Chapter 4 - Grandfather’s Last Game
Arthur Ashford looked impossibly old and terrifyingly pleased.
Damon moved in front of Naomi and Lily.
“You’re supposed to be dead.”
Arthur smiled.
“So is Walter. Apparently our family has a talent for disappointing undertakers.”
Walter appeared behind Damon.
“You shouldn’t have come back.”
Arthur’s smile vanished.
“You’ve been saying that for twenty years.”
Damon looked between them.
“Enough.”
Arthur studied him.
“You sound like your father.”
“Did you kill him?”
Silence.
That was answer enough to make Damon’s hands tighten.
Arthur finally said, “Thomas made choices.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“His plane was sabotaged by a man who believed he was protecting this family.”
“Who?”
Arthur looked toward Walter.
Damon turned.
Walter’s face drained.
“No.”
Arthur smiled.
“Tell him.”
Walter shook his head.
“I tried to stop it.”
Damon stepped toward him.
“What did you do?”
“I discovered the bomb before takeoff.”
Damon went still.
“And?”
“I warned your father.”
“Then why did he board?”
“He didn’t believe the threat included your mother.”
Arthur laughed quietly.
Walter turned on him.
“You changed their departure time.”
Arthur’s smile confirmed it.
Damon understood.
Arthur had manipulated everyone.
But Walter had known enough to prevent the deaths and failed.
Eleanor appeared at the tunnel entrance.
“Arthur, let them go.”
Arthur looked at his daughter.
“My disappointing child.”
“You’ve lost.”
“No. Damon has simply reached the final lesson.”
“What lesson?”
Arthur pointed at Lily.
“Everyone has a weakness.”
Naomi clutched her daughter tighter.
Damon moved instantly.
“If you threaten her—”
“I don’t hurt children.”
Arthur’s voice hardened.
“I educate men.”
He explained that the surveillance system had been designed to identify Damon’s vulnerabilities. Naomi and Lily had become unexpected variables because children noticed what adults ignored.
Lily had seen couriers.
Hidden doors.
Arthur himself.
“She ruined your operation,” Damon said.
Arthur’s expression tightened.
“She complicated it.”
Lily peeked over Naomi’s shoulder.
“You’re mean.”
Arthur blinked.
Nobody spoke.
Lily pointed at him.
“And you’re not the boss.”
Damon almost laughed.
Arthur did not.
Marcus found the manual release.
Steel doors unlocked.
Arthur’s guards moved.
Marcus tackled one.
Walter swung his cane into another man’s wrist.
Damon pulled Naomi and Lily behind a stone column.
Police sirens sounded above.
Arthur’s expression changed.
Eleanor held up her phone.
“I called them before I came downstairs.”
Arthur wheeled backward.
“You foolish woman.”
“No, Father. I finally stopped being afraid of you.”
Arthur escaped through another passage before police reached them.
But he left behind something important.
His operations room.
Files.
Bank records.
Audio recordings.
Evidence.
Enough to destroy the network he had built.
For forty-eight hours Ashford House became a crime scene.
Damon barely slept.
Naomi intended to resign.
He found her packing.
“You’re leaving?”
“My daughter was endangered because I worked here.”
“You’re right.”
Naomi looked surprised.
“I expected you to argue.”
“I don’t have that right.”
He handed her an envelope.
She stared at it.
“What is this?”
“Your full salary for the next year. Housing allowance. Education fund for Lily.”
“I can’t accept this.”
“It isn’t charity.”
“What is it?”
“Responsibility.”
Naomi studied him.
Then Lily ran into the room.
She wore both shoes now.
“Boss meeting!”
Damon crouched.
“I thought you were retiring.”
“No.”
She whispered loudly, “Mama says we’re leaving.”
“I heard.”
Lily frowned.
“You can come.”
Naomi laughed despite herself.
Damon smiled.
“I’ll consider it.”
Then Marcus entered.
His face ended the moment.
“We found Arthur.”
“Where?”
“Not Arthur himself. His phone.”
Marcus placed it on the table.
“It was abandoned at the old Ashford airfield.”
Damon stared.
The same airfield his parents had departed from eighteen years earlier.
A message appeared on the phone.
COME FINISH WHAT YOUR FATHER STARTED.
Below it was a photograph taken less than a minute earlier.
May you like
It showed Walter Crane tied to a chair inside an aircraft hangar.
And standing behind him was someone Damon had believed he could trust.
