Chapter 6 - The Man Damian Couldn't Forgive
“No.”
Harper stood in the center of the flower shop with her arms folded.
Damian looked at her.
“No what?”
“You're not going alone.”
“Yes, I am.”
“Wonderful discussion.”
“Harper—”
“Someone manipulated us into finding these documents. Someone killed my mother. Someone kidnapped your brother. You don't get to decide I'm suddenly uninvolved.”
“This is exactly why you shouldn't come.”
“Because I'm involved?”
“Because I care whether you survive it.”
Silence.
Damian seemed to realize what he'd said.
Harper's anger softened.
“Then don't go alone.”
Catherine agreed.
Elias arranged discreet backup outside the warehouse.
No dramatic assault.
No weapons drawn.
Damian insisted on keeping everything controlled.
At midnight, Damian and Harper entered through the main entrance carrying a folder.
The warehouse was mostly empty.
Gabriel sat beneath a hanging work light.
His hands were bound.
A bruise marked his cheek.
“Damian.”
Damian stopped.
“Are you hurt?”
“My pride.”
Harper almost smiled.
Then another man emerged.
The older bald man from the alley.
Adrian's employee.
His name, they had learned, was Cole Mercer.
Damian's eyes narrowed.
“You work for Adrian.”
“Worked.”
“Where is he?”
“Probably wondering why I stopped answering.”
Cole looked at Harper.
“You should've kept walking that night.”
Harper recognized the voice.
The caller.
“You threatened me.”
“I warned you.”
“You pointed at my shop.”
“I needed the key.”
Damian's voice was cold.
“You stole it from Elias.”
“Yes.”
“Why leave it beside me?”
“Because Evelyn built a maze only you and Harper could solve together.”
Harper frowned.
“You knew my mother?”
Cole laughed.
“She ruined my life.”
“How?”
“She kept records.”
He gestured toward the folder.
“Give me everything.”
Damian didn't move.
“Release Gabriel.”
Cole looked at Gabriel.
“He isn't innocent.”
Harper's attention sharpened.
“What does that mean?”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
“Don't.”
Cole smiled.
“Tell them.”
Damian stared at his brother.
“Tell me what?”
Gabriel swallowed.
“I was at Evelyn's shop the day she died.”
Harper felt the room tilt.
“Why?”
“I was looking for Father's documents.”
Damian stepped toward him.
“You told me you didn't know where they were.”
“I lied.”
“Did you damage her car?”
“No!”
“Then who did?”
“I don't know.”
Cole laughed.
Gabriel shouted, “I DON'T!”
The warehouse echoed.
Gabriel looked at Harper.
“I argued with your mother. She refused to give me the documents. I left.”
“What time?”
“Four.”
“My mother's crash happened at six fifteen.”
“I know.”
“You never came forward.”
“I was terrified.”
Harper stared at him.
“You let me spend nine years thinking it was an accident.”
“I didn't know someone sabotaged her car until later.”
“When?”
Gabriel looked at Damian.
“Three years ago.”
Damian's voice became dangerously quiet.
“How?”
“I found one of Father's ledgers.”
“Where is it?”
“Hidden.”
“Where?”
Gabriel hesitated.
Cole became impatient.
“Enough family therapy.”
He stepped forward.
Damian did not flinch.
“You're making a mistake.”
“No. Your father made the mistake. He promised my family security. Then he died and you dismantled everything.”
“You're angry because I made the company legitimate.”
“You destroyed what belonged to us.”
Damian finally understood.
“You've been moving Victor's money.”
Cole smiled.
Not Gabriel.
Not Elias.
Cole.
“Through shell companies,” Damian said.
“For seventeen years.”
“And Evelyn discovered it.”
“She discovered everything.”
Harper's hands went cold.
“You killed her.”
Cole's expression hardened.
“She wouldn't stop.”
The words hit Harper like physical force.
Damian moved.
Harper caught his arm.
“No.”
He looked at her.
Her eyes were wet.
“Don't become what he expects you to become.”
Cole smiled.
“Listen to your florist.”
Damian's jaw clenched.
But he stopped.
That decision changed everything.
Because Cole wanted violence.
He wanted Damian furious.
He wanted a reason to make the confrontation chaotic.
Instead Damian took out his phone.
“You confessed.”
Cole's smile vanished.
“Everything you said was transmitted.”
Outside, lights appeared.
Authorities moved toward the warehouse.
Cole turned toward a side exit.
Elias stepped through it.
“No.”
Cole froze.
Within minutes, it was over.
No gunfight.
No bloodbath.
Just handcuffs.
Evidence.
And one furious man realizing Damian had beaten him by refusing to become his father.
Harper watched Cole being led away.
She expected relief.
Instead she felt hollow.
“Mom.”
Damian stood beside her.
“We'll prove everything.”
“You can't give me nine years back.”
“No.”
He didn't offer false comfort.
Harper appreciated that.
Gabriel was released.
He approached her carefully.
“I am sorry.”
Harper looked at him.
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“You spent nine years protecting yourself.”
“Yes.”
His honesty hurt.
“I don't know if I can forgive you.”
“I wouldn't ask you to.”
Damian looked at his brother.
There was grief between them.
But something else too.
Possibility.
Catherine arrived with investigators.
Adrian came later voluntarily and handed over records tying Cole to Victor's old accounts.
By sunrise, the warehouse was quiet.
Harper sat on the loading dock.
Damian joined her.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“Me neither.”
She leaned against him.
For several minutes, neither spoke.
Then Harper said, “You know our first kiss was terrible.”
Damian turned.
“You seemed committed.”
“I was terrified.”
“So was I.”
She laughed.
“You? Terrified?”
“A strange woman attacked my face.”
“Attacked?”
“You were aggressive.”
Harper shoved his shoulder.
Damian smiled.
Then the humor faded.
“Harper.”
“Yes?”
“I need to tell you something.”
“That's never gone well for us.”
“Probably not.”
He took something from his pocket.
A folded document.
“What is that?”
“Something Gabriel gave me before we left.”
Harper opened it.
It was a copy of a property transfer.
Ellison Flowers.
Her building.
The owner listed wasn't Harper.
It wasn't her mother.
It was a holding company.
Vale Heritage Properties.
Harper stared at Damian.
“You own my flower shop?”
“No.”
“This says your company does.”
“Not my company.”
He pointed to the signature.
Harper read the name.
VICTOR VALE.
The transfer had occurred seventeen years earlier.
Two days after Evelyn helped Damian escape.
Harper's heart began pounding again.
“Why would your father buy my mother's building?”
Damian turned the page.
There was a handwritten clause.
PROPERTY TO BE HELD UNTIL THE BENEFICIARY'S THIRTY-SECOND BIRTHDAY.
Beneficiary:
HARPER ELLISON.
Her thirty-second birthday was tomorrow.
And beneath the clause was one final instruction.
ON THAT DATE, OPEN THE ROOM BENEATH THE EAST FOUNDATION.
Harper stared at Damian.
“We already searched the basement.”
May you like
Damian looked toward her.
“Apparently we didn't find the real basement.”
