Chapter 5 - The Woman Who Lied
Damian climbed into the open crypt.
Mara’s phone lay on the stone floor.
No Mara.
No Sophie.
A text glowed across the screen.
YOU KEEP SAVING THE WRONG CHILD.
Isabella read it over his shoulder.
“He wants Sophie.”
“Why?”
“Because of Rachel.”
Damian turned.
“You knew her mother.”
Isabella closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“How well?”
“She helped me escape.”
Damian stared.
There it was.
Another piece Isabella had kept from him.
“Start from the beginning.”
“Not here.”
“Now.”
Isabella looked toward Cole.
He appeared equally shocked.
“Rachel told me Dominic had ordered Voss to sedate me permanently if I refused to reveal Rafael’s archive,” Isabella said. “She switched the medication.”
Cole whispered, “She never told me.”
“She was protecting you.”
Damian laughed once without humor.
“Everyone keeps using that sentence.”
Isabella ignored him.
“Rachel helped move me to an unused hospital wing. Dominic’s people believed I had been transferred. Voss signed the death certificate before he knew I was still inside the building.”
“Then who moved you later?”
Isabella looked directly at Damian.
“Mara.”
Silence.
Damian’s mind rejected it.
“Mara Bennett?”
“Yes.”
“The woman who was sitting beside me when Sophie appeared?”
“Yes.”
“She was part of this?”
“Not Dominic’s side.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Mara is my sister.”
Damian stared.
“You don’t have a sister.”
“I do.”
The revelation hit differently from the others.
Not because it was impossible.
Because he remembered Isabella’s childhood stories.
Foster homes.
Her mother dying young.
A father who vanished.
Years Isabella refused to discuss.
“Mara is younger?”
“Six years.”
“You hired your own sister into my house without telling me.”
“I asked her to take the job before we married.”
“Why?”
“To watch you.”
Cole looked away.
Even he seemed uncomfortable.
Damian said quietly, “That may be the worst answer you could’ve given.”
Isabella stepped closer.
“I didn’t know what kind of man you were.”
“So you planted someone in my house.”
“Yes.”
“And after you decided I wasn’t a monster?”
“Mara stayed because she cared about us.”
“You lied every day.”
“I know.”
Damian wanted to rage.
But Sophie was missing.
Mara was bleeding somewhere.
There would be time for betrayal later.
“Where would Dominic take them?”
Isabella looked toward the empty compartment.
“If he already has the archive, he only needs one thing.”
“What?”
“The encryption key.”
“Sophie has it?”
“Rachel did.”
Damian understood.
Rachel had transferred something to her daughter before she died.
“The bracelet?”
“Not the card.”
“What, then?”
Isabella touched the oval initials.
“The scratches.”
I.C.
“Those are your initials.”
“They’re not letters.”
Damian looked closer.
Isabella rotated the plate.
The marks formed part of a numeric pattern.
Coordinates.
Cole cursed.
“Where?”
Isabella entered them into a phone.
A location appeared.
Montauk.
An abandoned Coast Guard communications station.
Damian gathered twelve trusted men.
Then dismissed eight.
Trust had become expensive.
Only four went with him.
Cole.
Isabella.
Two guards Damian had personally known since adolescence.
The drive took less than an hour because Damian ignored every speed limit between Oyster Bay and Montauk.
The station sat near the cliffs.
No lights.
No vehicles.
They entered through a side door.
Empty offices.
Old radio equipment.
Then a scream.
Mara.
Damian ran.
He found her tied to a chair.
Blood covered one side of her head.
Alive.
“Sophie?”
Mara gasped.
“He took her downstairs.”
Damian cut her loose.
“Who?”
“Dominic.”
“Anyone else?”
Mara looked terrified.
“He has someone with him.”
“Who?”
She shook her head.
“You need to see.”
The basement contained old communications equipment.
Dominic stood beside a metal desk.
Gray hair.
Tailored coat.
Calm smile.
Sophie sat nearby holding a stuffed rabbit.
Unharmed.
“Damian.”
“Let her go.”
Dominic glanced at Sophie.
“She’s safer with me than most children ever were around your father.”
“My father’s dead.”
“His habits aren’t.”
Isabella entered.
Dominic smiled.
“There she is.”
“Hello, Dominic.”
“You were always difficult.”
“You tried to murder me.”
“No. If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead.”
Damian raised his weapon.
“Enough.”
Dominic lifted a flash drive.
“Rafael’s archive.”
“Give me Sophie.”
“Trade.”
“You have nothing I want.”
Dominic laughed.
“I have your entire future.”
He pointed to a computer screen.
Names filled it.
Judges.
Police officials.
Government contractors.
Organized crime families.
“If this goes public without context, your businesses collapse. Hundreds of your employees are investigated. Your son inherits nothing but your enemies.”
“I don’t care.”
“You should.”
“I care about Sophie.”
The little girl looked at Damian.
“Can I go home?”
The simplicity of it tightened his chest.
“Yes, sweetheart.”
Dominic’s smile faded.
“You’ve become sentimental.”
“No. Just selective.”
Damian fired.
The bullet struck the computer.
Dominic flinched.
Cole moved.
Isabella grabbed Sophie.
The two guards advanced.
Then one of them turned his gun on Cole.
Damian froze.
The traitor was Peter Sloan.
A man who had worked for Damian’s father.
“Drop it,” Peter said.
Damian looked at him.
“You.”
Peter smiled.
“Your uncle pays better.”
Cole laughed bitterly.
“After twenty years?”
“Especially after twenty years.”
Dominic stepped toward Isabella.
“Give me the bracelet.”
“No.”
Peter pressed the gun harder against Cole’s head.
Dominic said, “Last chance.”
Sophie began crying.
Isabella removed the bracelet.
She tossed it.
Dominic caught it.
His smile returned.
“Smart.”
Then Mara spoke from the doorway.
“Not really.”
Everyone turned.
She held Rachel’s old hospital badge.
Dominic’s expression changed.
Mara snapped it in half.
A tiny electronic chip fell into her hand.
“The real key,” she said.
Dominic’s smile vanished.
Peter fired.
Cole ducked.
Gunshots exploded.
Damian pulled Isabella and Sophie behind the console.
Cole tackled Peter.
Mara ran.
Dominic chased her.
Damian followed.
The corridor ended near the cliffside exit.
Mara stood at the edge above the ocean.
Dominic approached with a gun.
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
“You don’t understand what you’re holding.”
“I understand enough.”
Damian emerged behind him.
Dominic turned.
“Drop the gun.”
Dominic smiled.
“You won’t shoot me.”
Damian aimed.
“I’ve shot people I liked more.”
Dominic looked toward Mara.
Then he laughed.
“You still don’t know.”
Damian’s finger tightened.
“Know what?”
Dominic lowered the weapon slightly.
“Ask Mara why Isabella really hired her.”
Damian said nothing.
Dominic continued.
“It wasn’t to watch you.”
Mara’s face went white.
“It was to watch Noah.”
Isabella whispered, “Stop.”
Dominic looked delighted.
“Tell him.”
“Don’t.”
Damian turned toward his wife.
“Tell me what?”
Isabella’s eyes filled with tears.
Behind them, Sophie began screaming.
Everyone turned.
Peter Sloan had escaped Cole.
May you like
He held Noah in his arms.
And his gun was pressed against the baby’s head.
