Chapter 10 - Damian’s Last Secret
Emma woke in a moving vehicle.
Her wrists were tied.
A man sat opposite her.
He was perhaps forty.
Dark hair.
Dark eyes.
Moretti eyes.
“Who are you?”
He smiled.
“Adrian.”
Victor’s son.
Emma remembered Rose.
“You kidnapped me to get Damian.”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“To get the one thing Damian has spent his entire life hiding.”
“What?”
Adrian leaned closer.
“His real name.”
Emma stared.
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it?”
The vehicle stopped.
They brought her into an abandoned warehouse.
Adrian placed a file before her.
Birth certificate.
Damian Anthony Moretti.
Then another.
Dominic Anthony Sterling.
Same birth date.
Same fingerprints.
Emma looked up.
“What is this?”
“Damian was born a Sterling.”
“No.”
“Evelyn Sterling had two children.”
Emma’s pulse jumped.
“You’re lying.”
“Ask him.”
Adrian smiled.
“You and Damian aren’t related, if that’s what worries you.”
“It wasn’t.”
“Good.”
Emma hated the heat in her face.
Adrian continued.
“Damian’s biological mother was Evelyn’s sister, Catherine. Anthony adopted him after Catherine was killed.”
“Why hide it?”
“Because the Sterling trust belongs to the oldest surviving heir.”
Emma understood.
“Damian.”
“Exactly.”
Eighty-two million dollars was only part of it.
The Sterling family controlled property worth hundreds of millions.
Victor wanted Damian to surrender his claim.
“Why would he?”
“For you.”
Adrian showed a live camera feed.
Damian stood outside.
Alone.
Emma’s heart sank.
“Idiot.”
Adrian laughed.
“He came quickly.”
Damian entered.
Adrian’s men searched him.
No weapon.
Adrian placed documents on the table.
“Sign away the Sterling inheritance.”
Damian looked at Emma.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“Don’t sign.”
He ignored her.
Adrian handed him a pen.
Emma shouted, “Damian.”
Damian signed.
She stared.
Adrian smiled.
“That easy?”
“No,” Damian said.
Federal agents crashed through the doors.
Adrian turned.
Damian struck him.
The warehouse erupted.
Minutes later, Adrian was arrested.
Emma ran to Damian.
“You signed.”
“It was paper.”
“You surrendered hundreds of millions.”
“It was paper.”
“For me.”
He looked at her.
“Yes.”
Emma forgot how to speak.
Later, Ward examined the document.
“It isn’t valid.”
Emma blinked.
“Why?”
“Damian used the wrong legal name.”
Damian almost smiled.
Emma stared at him.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“You let me think—”
“I needed Adrian focused.”
She hit his chest.
Not hard.
“You are infuriating.”
“I’ve heard that.”
Then Emma kissed him.
Neither planned it.
Neither stopped it.
For one brief moment, there were no ledgers, dead fathers, hidden mothers, or criminal empires.
Only Damian’s hand against her cheek.
Emma pulled back first.
“This is a terrible idea.”
“Almost certainly.”
“We’re not doing it again.”
“No.”
They stared at each other.
Then kissed again.
Mateo entered.
He stopped.
“I can come back.”
Emma stepped away.
Damian looked annoyed.
“What?”
Mateo held up a folder.
“Ward found something.”
Inside were DNA records.
Daniel Hayes was Emma’s father.
That question was settled.
But another record existed.
Evelyn Sterling.
Alive.
A recent medical test had been submitted under Eleanor Hart.
Address matched Rose’s note.
Emma felt tears fill her eyes.
“My mother.”
Damian took her hand.
They drove to Wisconsin that evening.
The address belonged to a small farmhouse.
Emma approached alone.
She knocked.
Footsteps.
The door opened.
A woman stood there.
Older.
Silver-blonde hair.
Emma’s eyes.
The woman looked at her and began trembling.
“Emma?”
Emma could not breathe.
“Mom?”
Evelyn reached toward her.
Then stopped.
A red laser dot appeared on Evelyn’s chest.
Damian shouted from behind Emma.
“DOWN!”
A rifle cracked.
May you like
The window shattered.
And Evelyn disappeared backward into the dark house.
