Chapter 9 - The Secret Behind the Kitchen Wall
Damian dragged Alexander behind cover.
Alive.
The bullet had struck his shoulder.
Vincent’s team pursued the shooter.
Elena shielded Lily and Noah.
Noah had secretly followed with Mrs. Whitmore’s driver.
Damian should have been furious.
Instead, he pulled both children close.
They escaped through an old service corridor.
Alexander survived.
Rebecca’s envelope survived too.
Damian opened it at Mercer House.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
Damian,
If Noah is speaking when you read this, then someone reached him in a way we could not.
Do not turn that person into another possession.
Listen to them.
The sentence cut deeper than Damian expected.
Rebecca had known him too well.
The letter continued.
The medical conspiracy reaches farther than Alexander believes. Someone inside our home has been recording everything. Find the kitchen wall before they find Noah.
They went to the kitchen.
Noah pointed immediately.
Behind a decorative panel, Damian found surveillance equipment.
Eight years of recordings.
Bedrooms.
Offices.
Kitchen.
Nursery.
Someone had watched the family.
Vincent traced the equipment.
It connected to a security company.
Mercer Strategic Protection.
Damian’s own company.
Authorized by one executive.
Damian stared at the name.
Thomas Vale.
His attorney.
His oldest adviser.
The man who had handled Rebecca’s estate.
The man who had encouraged Damian to make his public marriage promise.
“Why?” Elena asked.
Damian understood.
“My fortune.”
If Damian remarried under certain trust conditions, control of Rebecca’s medical foundation could shift.
Thomas wanted access to its records.
The public promise had been bait.
He expected some opportunist to succeed—or fake success—and enter Damian’s life.
He had not expected Elena.
Damian looked at her.
“You were never supposed to be here.”
She almost smiled.
“I’ve heard that before.”
Lily slept upstairs.
Noah refused to leave her side.
Two children who had both been silenced by adults’ secrets now slept with Captain Buttons between them.
Damian stood outside the room.
“You brought him back,” he said.
Elena joined him.
“Noah brought himself back.”
“I offered half my fortune.”
“I remember.”
“And marriage.”
“That was particularly ridiculous.”
For the first time in months, Damian laughed.
A real laugh.
Elena stared.
“You can do that?”
“Apparently.”
Their eyes met.
Something shifted.
Not gratitude.
Not obligation.
Something more dangerous.
Damian stepped closer.
Then Vincent appeared.
“We found Thomas.”
“Where?”
“He’s here.”
Damian turned.
“In the house?”
Vincent nodded.
“He entered through the old kitchen passage.”
Elena looked toward the children’s room.
The door stood open.
The beds were empty.
Captain Buttons lay on the floor.
May you like
And from downstairs came Thomas Vale’s voice.
“Damian, I have the children.”
