Chapter 6 - The Truth Behind Those Seven Words
“Where is Emma?”
Damian’s voice contained nothing.
No anger.
No panic.
That frightened Claire more.
Adrian laughed softly.
“She’s safe.”
“Prove it.”
“You’ve seen the photograph.”
“That proves someone saw her.”
“Always careful.”
Claire stepped closer.
“Put him on speaker.”
Damian did.
Adrian heard.
“Claire.”
She hated the familiarity.
“We’ve never met.”
“No. But I’ve known about you for years.”
Damian closed his eyes briefly.
“How?”
“Uncle Sebastian talked.”
“No, he didn’t.”
“To you? Rarely.”
Adrian sounded amused.
“To me? More often than you think.”
Victor checked windows while Damian kept him talking.
Claire understood.
Time.
They needed location.
Adrian continued.
“Sebastian knew you would eventually disappoint him.”
“By having a family?”
“By wanting one.”
Claire looked at Damian.
There.
The center of everything.
Not crime.
Not money.
Control.
Sebastian had believed Damian loving anyone was rebellion.
Adrian had inherited that belief.
“What do you want?” Damian asked.
“A transfer.”
“Of?”
“Blackwood Holdings.”
“Done.”
Victor stared.
Adrian went silent.
“You’re serious.”
“Yes.”
“All voting shares.”
“Yes.”
“Security division.”
“Yes.”
“Shipping.”
“Yes.”
“The private accounts.”
“Yes.”
Claire watched Damian give away an empire one word at a time.
He did not hesitate.
Adrian finally said, “Sebastian would despise you.”
Damian answered quietly.
“I know.”
And smiled.
Claire had never loved him more.
That terrified her.
“Documents will arrive,” Adrian said.
“When Emma is safe.”
“You don’t negotiate.”
“I just did.”
The call ended.
Victor turned.
“I got a partial route.”
“Where?”
“Local.”
Claire’s heart stopped.
“Gray Haven?”
“Yes.”
“They never took Emma.”
Damian understood.
“The photograph was taken from outside.”
Victor nodded.
“Whoever is watching is nearby.”
Claire grabbed her coat.
“No.”
Damian blocked the door.
She looked at him.
“Move.”
“I’m not losing you too.”
“Then come with me.”
That stopped him.
Again, the old Damian would have ordered.
This one stepped aside.
They drove toward Mrs. Bellamy’s safe house with local police converging from two directions.
No sirens.
Emma was still inside.
Safe.
Mrs. Bellamy had moved her to an interior room after noticing movement outside.
A man was found behind a neighboring garage.
Marcus Shaw.
He ran.
He did not get far.
Local officers arrested him three blocks away.
No shootout.
No dramatic bloodshed.
Just wet pavement, handcuffs, and a man suddenly discovering that Maine police did not care who Sebastian Blackwood used to be.
Marcus’s phone contained the photographs.
Messages from Adrian.
Transfer instructions.
Enough evidence to connect the surveillance operation.
But Adrian remained in Chicago.
Powerful.
Protected.
Damian could not simply call police and explain every part of the Blackwood organization without implicating himself.
Claire knew that.
Damian knew something else.
“I have records.”
“The red vault,” Claire said.
“Yes.”
“Enough?”
“To destroy Adrian.”
“And you?”
He looked at her.
“Probably.”
Claire stared.
“What does probably mean?”
“It means investigations.”
“Prison?”
“Possibly.”
The word sat between them.
Damian did not hide from it.
“I’ve done things I’m not proud of.”
Claire folded her arms.
“Illegal things?”
“Yes.”
“Violent?”
A pause.
“I ordered people hurt.”
Claire looked away.
There it was.
The reality she could never romanticize.
Damian Blackwood was not secretly harmless.
He had lived inside a criminal empire.
Made choices.
Caused damage.
He stepped back.
“If you want me away from Emma after this, I’ll understand.”
Claire hated him for making her chest hurt.
“You don’t get absolution because you finally told the truth.”
“I know.”
“You don’t get forgiveness because your father manipulated you.”
“I know.”
“And giving up an empire doesn’t undo four years.”
“I know.”
She looked at him.
“Stop saying that.”
“What should I say?”
“The truth.”
His face broke.
Finally.
Not dramatically.
Just enough.
“The truth is I loved you.”
