Chapter 2 - The Secret Damian Never Knew
Claire didn't move.
The knock came again.
Three measured taps.
"Claire."
Not Damian.
She knew Damian's voice too well.
She quietly reached for the heavy flashlight beside the refrigerator.
"Lily?" she called.
No answer.
Good.
Her daughter was asleep upstairs.
Claire approached the door.
"Who is it?"
"Matthew."
Her hand froze.
Matthew Hale.
The cousin she hadn't seen in four years.
The man whose photograph had helped destroy her marriage.
Claire unlocked the door but kept the chain attached.
Matthew stood on the porch.
He looked older.
Thinner.
A scar crossed his left eyebrow.
"How did you find me?"
"We don't have time."
"That's not an answer."
"Damian found you."
Claire stared.
"You know?"
"Everyone knows."
He held up his phone.
The same photograph.
Claire and Lily outside the café.
The red circle.
"Who sent this?"
"I don't know yet."
"Then why are you here?"
"Because four years ago I failed to get you out before they turned Damian against you."
Claire's fingers tightened around the door.
"Who?"
Matthew looked past her.
"Can I come in?"
"No."
"Claire—"
"Answer me."
He exhaled.
"Victor Sloane."
The name pulled something old and ugly from her memory.
Victor had been Damian's adviser.
Not his closest friend.
That had been Adrian Cole.
Victor had been different.
Polished.
Quiet.
Always watching.
"Victor is dead."
"No."
"Damian told me—"
"Damian was told Victor died."
Claire stared at him.
Matthew continued.
"Victor disappeared the same week you did."
"Why?"
"Because he was the leak."
The world tilted.
Four years earlier, Damian's organization had been hit from every direction.
Police.
Federal investigators.
Rival crews.
Every disaster had seemed to happen minutes after Damian made a decision.
Someone inside his circle was talking.
Then photographs appeared showing Claire with Matthew.
Damian concluded Matthew was the source.
And Claire was helping him.
"What does Victor want with Lily?"
"Leverage."
"Against Damian?"
"Against both of you."
Claire unhooked the chain.
"Come in."
Matthew entered.
She locked the door.
They sat at the kitchen table beneath a small yellow light.
Matthew placed a flash drive between them.
"Everything is here."
"What is everything?"
"Records. Transfers. Names. Payments. Enough to prove Victor arranged the leaks."
"Why didn't you show Damian four years ago?"
"I tried."
Claire gave him a cold look.
"Not very hard."
"I was shot two days after you left."
She stopped.
Matthew lifted his shirt slightly.
A pale scar crossed his side.
"I spent three months recovering under another name."
"Why didn't you contact me?"
"Because anyone who contacted you could lead Victor to you."
"You knew I was pregnant."
"Yes."
Claire's eyes filled with anger.
"So everyone made decisions for me."
"Claire—"
"You. Damian. Victor. All of you."
"I was trying to keep you alive."
"And Damian thought he was protecting his empire."
Matthew said nothing.
Claire leaned back.
"Four years."
"I know."
"No. You don't."
She pointed upstairs.
"She had pneumonia when she was eighteen months old. I sat beside her hospital bed for two nights alone."
Matthew lowered his eyes.
"She learned to ride a bicycle last summer. I ran behind her until I fell in the grass because there wasn't anyone else to catch her."
Her voice cracked.
"I had to explain why other children had fathers and she didn't."
"I'm sorry."
"Sorry doesn't give her those years back."
"No."
"Nothing does."
A floorboard creaked upstairs.
Claire immediately stopped.
Lily appeared at the staircase.
"Mommy?"
Claire stood.
"Sweetheart, why are you awake?"
"I heard talking."
Lily noticed Matthew.
"Who's that?"
"My cousin."
Matthew smiled gently.
"Hi, Lily."
She studied him.
"Do you know Damian too?"
Matthew and Claire exchanged a look.
"Yes," Matthew said.
Lily came downstairs.
"Is Damian my daddy?"
Claire closed her eyes briefly.
Children never waited until adults were ready.
She knelt.
"Lily, remember when we talked about families being different?"
"Yes."
"And how sometimes grown-ups make mistakes?"
"Yes."
"Damian might be your father."
"Might?"
Claire nodded.
Lily thought.
"Does he know?"
"He found out today."
"Was he happy?"
Claire couldn't answer immediately.
"I think he was surprised."
"Can someone be surprised and happy?"
Matthew looked away.
Claire touched Lily's cheek.
"Yes."
"Was he?"
"I don't know yet."
