Chapter 2 - The Man in the Video
Damian moved before Margot understood what was happening.
One second he was beside her.
The next he had pulled her behind a concrete support column and switched off the overhead light.
Darkness swallowed them.
Margot heard the warehouse door groan open.
Footsteps entered.
Slow.
Measured.
Only one person.
Damian placed one finger against his lips.
Margot nodded.
Her heart hammered so loudly she was certain whoever entered could hear it.
The footsteps stopped.
A beam from a flashlight moved across the floor.
Margot could see Damian's profile in the faint spill of security lighting.
There was no panic on his face.
That almost frightened her more.
She had seen executives frightened of Damian.
She had never seen Damian frightened of anything.
But she understood now why.
Fear made him quieter.
The flashlight moved closer.
Damian reached beneath his jacket.
Margot knew what he kept there even though she had never seen it.
She grabbed his wrist.
His eyes shifted to her.
She shook her head.
Whoever was walking through the warehouse might be a security employee.
Or a cleaner.
Or—
"Ms. Ellery?"
The voice echoed through the darkness.
Margot froze.
She knew that voice.
"Mr. Voss?"
Damian's expression sharpened.
The man stepped into the dim emergency light.
Caleb Rourke.
Head of corporate security.
Forty-six.
Former federal investigator.
One of the seven people with access to restricted shipping manifests.
Caleb lowered his flashlight.
"Jesus. What are you doing here?"
Damian stepped out first.
"I was about to ask you the same."
Caleb stared.
Then looked toward Margot.
"I got an alarm notification."
"Which alarm?"
"Warehouse Three. Manual light activation after hours."
Damian glanced at the ceiling.
That was plausible.
Too plausible.
"You respond personally to every warehouse light?"
"At two in the morning, when the building is supposed to be empty? Yes."
Margot watched him.
Caleb's hair was slightly disordered.
He wore dark jeans beneath a company security jacket.
If he had been awakened at home, he had arrived remarkably fast.
Damian noticed too.
"Where were you?"
"Security office."
"At two?"
"We've had theft problems."
"We?"
Caleb looked at him.
"Your company."
Damian's eyes remained cold.
"Interesting."
Caleb's attention went to Margot's coat.
Then her bag.
Then the flattened cardboard.
Realization appeared.
"You were sleeping here?"
Margot said nothing.
Caleb frowned.
"Margot, what happened?"
"Nothing."
"That doesn't look like nothing."
Damian stepped slightly between them.
Caleb noticed.
Something passed across his face and vanished.
"I can take her somewhere safe," Caleb offered.
"No."
Damian's answer came instantly.
Caleb looked at him.
"Damian."
"No."
"I'm security."
"Exactly."
The air changed.
Caleb's eyes narrowed.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
Damian handed him the badge.
"B-417."
For the first time, Caleb lost control of his expression.
Tiny.
Barely there.
But Margot saw it.
His pupils shifted.
His thumb stopped halfway toward the badge.
Damian saw that too.
"You know the number."
"No."
"You reacted."
"I reacted because you shoved an employee badge at me in the middle of the night."
"Try again."
Caleb exhaled.
"South Harbor has hundreds of storage units."
"I didn't tell you it was South Harbor."
Silence.
Margot's stomach dropped.
Caleb looked at her.
That was his mistake.
He should have looked at Damian.
Instead, he looked at Margot.
As though trying to determine how much she had told him.
Damian's voice became almost gentle.
"Caleb."
The security chief returned his attention to him.
"Give me your phone."
Caleb laughed once.
"No."
"Then leave."
"This is my security perimeter."
"It's my building."
"I have a job to do."
"You just lost access to it."
Caleb stared at Damian for a long second.
Then something changed.
Not guilt.
Anger.
"You don't know what you're walking into."
Margot stepped closer to Damian.
Caleb saw.
His expression hardened.
"Margot, listen to me. You need to leave him out of this."
She stopped.
Damian didn't.
"Out of what?"
Caleb looked genuinely frustrated now.
"You think every secret inside your company is an attack against you."
"Most of them are."
"This one isn't."
"Then explain."
Caleb glanced toward the warehouse cameras.
One in each corner.
He lowered his voice.
"Not here."
Damian followed his gaze.
"Are the cameras compromised?"
Caleb didn't answer.
That was enough.
Damian took Margot's arm—not gripping, simply guiding—and moved toward a service corridor.
Caleb followed.
"Where are you going?"
"Somewhere without cameras."
"There is nowhere without cameras."
Damian looked over his shoulder.
"Then tonight seems like an excellent time to create one."
They entered a narrow equipment room used for forklift maintenance.
Damian unplugged the camera mounted above the door.
Caleb stared.
"You understand that's automatically logged."
"I hope it is."
Margot closed the door.
Damian faced Caleb.
"The man in the video."
Caleb's face changed immediately.
"What video?"
Damian held up Margot's phone.
He played it.
The tied man appeared.
Caleb went pale.
Margot had known Caleb Rourke for almost a year.
She had never seen him pale.
"Who is he?" she asked.
Caleb didn't answer.
Damian did.
"Gabriel Voss."
Margot stared at him.
The surname hit first.
"Your family?"
"My uncle."
Caleb turned sharply.
"You shouldn't have told her."
Damian looked at him.
"Interesting choice of concern."
Margot's thoughts raced.
Damian rarely spoke about family.
She knew his father had died when Damian was twenty-four.
His mother lived overseas.
No siblings.
No wife.
No children.
She had never heard the name Gabriel.
"Your uncle was kidnapped?"
Damian's eyes remained on Caleb.
"No."
"Then why is he tied to a chair?"