Claire’s throat tightened.
“I loved you so much that when my father showed me those photographs, I became exactly the coward he needed me to be.”
She said nothing.
“I thought making you hate me would save you.”
“You broke my phone.”
“I needed you to believe there was nothing left.”
“You succeeded.”
His eyes closed.
“I know.”
She almost told him to stop again.
Instead:
“Why didn’t you look for me after Sebastian died?”
Damian stared at the floor.
This answer hurt before it came.
“Because I believed you had chosen not to come back.”
Claire frowned.
“What?”
“Victor told me nothing arrived. My father told me nothing arrived. I checked your old apartment. Your job. Your friends. You had disappeared.”
“You could have searched.”
“I did.”
Claire froze.
“How long?”
“Eight months.”
Her anger stumbled.
“I hired investigators.”
“You never found me?”
“No.”
“I wasn’t hiding that well.”
“Sebastian was erasing the trail faster than I could follow it.”
Claire remembered suddenly.
A landlord who lost forwarding information.
A job application that vanished.
A bank issue.
Little problems she had blamed on moving.
Sebastian.
Damian continued.
“Then my father became sick. Lucian resurfaced. People died.”
“And you stopped searching.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I convinced myself you were safer if I never found you.”
Claire looked at him.
“That’s still a decision you made for me.”
“Yes.”
Better.
No excuse.
Just truth.
Emma came out of the bedroom.
“Mommy?”
Claire immediately crouched.
“Hey.”
“Can we go home now?”
Claire looked at Damian.
He knelt several feet away.
Emma studied him.
“You’re here again.”
“I am.”
“Are you Mommy’s friend yet?”
Damian looked at Claire.
“No.”
Emma frowned.
“That’s taking a long time.”
Mrs. Bellamy laughed from the hallway.
Claire covered a smile.
Damian looked at Emma.
“I made some mistakes.”
Emma hugged Mr. Buttons.
“Big ones?”
“Yes.”
“My teacher says you say sorry.”
Damian’s eyes moved to Claire.
“She’s right.”
Emma waited.
Children always did.
Damian looked directly at Claire.
“I’m sorry.”
Claire’s chest tightened.
“For what?”
“All of it.”
“Too easy.”
He nodded.
“You’re right.”
Then Damian did something Claire had never seen him do.
He became specific.
“I’m sorry I frightened you that night. I’m sorry I broke your phone. I’m sorry I made love look like rejection because I was too afraid to trust you with the truth. I’m sorry I missed your pregnancy. Emma’s birth. Her first word. Her first steps. Every morning you had to do alone.”
Claire’s eyes filled.
He continued.
“I’m sorry you had to become strong because I wasn’t there.”
Emma looked between them.
“Mommy?”
“I’m okay.”
Damian stood.
“I’m going back to Chicago.”
Claire’s heart lurched.
“Why?”
“To open the vault to federal investigators.”
Victor stared at him.
“Damian.”
“It ends.”
“You know what that means.”
“Yes.”
Claire understood.
He was not giving Adrian the empire.
He was destroying it.
All of it.
Including his own protection.
“When?”
“Tonight.”
Claire swallowed.
“And Emma?”
“She never has to know me if you decide that’s best.”
He looked toward his daughter.
“But she will never have to be afraid of my name either.”
Six hours later, Damian left for Chicago.
Claire stood outside the café watching the SUV disappear.
Emma held her hand.
“Is Damian coming back?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you want him to?”
Claire looked down.
Four-year-olds should not ask impossible questions.
“I don’t know that either.”
Emma considered.
“Maybe Mr. Buttons knows.”
“That rabbit knows too much.”
Emma smiled.
Claire’s phone rang.
Victor.
She answered.
“Hello?”
His breathing was heavy.
“Claire.”
“What happened?”
“We reached Blackwood House.”
“And?”
“The vault is open.”
Claire’s stomach dropped.
“You opened it?”
“No.”
Silence.
“Victor?”
“Someone got here first.”
Claire gripped the phone.
“What did they take?”
“Everything.”
Then Victor said the part that made her blood turn cold.
“Damian is gone.”
A second phone began ringing on the café counter.
Damian’s phone.
He had left it behind.
Claire stared at the screen.
May you like
One name appeared.
ADRIAN BLACKWOOD.
