this.
Perfect outside.
Rotten inside.
I entered the study.
Arthur was there.
Waiting.
He wasn't surprised to see me.
"I wondered when you would come."
I closed the door.
"Did you know?"
He didn't answer.
"Did you know the ship would be attacked?"
Silence.
That was enough.
I stepped closer.
"How long?"
Arthur looked away.
"How long did you know I was alive?"
His expression changed.
Interesting.
That question hurt him more than the others.
"I received reports."
I laughed quietly.
"Reports."
My eyes burned.
"I was your daughter."
His jaw tightened.
"Things were complicated."
"No."
I shook my head.
"They weren't."
"You made a choice."
The room became silent.
Arthur looked older.
For the first time, I saw the weight of what he had done.
But regret wasn't enough.
Not anymore.
"Why?"
I asked.
His eyes met mine.
"Because I had to protect the company."
There it was.
The answer.
Not because he was forced.
Not because he had no choice.
Because he chose money.
"Over me?"
He said nothing.
I nodded.
"Thank you."
He looked confused.
"For what?"
"For finally telling me who you are."
Before I could leave...
A voice came from the doorway.
Nathan.
He looked exhausted.
Different from before.
"Celeste."
I turned.
"What?"
He hesitated.
For the first time in years...
My brother looked like a human being.
Not an heir.
Not a rival.
Just a broken man.
"I didn't know they planned to kill you."
I stared at him.
"You knew enough."
His face tightened.
"I thought it would be an accident."
The words shocked me.
"You thought?"
Nathan looked down.
"I thought if you disappeared..."
He swallowed.
"...Father would finally see me."
Silence.
I wanted to hate him.
I should have.
But all I saw was someone who had spent his entire life chasing approval from a man who never knew how to give it.
Then Nathan said something that changed everything.
"There was someone else."
I looked at him.
"What?"
Nathan stepped closer.
"Someone who contacted Father before Black Tide."
"Who?"
His voice became quieter.
"The person who planned everything."
A pause.
"Victoria Hale."
My expression changed.
"I know her."
Nathan shook his head.
"No."
"You know her name."
He looked at me.
"You don't know what she really is."
Suddenly...
Every light in the mansion went out.
The security system failed.
My phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A message appeared.
"Congratulations, Celeste."
"You finally discovered the truth about Black Tide."
A second message followed.
"But you still don't know the truth about yourself."
My blood ran cold.
Then came the final message.
"Ask your father why your mother was really killed."
I stared at the screen.
My mother.
Eleanor Reed.
The one person who always protected me.
The one person who died mysteriously years ago.
Slowly...
I looked at my father.
And for the first time...
Arthur Reed looked terrified.
Because whoever sent that message...
Wasn't threatening me.
May you like
They were exposing the last secret.
The secret my family had buried deeper than the ocean.