"Because Gabriel Voss died eight years ago."
The room became silent.
Margot's throat went dry.
Caleb leaned against a workbench.
"This is exactly why I told you not to go digging."
Damian stepped toward him.
"You knew."
"I suspected."
"For how long?"
"Three weeks."
Margot looked between them.
"Three weeks?"
Caleb rubbed a hand across his face.
"Someone began accessing archived shipment files under dead credentials. Gabriel's credentials."
Damian's jaw tightened.
"And you didn't tell me."
"I was trying to verify it."
"You verified enough to recognize B-417."
Caleb said nothing.
Damian moved closer.
"What's inside that unit?"
"I don't know."
"Another lie."
"I swear."
"Wrong answer."
Caleb suddenly slammed his fist against the workbench.
Margot jumped.
"I was trying to protect you!"
Damian didn't react.
"From my dead uncle?"
"From what he left behind."
Caleb looked at Margot.
"She's already involved because somebody thought she'd be easier to scare than you."
Margot's face hardened.
"They threatened my brother."
Caleb went still.
Damian turned to her.
"You didn't tell me that."
"I was going to."
"When?"
"When you stopped interrogating everyone long enough to breathe."
Under different circumstances, Damian might have appreciated the response.
Instead his expression became dangerous.
"Where is Noah?"
"At his apartment."
"Not anymore."
Margot stared.
"What?"
"If they know where he lives, he isn't staying there."
She pulled out her phone.
Called Noah.
Ring.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
Margot felt the room tilt.
"Margot."
Damian's voice steadied her.
"Look at me."
She did.
"I'll find him."
"You don't know where he is."
"No."
His voice remained calm.
"But the people threatening you believe I can get them something they want. That means Noah is leverage, not the objective."
"That's supposed to make me feel better?"
"No."
He took her phone.
"It means they need him alive."
Caleb stepped closer.
"We need to move before three."
Damian looked at him.
"You're coming."
Caleb's eyebrows rose.
"You fired me."
"I changed my mind."
"That fast?"
"You're either involved or useful."
"Comforting."
"If you're involved, I'll find out."
Caleb nodded once.
"And then?"
Damian's eyes were cold.
"You know me well enough not to ask."
They left Warehouse Three through a side exit.
A black sedan waited in the private garage.
Damian drove.
Margot sat beside him.
Caleb sat in the rear.
No bodyguards.
No security convoy.
Margot noticed.
"You really don't trust your own team."
Damian's hands tightened on the steering wheel.
"I trust individuals. Never systems."
"That sounds exhausting."
"It keeps me alive."
"Is that how Gabriel died?"
Caleb spoke from behind them.
"Not now."
Damian looked at him through the mirror.
Margot turned.
"Why does everybody keep deciding what I shouldn't know? I'm the one whose brother is missing."
Caleb looked ashamed.
Damian said, "Gabriel didn't die the way the family was told."
"How were you told?"
"Car accident."
"And?"
Damian's eyes stayed on the road.
"There was no body."
Margot stared.
"You believed he was dead anyway?"
"My father identified personal effects recovered from the car."
Caleb leaned forward.
"Gabriel was accused of stealing money from the family."
"Was he?"
Damian didn't answer.
Caleb did.
"No."
Damian's eyes flashed toward the mirror.
Caleb continued.
"He found something."
"What?"
"A network operating inside Voss businesses."
Margot felt cold.
"What kind of network?"
Caleb shook his head.
"I never learned everything. Gabriel was gathering evidence when he disappeared."
Damian's voice was quiet.
"You knew him."
"Yes."
"How well?"
Caleb hesitated.
"Well enough to owe him my life."
They reached South Harbor at 2:26 a.m.
Rows of storage buildings stretched along the waterfront.
Unit B-417 stood near the end.
Its door was already open.
Damian parked fifty yards away.
No lights.
No movement.
Margot checked her phone.
2:27.
Thirty-three minutes before the deadline.
Damian looked at her.
"You stay in the car."
"No."
"Margot."
"My brother is involved."
"And that is exactly why you're staying here."
She met his eyes.
"If you walk inside and don't come back, I'm not sitting in a car waiting politely."
Caleb almost smiled.
Damian did not.
"You've been working for me too long."
"Unfortunately."
Damian looked toward the unit.
Then back at her.
"Stay behind me."
They approached together.
The storage door stood six inches open.
Damian pushed it higher.
Inside was darkness.
Caleb turned on his flashlight.
Empty shelves.
One steel table.
One laptop.
And a wooden chair.
No Gabriel.
Margot stepped inside.
A folder lay on the table.
Her name was written across it.
MARGOT ELLERY.
She stopped.
Damian saw it.
"Don't touch anything."
The laptop screen suddenly turned on.
A video began playing automatically.
No face.
Only a distorted voice.
"Damian."
He went still.
"You finally brought her."
Margot looked at him.
The recording continued.
"If you're wondering why your secretary was chosen, ask yourself who controls your calendar, your private correspondence, your visitors, your travel, and every door between strangers and your office."
Damian looked at Margot.
Her face drained.
The voice continued.
"She wasn't targeted because she's weak."
A pause.
"She was targeted because she's the only person close enough to destroy you."
The screen changed.
A photograph appeared.
Margot standing outside Voss Meridian.
Beside her was a man.
Noah.
But another figure stood behind them.
Margot leaned closer.
"No."
Damian recognized the man immediately.
Caleb whispered, "That's impossible."
The photograph had been taken eleven years earlier.
May you like
Long before Margot had ever met Damian.
And standing behind twenty-year-old Margot Ellery was Gabriel Voss.
