Chapter 5 - The Truth About That Night
Damian moved toward the monitor.
"Zoom."
Marco enlarged the image.
Sebastian stood beneath the porch light.
Rain ran down his face.
Behind him, beyond the reach of the light, something shifted.
A shadow.
A person.
Then the feed cut out.
Claire's pulse raced.
"What happened?"
"Camera lost power."
Marco reached for his phone.
Damian stopped him.
"No one opens that door."
A knock came again.
"Damian!" Sebastian shouted.
Another voice followed.
Older.
Calm.
"Open the door, son."
Damian stopped breathing.
Claire knew instantly.
Alistair.
Lily appeared on the stairs.
"Mommy?"
Claire rushed to her.
"Back upstairs."
"Who is yelling?"
"Now, Lily."
Damian looked toward her.
Lily saw his expression and obeyed.
Claire took her upstairs, locked the bedroom, and returned.
Damian was still by the door.
"Your father wants you emotional," she said.
"I know."
"So don't give him that."
He looked at her.
Claire realized she had said the exact kind of thing Eleanor might have told him.
Damian seemed to realize it too.
"Stay away from the windows."
Marco restored another camera.
Sebastian was now on his knees.
A man stood behind him.
Alistair Blackwood.
Older.
Thinner.
But alive.
Damian stared at the father he'd buried.
Alistair looked directly into the camera.
"Four years," he called.
"No gratitude?"
Damian pressed the intercom.
"For what?"
"For protecting your bloodline."
"You threatened Claire."
"I saved her."
"You sent men to frighten a pregnant woman."
"I made her disappear."
"You stole four years from my daughter."
Alistair smiled.
"Your daughter belongs to the Blackwood family."
Damian's voice lowered.
"She belongs to herself."
Claire looked at him.
Alistair's smile disappeared.
"Your mother poisoned you with sentiment."
"My mother was right about you."
The old man's face hardened.
"So you found the journal."
"Enough of it."
"Then you know she betrayed me."
"No. She exposed you."
Alistair grabbed Sebastian by the hair.
Claire flinched.
"This one betrayed me."
Sebastian grimaced.
Damian remained still.
"What do you want?"
"Lily."
"No."
"I wasn't asking."
"Then why are you standing outside?"
Alistair smiled again.
"Because you still believe this house is secure."
A crash sounded upstairs.
Claire screamed Lily's name.
She ran.
Damian followed.
The bedroom door stood open.
Window shattered.
Lily was gone.
Claire couldn't breathe.
"No."
She ran to the window.
A ladder rested against the wall.
Damian looked down.
A vehicle sped away through the trees.
Claire turned on him.
"GET HER BACK!"
Her voice broke.
Damian's face transformed.
Every trace of softness disappeared.
But before he moved, he grabbed Claire's shoulders.
"I will."
"If anything happens—"
"Nothing will."
"You don't know that!"
"No."
His voice shook.
"I don't."
That honesty stopped her.
Then he added, "But I will tear apart every piece of the life I built before I let him keep her."
Marco entered.
"GPS?"
Claire stared.
"What GPS?"
Damian looked at the stuffed rabbit on the bed.
He grabbed it.
Ripped the seam.
Inside was a small tracker.
Claire stared.
"You put a tracker in her toy?"
"This morning."
She should have been angry.
Instead, she nearly collapsed with relief.
Marco checked.
"Signal moving east."
Damian took his coat.
Claire blocked him.
"I'm coming."
"No."
"You are not leaving me behind again."
"Claire."
"She is my daughter."
"Our daughter."
"Then act like it."
He stared at her.
"Stay beside me."
They followed the signal to an abandoned marina.
No police.
Damian didn't trust them.
Marco drove.
Claire sat beside Damian.
Neither spoke.
The tracker stopped near Warehouse 14.
Sebastian's phone rang.
Damian answered.
Alistair.
"Come alone."
"No."
"Then the girl disappears the same way her grandmother did."
Damian's fist tightened.
Claire whispered, "Keep him talking."
Damian did.
"You killed my mother."
"Your mother killed herself the moment she chose betrayal."
Claire watched Damian absorb confirmation.
"You planted the bomb."
"I gave the order."
Damian closed his eyes.
Years of grief.
Years of blaming enemies.
All wrong.
"Why tell me?"
"Because tonight it no longer matters."
Damian opened his eyes.
"It matters to me."
He ended the call.
