Chapter 2 - The Seven Words
Damian moved before Claire understood what she had heard.
One second he stood beside the counter.
The next, he was between Claire and the kitchen.
"Naomi," he said.
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
"Take Lily upstairs."
Claire caught his arm.
"No."
He looked down at her hand.
"You don't get to walk into my life and start giving orders."
"Someone just sent me a photograph of our daughter."
The word our hit Claire almost as hard as the threat.
She released him.
Another knock came from the back door.
Three slow taps.
Naomi appeared in the kitchen doorway.
"Claire?"
"Take Lily upstairs."
This time Claire said it.
Lily looked confused.
"Mommy?"
"It's okay, baby."
Damian's jaw tightened at the lie.
Naomi took Lily's hand.
They disappeared up the narrow staircase leading to Claire's apartment above the café.
Damian approached the rear hallway.
Claire followed.
"Stay here."
"No."
"Claire."
"This is my building."
"And she's my daughter."
"Since thirty minutes ago?"
His expression hardened.
Claire regretted it but refused to apologize.
Damian looked toward the door.
The knocking stopped.
He opened his phone and called Marco.
"Back entrance. Harbor Café. Now."
He ended the call.
Then he approached the door.
Claire grabbed the wooden rolling pin from a shelf.
Damian stared.
"What?"
"You told me to stay behind you, not to be useless."
Despite everything, his eyes flickered with something almost familiar.
"Still stubborn."
"Still arrogant."
He reached for the handle.
The door suddenly opened inward.
Claire sucked in a breath.
An envelope lay on the ground.
No person.
No footsteps.
Nothing except the narrow alley and rain.
Damian didn't touch the envelope.
He crouched.
"Claire, did anyone know Lily's father?"
"No."
"Anyone?"
"Naomi knows there was someone."
"Name?"
"I never told her."
"Your parents?"
"My father is dead. My mother thinks Lily's father was someone I met in the city."
Damian looked at the envelope.
His name was written across it.
DAMIAN BLACKWOOD.
Marco arrived minutes later with two men.
They checked the alley and surrounding buildings.
Nothing.
Only after Marco photographed the envelope did Damian open it.
Inside was a copy of Lily's birth certificate.
The father's section was blank.
Across the bottom, someone had written:
YOU WERE WARNED FOUR YEARS AGO.
Claire stared.
"What does that mean?"
Damian folded the paper.
"We need to leave."
"No."
"This place is compromised."
"This place is my home."
"It's also being watched."
Claire looked toward the ceiling.
Lily was upstairs.
Everything Claire cared about was upstairs.
Damian lowered his voice.
"I'm not asking you to trust me."
"Good."
"I'm asking you to trust what just happened."
She hated that he was right.
Within twenty minutes, the café was closed.
Naomi went home under Marco's protection.
Claire packed a small bag for Lily.
Damian stood in the apartment doorway while Claire folded pajamas.
She could feel him looking around.
The apartment was modest.
Two bedrooms.
Old floors.
A small kitchen.
Children's drawings taped to the refrigerator.
A framed photo of Claire holding newborn Lily.
Damian walked toward it.
Claire stopped folding.
He picked it up.
Lily couldn't have been more than a day old.
Her tiny face rested against Claire's chest.
Damian stared at the photograph.
"You were alone?"
Claire knew what he meant.
"Yes."
"At the hospital?"
"My mother came the next morning."
His fingers tightened around the frame.
"I should have been there."
Claire looked away.
"You weren't."
He put the frame back carefully.
Four years earlier, Damian had been a different man.
At least that was what Claire once believed.
She had met him at a charity gala.
She was an event coordinator.
He was the terrifyingly quiet donor everyone wanted to impress.
Damian had barely spoken to anyone.
Then Claire accidentally spilled champagne on his sleeve.
She had expected anger.
Instead, he laughed.
That laugh ruined her.
For two years, Damian had shown her pieces of himself few people saw.
He cooked badly.
Hated opera.
Loved old boxing movies.
Called his mother every Sunday until she died.
Claire had believed she knew him.
Then came the night everything ended.
She remembered arriving at his penthouse carrying that tiny black box.
Baby socks inside.
Damian was standing by the window.
"Sit down," he said.
Claire smiled.
"I have something to tell you."
"So do I."
Something in his voice stopped her.
He didn't kiss her.
Didn't touch her.
Instead, he held out his hand.
"Give me your phone."
She laughed nervously.
"Why?"
"Claire."
She handed it over.
He removed the SIM card.
Then threw the phone against the marble wall.
It shattered.
Claire jumped.
"What are you doing?"
Damian looked directly at her.
His eyes were colder than she had ever seen them.
"You and I are finished."
She stared.
"What?"
"I don't want you here."
She thought it was some kind of test.
Then he said the words.
"Never contact me again."