Lily considered this.
Then she yawned.
Claire carried her upstairs.
When she returned, Matthew was standing by the window.
A black SUV had stopped across the street.
Claire's pulse jumped.
"Is that yours?"
"No."
The driver's door opened.
Damian stepped out.
Claire almost laughed from sheer exhaustion.
"Of course."
Matthew stiffened.
"He can't see me."
"Why?"
"Because he still thinks I betrayed him."
"Then maybe tonight is when everyone stops hiding."
Before Matthew could object, Claire opened the door.
Damian was halfway up the path.
He stopped when he saw her.
"I told you not to follow me."
"I didn't."
"Then how did you find my house?"
"Claire, someone photographed you."
She stared at him.
"You got it too?"
He held up his phone.
The same image.
"Who sent yours?"
"Unknown number."
"Mine too."
Damian looked toward the upstairs window.
"Is Lily safe?"
"She's asleep."
"I'm putting people outside."
"No."
"This isn't negotiable."
"Everything involving my daughter is negotiable."
"Someone threatened her."
"And you brought danger into my café simply by appearing."
His jaw tightened.
"Maybe."
The admission surprised her.
Damian stepped closer.
"But whoever sent that photograph already knew who she was."
Claire hesitated.
He noticed.
"What aren't you telling me?"
"Come inside."
Damian entered.
He saw Matthew.
Everything changed.
His body went still.
Matthew turned.
"Hello, Damian."
Damian crossed the room before Claire could react.
He grabbed Matthew by the jacket and shoved him against the wall.
"Where have you been?"
"Damian!"
Matthew didn't fight back.
"Four years," Damian said. "Four years I thought you sold me out."
"I didn't."
"You disappeared."
"Because Victor Sloane tried to kill me."
Damian froze.
Matthew slowly removed Damian's hand.
"Victor is alive."
Silence.
"That's impossible."
Matthew put the flash drive on the table.
"Then look."
Damian didn't touch it.
"What is it?"
"The truth."
Damian looked at Claire.
"You knew?"
"For approximately ten minutes."
Matthew opened Claire's laptop.
Files appeared.
Bank transfers.
Dates.
Messages.
Names.
Damian read without speaking.
Claire watched his face change.
She knew that face.
It was the expression he wore when he realized an enemy had already entered the room.
"This transfer," Damian said.
Matthew nodded.
"Three days before your warehouse was raided."
Damian scrolled.
Another.
"And this?"
"The payment to the photographer who followed Claire."
Damian stopped.
The photograph showed Claire entering the hotel four years ago.
Matthew beside her.
The image that had ended everything.
Damian stared at it.
Matthew opened another file.
A wider photograph.
The original.
Claire wasn't secretly entering Matthew's room.
She was meeting him in a crowded hotel restaurant.
Two uniformed police officers were visible through the lobby.
The photograph Damian received had been cropped.
Damian sat down.
Claire had never seen him look physically ill.
"You told me," he said quietly.
"Yes."
"You told me it wasn't what it looked like."
"Yes."
"I didn't listen."
"No."
His eyes closed.
"I destroyed our marriage over a cropped photograph."
Claire didn't comfort him.
Some truths needed to hurt.
Matthew clicked another folder.
"There is more."
A medical document appeared.
Claire recognized it instantly.
Her prenatal appointment.
Damian stared.
"How does Victor have this?"
Matthew looked grim.
"Someone accessed Claire's medical file four years ago."
Damian's eyes lifted.
"He knew."
"Yes."
"Victor knew she was pregnant."
"Before you did."
Claire's skin went cold.
Damian stood.
"Then he knew about Lily before today."
Matthew nodded.
"Probably."
A sound came from upstairs.
All three adults turned.
Lily screamed.
Claire ran.
Damian reached the stairs first.
They rushed into Lily's bedroom.
The window was open.
Curtains moved in the night air.
Lily stood beside her bed, trembling.
Claire grabbed her.
"What happened?"
"There was a man."
Damian crossed to the window.
"Where?"
"Outside."
"What did he look like?"
Lily pointed at the glass.
Something had been taped to it.
A white envelope.
Damian removed it carefully.
His name was written across the front.
DAMIAN BLACKWOOD.
He opened it.
Inside was a photograph of newborn Lily sleeping in Claire's arms.
On the back were six words.
I MET YOUR DAUGHTER BEFORE YOU DID.
Damian looked up.
Then headlights suddenly swept across the bedroom wall.
May you like
A car stopped outside.
And someone began walking toward Claire's front door.
