Chapter 6 - The Choice of a King
Claire dropped the phone.
Damian caught it before it hit the floor.
"Tell me."
"She's gone."
Everything inside Damian became still.
Not the stillness of fear.
The stillness Claire remembered from his old life.
The dangerous one.
He called Marco.
"Preschool. Now."
Claire grabbed her coat.
"I'm coming."
"Obviously."
She stopped.
Four years ago, he would have ordered her to stay.
Now he opened the door for her.
They drove too fast.
The preschool teacher was crying when they arrived.
"Lily was on the playground. I turned away for less than a minute."
Damian crouched near the gate.
No forced entry.
A small pink ribbon lay on the ground.
Claire picked it up.
"Lily's."
The teacher covered her mouth.
"Someone must have called her."
Damian looked toward the road.
"Who could get her to approach willingly?"
Claire went pale.
"Someone she knows."
Naomi?
Mrs. Walker?
Marco?
Damian?
Claire?
Then another name came.
"Sebastian."
Damian looked at her.
"He's under protection."
"So was your father supposed to be dead."
Damian called the federal liaison.
Sebastian had disappeared from protective custody six hours earlier.
Claire's stomach dropped.
"You said he helped save Lily."
"He did."
"Then why?"
Damian didn't answer.
A text arrived.
Sebastian.
COME TO BLACKWOOD TOWER.
ALONE.
Damian read it.
Claire shook her head.
"No."
"I have to."
"Not alone."
"He has Lily."
"Exactly."
Damian looked at her.
Claire stepped closer.
"You spent four years making decisions for me. You're not doing it again."
He nodded.
"Then we do it together."
They reached Blackwood Tower at dusk.
Damian hadn't entered his old headquarters in weeks.
The building represented everything he was dismantling.
Power.
Fear.
Control.
Claire hated it instantly.
The lobby was empty.
The elevator opened automatically.
Top floor.
Damian and Claire entered.
Marco remained outside with federal agents.
Sebastian stood in the old conference room.
Lily sat on a chair beside him.
Unhurt.
Eating crackers.
Claire nearly collapsed.
"Lily!"
"Mommy!"
Lily ran to her.
Claire hugged her fiercely.
Damian stared at Sebastian.
"You kidnapped my daughter."
"I borrowed her."
Damian took one step forward.
"Choose your next words carefully."
Sebastian raised his hands.
"I needed you here."
"Why?"
"Because someone is listening."
He pointed to the ceiling.
Damian's face changed.
Sebastian continued.
"Alistair built this room. Every conversation was recorded."
"So?"
"So the federal case is incomplete."
He placed a flash drive on the table.
"This contains twenty years of recordings."
Damian stared.
"Why not hand it to them?"
"Because it's encrypted to your biometrics."
Damian picked it up.
"Then why take Lily?"
"Because you wouldn't come otherwise."
Claire's anger exploded.
"You terrified us."
"I know."
"No, you don't."
Sebastian looked at Lily.
"You're right."
Damian's voice remained icy.
"What else?"
Sebastian sighed.
"Alistair isn't the only one implicated."
"Who?"
"Half your senior council."
Damian understood.
"Which means dismantling everything."
"Yes."
"The legal businesses too."
"Possibly."
Claire watched him.
This was the choice.
Empire.
Or future.
Sebastian leaned closer.
"If you release this, Blackwood Holdings may collapse."
Damian looked toward Lily.
She held Claire's hand.
"What happens if I don't?"
"Alistair's people remain powerful."
"And Lily remains a target."
"Yes."
Damian picked up the flash drive.
"Then there is no choice."
Sebastian stared.
"You're going to destroy everything your family built."
"No."
Damian looked at Claire.
"I'm going to stop pretending it was worth saving."
He pressed his thumb to the biometric reader.
The files unlocked.
Marco entered with federal agents.
Damian handed them everything.
All of it.
No conditions.
No immunity request.
Claire stared.
"You could go to prison."
"I know."
"What?"
Lily looked between them.
Damian crouched beside her.
"I did things I'm not proud of."
"Bad things?"
"Yes."
"Are you sorry?"
"Very."
Lily touched his face.
"Then do better."
Damian closed his eyes.
Claire's throat tightened.
