Chapter 4 - The Woman Damian Couldn’t Buy
Maya felt as though the floor had disappeared beneath her.
“My father was an accountant.”
“For Elias Voss,” Victor replied. “Until he discovered where the bodies and money were buried.”
Damian seized Victor by the collar. “You’re lying.”
“Ask Marcus.”
Everyone looked at the silver-haired man.
Marcus lowered his eyes.
Damian released Victor.
“What do you know?”
“Elias employed Thomas Ellison for six months,” Marcus admitted. “Thomas found evidence connecting him to judges, police officers, and several murders. He threatened to expose it.”
Maya could barely breathe. “My father was shot in our home.”
Marcus’s silence confirmed everything.
“Did Damian know?”
“No,” Marcus said. “He was seventeen.”
Maya faced Damian anyway. “Your family killed my father.”
“My father did.”
“And you inherited everything he built.”
“Yes.”
The answer sounded like a confession.
Maya left before sunrise.
Damian did not stop her. He doubled her protection without telling her and instructed every guard to remain out of sight.
Maya stayed with her mother in Queens. Ellen Ellison initially denied knowing anything, but when Maya mentioned Elias Voss, her mother began to cry.
“Your father wanted to take us away,” Ellen said. “He had documents, recordings, names. He hid everything before they came.”
“Where?”
“He never told me. He said you would know if we ever needed it.”
Maya searched the apartment where she had grown up. She opened drawers, removed floorboards, and examined every childhood possession.
Inside an old music box, she found a brass key.
The key opened a locker at Grand Central Terminal. Inside was a ledger, three cassette tapes, and a photograph of Thomas Ellison standing beside Elias Voss.
Another man appeared in the background.
Marcus.
Maya listened to the first recording.
Her father’s voice filled the motel room.
“If anything happens to me, Elias Voss ordered it. Marcus Vale witnessed the meetings. He says he wants out, but I don’t know whether I can trust him.”
Maya stopped the tape.
Someone knocked.
Damian stood outside alone.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“I know.”
“How did you find me?”
“I didn’t. Marcus did.”
She stepped back. “Of course he did.”
Damian saw the tapes.
“What did you learn?”
“That your most trusted man may have helped murder my father.”
Pain crossed Damian’s face. “Marcus raised me after my mother died.”
“That doesn’t make him innocent.”
“No.”
Maya expected denial. Instead, Damian called Marcus and ordered him to come alone.
Marcus arrived an hour later.
When he saw the photograph and tapes, he seemed to age ten years.
“I did not kill Thomas,” he said. “But I failed to save him.”
He explained that Elias had ordered Thomas’s execution after learning about the evidence. Marcus had warned Thomas to run, but one of Elias’s men followed him home. Marcus arrived moments after the shooting and called the ambulance anonymously.
“You left my father bleeding on the floor.”
“I stayed across the street until the ambulance arrived. If Elias had known I helped, he would have killed your mother and you as well.”
“You expect gratitude?”
“No. I expect nothing.”
Marcus placed his gun on the table.
“Your father’s killer is alive. Owen Cross.”
Damian’s security chief.
Owen controlled the guards, routes, cameras, and access codes. Victor had not been the true traitor. He had been gathering evidence because Owen threatened his family.
Damian called the estate.
Owen answered.
Behind him, on a live video call, Sal knelt with a gun against his head.
“Bring me the ledger,” Owen said. “And bring Maya. Otherwise the diner owner dies.”
Damian’s expression turned lethal.
Maya closed the ledger. “We’re going.”
“No.”
“That evidence is mine.”
“It’s also the foundation of Owen’s power.”
“Then we use it.”
Damian moved closer. “I will not trade your life.”
“You don’t own it.”
“I know.”
“Then stop deciding for me.”
He lowered his voice. “I watched my mother and brother die because of this world. I will not watch you become another consequence of my name.”
Maya looked into his eyes. “Then help me end it.”
They devised a plan. The real ledger would go to a federal prosecutor. Maya would carry a copy containing a concealed transmitter. Damian would meet Owen at an abandoned riverfront warehouse while Marcus’s loyal men surrounded the area.
Before they separated, Damian caught Maya’s hand.
“If anything goes wrong—”
“It won’t.”
“It always does.”
She touched the scar on his side. “Then remember the alley. Stay conscious until help arrives.”
He leaned down until his forehead touched hers.
“I offered you everything to leave.”
“And I said no.”
“You may be the only person who ever has.”
“Get used to it.”
He kissed her.
It was not gentle because neither of them felt safe enough for gentleness. It carried fear, grief, anger, and everything they had refused to admit.
When they pulled apart, Damian’s composure had fractured.
“If we survive,” he said, “I’m asking again.”
“About the check?”
“About staying.”
May you like
Maya stepped away with the false ledger beneath her coat.
“Survive first.”