Marco stopped the SUV.
Warehouse 14 sat ahead.
Claire reached for Damian's hand.
He looked down.
"Bring her back."
"I will."
"And come back too."
He looked at her.
For four years, Claire had told herself she no longer loved Damian.
Standing in that dark marina, she understood the truth was crueler.
Part of her had never stopped.
Damian stepped out.
Sebastian emerged from another vehicle.
Claire stared.
"You escaped?"
"Barely."
Damian's face hardened.
"Why should I trust you?"
"You shouldn't."
Sebastian handed him a key.
"But Lily is inside."
"How do you know?"
"I helped Alistair design the warehouse security years ago."
Damian took the key.
Sebastian met Claire's gaze.
"I'm sorry."
"Get her back. Then apologize."
They entered through a side door.
Claire stayed with Marco despite hating every second.
Minutes crawled.
Then gunshots echoed.
Claire flinched.
Marco cursed.
"Stay here."
"No."
She got out.
"Claire!"
She ran toward the building.
Inside, emergency lights flashed.
She heard Lily crying.
"Mommy!"
Claire followed the sound.
She found Lily tied to a chair.
Alistair stood beside her.
Damian stood across the room.
Sebastian beside him.
"Claire," Damian warned.
Alistair smiled.
"Perfect."
Claire approached slowly.
"Let my daughter go."
"She is a Blackwood."
"She is a four-year-old child."
"She is forty percent of an empire."
Claire laughed bitterly.
"That's all you see?"
"That is all that matters."
Damian looked at his father.
"No."
Alistair turned.
Damian continued.
"That's where you lost."
"You think love makes you strong?"
"I think you spent your entire life terrified of it."
Alistair's face twisted.
"You sound like your mother."
"Good."
That single word broke something in the older man.
He raised the weapon in his hand.
Sebastian moved first.
He slammed Alistair's arm aside.
Damian lunged.
Claire ran to Lily.
She covered her daughter's body.
Marco rushed in moments later.
The struggle ended quickly.
Alistair was restrained.
Alive.
Damian refused to kill him.
That mattered.
Claire saw it.
Alistair stared at his son from the floor.
"You're weak."
Damian looked at Lily in Claire's arms.
"No."
He knelt beside his father.
"For the first time, I'm not."
Federal agents arrived thirty minutes later.
Marco had sent Eleanor's evidence before entering.
Financial crimes.
Murder conspiracy.
Fraud.
Extortion.
Enough to bury Alistair legally.
Claire stood outside the warehouse holding Lily.
Damian approached slowly.
Lily reached for him.
He froze.
Then lifted her.
She wrapped both arms around his neck.
"Daddy."
Damian stopped.
Claire's eyes filled.
Lily seemed surprised by her own word.
"Is that okay?"
Damian couldn't speak.
He nodded.
Then hugged her.
Claire looked away to give him privacy.
But Damian reached for Claire's hand.
She let him hold it.
For that moment.
Only that moment.
Weeks passed.
Alistair remained in federal custody.
Sebastian entered witness protection after agreeing to testify.
The Blackwood organization fractured.
Damian began closing illegal operations.
Claire returned to the café.
Lily returned to preschool.
For the first time, Claire thought the nightmare might be ending.
Then Damian arrived one evening.
No guards.
No suit jacket.
He sat at the counter.
Claire poured coffee.
"How long are you staying?"
"Depends."
"On?"
"You."
She shook her head.
"Damian."
"I bought a house."
Her hand stopped.
"Where?"
"Three streets from here."
Claire stared.
"You what?"
"I told you I wasn't disappearing."
"You can't move here because of guilt."
"I'm not."
"Then why?"
He looked toward Lily, coloring at a table.
"Because my daughter lives here."
Claire crossed her arms.
"And?"
His eyes returned to hers.
"Because you do."
Before Claire could answer, Naomi entered carrying the mail.
"Claire, this came for you."
An envelope.
No return address.
Inside was a photograph.
Damian holding Lily outside preschool.
Taken that morning.
On the back:
ALISTAIR WAS NEVER THE ONLY ONE WATCHING HER.
Claire looked up.
Damian read it.
His face hardened.
Then Lily's teacher called.
Claire answered.
Her smile disappeared.
"What do you mean?"
Damian stood.
Claire's hand began shaking.
The teacher repeated herself.
May you like
Claire whispered:
"Lily never came back into the classroom after recess."