The investigation took months.
Damian cooperated completely.
Because of evidence he provided, prosecutors focused on Alistair's network and violent leadership rather than Damian's legitimate holdings.
Damian still lost enormous wealth.
Properties seized.
Accounts frozen.
Businesses sold.
Newspapers called it the fall of the Blackwood empire.
Damian didn't care.
He moved permanently to the coastal town.
His new house was smaller than Claire expected.
Still ridiculous.
But smaller.
He attended Lily's school events.
Learned to make hot chocolate.
Badly.
Burned pancakes.
Bought Lily far too many books until Claire threatened to ban him from the bookstore.
He never once demanded Claire take him back.
That was what slowly changed everything.
He simply showed up.
Every morning.
Every birthday planning meeting.
Every pediatric appointment Claire invited him to.
Every nightmare Lily had after the kidnapping.
He sat outside her bedroom when she was scared.
Sometimes until sunrise.
One evening, Claire found him asleep against the hallway wall.
Lily's door open beside him.
She covered him with a blanket.
His eyes opened.
"Hi."
"Hi."
"You could have used the guest room."
"She asked me to stay close."
Claire sat beside him.
For a while, neither spoke.
Then Damian said, "I loved you."
Claire looked at him.
He corrected himself.
"I love you."
Her heart hurt.
"Damian."
"I'm not asking for anything."
"Good."
"I just don't want another four years to pass with me refusing to say what is true."
Claire stared down the hallway.
"I loved you too."
He went still.
"Past tense?"
"I don't know."
"Fair."
She looked at him.
"You hurt me."
"I know."
"You made me feel disposable."
"I know."
"You don't get to erase that because you've become a good father."
"I know."
Claire almost smiled.
"Stop saying that."
"I know."
She laughed.
Damian smiled.
Their first kiss came three weeks later.
Not dramatic.
No rain.
No music.
Claire had flour on her cheek from baking cookies with Lily.
Damian wiped it away.
She looked at him.
Then kissed him.
He didn't touch her until she touched him first.
When they separated, he whispered, "Are you sure?"
"No."
He smiled.
"Good answer."
They started slowly.
Dinner.
Walks.
Coffee after Lily slept.
No promises.
Then one morning, a letter arrived from the federal prosecutor.
Damian opened it.
Claire watched his face.
"What?"
He handed it to her.
The government would not prosecute him for charges related to Alistair's organization in exchange for continued cooperation.
Claire exhaled.
"It's over."
Damian shook his head.
"Almost."
"What does that mean?"
He pulled another envelope from his pocket.
Claire stared.
"What is that?"
"Something I should have given you four years ago."
She opened it.
Inside was the tiny black box.
The baby socks.
Beneath them was a ring.
Claire froze.
"Damian."
"I'm not proposing."
She looked up.
He almost laughed.
"Not yet."
"Then why is there a ring?"
"Because I bought it four years ago."
Claire's breath caught.
"The week before I pushed you away."
She stared at him.
"You planned to marry me?"
"Yes."
Tears filled her eyes.
Damian stepped closer.
"I don't want to use an old promise to force a new one."
He took the ring.
Closed the box.
"When you're ready, I'll ask properly."
Claire touched his face.
"And if I'm never ready?"
"Then I'll still make Lily terrible pancakes every Sunday."
She laughed through tears.
He kissed her forehead.
For the first time, Claire believed they might actually survive what had happened.
Then Damian's phone rang.
Marco.
Damian answered.
His expression slowly changed.
"What?"
Claire stiffened.
Damian listened.
Then looked at her.
"Are you certain?"
He ended the call.
"What happened?"
Damian walked toward the window.
Claire's fear returned.
"Damian."
He turned.
"Alistair was being transferred this morning."
"And?"
"The convoy was attacked."
Claire went pale.
"Did he escape?"
Damian shook his head.
"No."
"Then what?"
He held up his phone.
A photograph had arrived.
An empty prison transport.
One dead security camera.
And beneath it, a message.
ALISTAIR BLACKWOOD IS DEAD.
May you like
Damian stared at the final line.
BUT SOMEONE JUST USED HIS PRIVATE ACCESS CODE TO OPEN LILY'S TRUST ACCOUNT.