Claire felt something inside her collapse.
She had waited for him to take it back.
He didn't.
"Damian."
"Leave."
"At least tell me why."
"I don't owe you an explanation."
That hurt more than anything.
She placed one hand over the handbag containing the pregnancy test and baby socks.
Then she nodded.
Calmly.
Because if she cried, he won.
"All right."
She walked out.
Damian didn't follow.
A week later, after realizing he had blocked every number she used, Claire called Sebastian Vale.
Damian's oldest friend.
She told him she was pregnant.
Sebastian promised Damian would know.
Damian never came.
Claire left the city.
Now, four years later, Damian stood inside her bedroom asking her to trust him.
Life had a cruel sense of humor.
"Why did you do it?" she asked.
Damian looked at her.
"You said you didn't want to hear."
"I changed my mind."
He glanced toward Lily's room.
Then lowered his voice.
"Someone threatened you."
Claire froze.
"What?"
"Two days before I ended things, I received photographs."
"What photographs?"
"You leaving work. Going to the grocery store. Entering your apartment."
Claire's anger shifted.
"A message came with them."
"What did it say?"
Damian's jaw tightened.
"Walk away from Claire Whitmore or bury her beside your mother."
Claire stared.
His mother had been murdered in a car bombing.
Damian never discussed it.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because the person sending it knew things only someone close to me could know."
"So you broke my phone?"
"I needed everyone around me to believe I hated you."
"You could have warned me."
"If you'd known, you would have argued."
"Of course I would have argued."
"Exactly."
Claire shook her head.
"You don't get to decide for people because you're afraid."
"I know."
The answer surprised her.
Damian looked older suddenly.
"I knew it the second you walked out."
"Then why didn't you come after me?"
"Because the threats stopped."
Claire stared.
"You sacrificed us."
"I thought I sacrificed us to keep you alive."
"And Lily?"
His face tightened.
"I didn't know."
"You should have."
"Yes."
No excuse.
No defense.
That somehow hurt more.
Lily appeared in the doorway carrying a stuffed rabbit.
"Mommy?"
Claire immediately softened.
"Hi, sweetheart."
"Are we going somewhere?"
"For tonight."
"Is Damian coming?"
Claire looked at him.
Damian looked almost afraid of her answer.
"Yes."
Lily nodded.
"Okay."
She disappeared again.
Damian exhaled quietly.
Claire zipped the bag.
"Don't misunderstand. I'm not forgiving you."
"I don't expect you to."
"And you don't get to tell Lily who you are yet."
He stiffened.
"Claire."
"She met you an hour ago."
"She's my daughter."
"Biologically."
His jaw clenched.
"You don't become her father because you recognized her eyes."
The truth landed.
Damian said nothing.
They left through the rear entrance.
Two SUVs waited.
Claire hated getting into the first.
Lily loved it.
"Mommy, there are lights in the floor."
"I see them."
Damian sat opposite.
Lily stared at him.
"Do you have kids?"
Claire's breath caught.
Damian looked at her before answering.
"One."
Lily smiled.
"Boy or girl?"
Damian's eyes stayed on Claire.
"A girl."
"How old?"
"Four."
Claire closed her eyes.
Lily brightened.
"Like me!"
"Exactly like you."
Claire shot him a warning look.
He stopped.
They reached an estate outside town shortly before midnight.
It wasn't Damian's city penthouse.
This place was smaller.
Hidden behind trees.
Protected.
Claire hated that Lily thought it looked like a castle.
"Can we sleep here?"
"For one night," Claire said.
Damian looked as though he wanted to argue.
He wisely didn't.
After Lily fell asleep, Claire joined Damian downstairs.
Marco was there.
Several laptops covered the table.
"We traced the photograph," Marco said.
"Burner phone. Signal bounced twice."
"Sebastian?" Damian asked.
"His shell company owns the SUV, but he claims it was stolen."
"Of course."
Claire crossed her arms.
"Why would Sebastian care about Lily?"
Marco looked at Damian.
Damian answered.
"Because if he knew about the pregnancy and kept it from me, then he's been lying for four years."
"About what?"
"That is what I intend to find out."
His phone rang.
Private number.
Damian answered.
No one spoke.
Then a recording played.
Claire recognized her own voice.
Four years younger.
Terrified.
Sebastian, I'm pregnant. I need Damian to know.
Claire went pale.
Damian stared at the phone.
The recording continued.
Sebastian's voice replied:
Don't worry, Claire. I'll take care of everything.
Then another voice entered the recording.
A man's voice.
Low.
Familiar to Damian.
"Good," it said. "Now make sure Blackwood never finds out."
Damian's face changed.
Claire whispered, "Who is that?"
Damian didn't answer.
The recording ended.
A text appeared.
May you like
COME HOME, DAMIAN.
YOUR FATHER HAS BEEN WAITING.
