Chapter 3 - The Enemy Who Became My Protector
The apartment door shook as I held my daughter against my chest, whispering: "Please don't let him find us." When Damian Voss opened the emergency escape route behind the kitchen wall, he discovered a hidden tracking device planted inside my daughter's baby blanket. But one word was engraved on the tiny device: "Alessandro." Damian suddenly realized my husband had been watching us the entire time.
I didn't have time to think.
I didn't have time to understand.
I only had time to run.
The knocking continued.
Slow.
Patient.
Almost confident.
Whoever was outside wasn't afraid of breaking the door.
They weren't afraid because they already believed they had won.
I looked at Damian.
The man I had spent my entire life believing was the villain.
The man Alessandro warned me about.
The man standing in my apartment telling me my husband was the real danger.
I wanted to hate him.
I wanted to believe he was manipulating me.
But then the lights went out.
And somewhere in the darkness...
I heard the sound of a key turning.
Someone was opening my door.
Damian moved instantly.
He grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the entrance.
"Stay behind me."
I pulled my arm back.
"I don't need you protecting me."
His eyes met mine.
"Right now, you do."
I hated that he was right.
The lock clicked.
One.
Two.
Three times.
Someone outside had the key.
My stomach dropped.
Because only one person should have been able to enter.
Alessandro.
Damian looked toward the kitchen.
"Do you have another exit?"
I shook my head.
"No."
He didn't panic.
That was the strangest part.
A normal person would have been terrified.
But Damian Voss looked like he had expected this moment.
Like he had been waiting for it.
"Your apartment was compromised before you arrived."
I froze.
"What?"
He moved toward the kitchen wall.
"What are you talking about?"
"You didn't choose this location."
"No."
"Who helped you find it?"
I hesitated.
A former employee of my father's.
A man named Victor.
Damian's expression changed.
"Victor gave you this apartment?"
I nodded slowly.
"Why?"
The question made my heart race.
"Because he helped my father before he died."
Damian looked at the wall.
Then at me.
"Your father trusted the wrong people."
The door handle moved.
I held my daughter tighter.
A thousand thoughts ran through my mind.
Maybe I should have stayed.
Maybe I should have confronted Alessandro.
Maybe disappearing had only made things worse.
But then I remembered his face.
The way he looked at Isabella.
The way he lied to me.
The way he held our daughter while hiding the truth.
No.
I couldn't go back.
Not for anything.
Damian opened a small panel behind the kitchen cabinet.
I stared.
"What is that?"
"An escape route."
"How do you know it's here?"
He didn't answer.
And that scared me more.
"You knew about this apartment."
He looked at me.
"I know about everything Alessandro touches."
The words sounded cold.
But there was pain behind them.
A history I didn't understand.
Before I could ask, the front door opened.
Voices filled the apartment.
Men.
Several of them.
Damian looked at me.
"Go."
I didn't move.
"What about you?"
His expression remained calm.
"I'll handle them."
"Why?"
For the first time, he looked away.
Like the answer was complicated.
"Because I know what it's like when Alessandro Castellano takes something from you."
That sentence stopped me.
Because it wasn't anger.
It was something deeper.
A wound.
Before I could understand it, Damian pushed the hidden door open.
A narrow passage appeared behind the wall.
Dark.
Cold.
Impossible to notice.
"Take your daughter and go."
I stepped inside.
Then I stopped.
"What happens if I leave with you?"
Damian looked at me.
"Then Alessandro loses the only thing he thought he controlled."
"What?"
"You."
The words hit harder than I expected.
Because for months, I had felt powerless.
Like I was just someone caught between powerful men.
A wife.
A mother.
A person everyone made decisions for.
But Damian looked at me differently.
Like I still had a choice.
Like I still mattered.
A loud crash came from the living room.
Someone had entered.
Damian closed the hidden door halfway.
"Now."
I ran.
I hated that I trusted him.
But I did.
Because the man who was supposed to love me was hunting me.
And the man who was supposed to be my enemy was saving me.
The passage led beneath the building.
After several minutes, we reached a small underground garage.
A black vehicle was waiting.
A driver opened the door.
I stopped.
"No."
Damian looked at me.
"What?"
"I can't just get into another man's car."
His expression softened slightly.
"Good."
I frowned.
"Good?"
"Because that means you still think before trusting."
He opened the passenger door.
"You can leave right now."
I looked at him.
"You'd let me go?"
"Yes."
"Even knowing Alessandro will find me?"
"Yes."
I studied his face.
"Why?"
Damian was silent for a moment.
Then he said:
"Because I don't want you to choose me because you have no other option."
Those words confused me.
A man like Damian Voss didn't seem like someone who cared about choices.
But maybe I had been wrong.
Maybe I had been wrong about everyone.
I got into the car.
And for the first time in months...
I felt like I had escaped.
But that feeling lasted only a few minutes.
Because when we reached Damian's private estate, I saw something that made my blood run cold.
Photographs.
Hundreds of them.
On a large table.
Pictures of me.
My pregnancy.
My hospital visit.
My daughter.
My entire life.
I turned toward Damian.
"What is this?"
He didn't answer immediately.
That scared me.
"Damian."
He walked toward the table.
"I was investigating Alessandro."
"Since when?"
"Before you disappeared."
I looked at the photographs.
"You were watching me?"
His silence answered.
My anger returned.
"So you are no different from him."
Damian looked at me.
"No."
"How can you say that?"
"Because Alessandro watched you to control you."
He picked up one photograph.
"I watched you because I was trying to protect you."
I wanted to believe him.
But trust was something I no longer had.
"Why?"
Damian placed the photograph down.
"Because your father left something behind."
I stared at him.
"What?"
"A file."
"About what?"
"About Alessandro."
The room became silent.
I looked at my daughter sleeping in my arms.
"What does my father have to do with my husband?"
Damian opened a locked drawer.
Inside was an old envelope.
My father's handwriting was on it.
My breath stopped.
I hadn't seen that handwriting in years.
The envelope had my name.
"Nadine."
My hands trembled.
I reached for it.
But Damian stopped me.
"Before you open it, you need to know something."
"What?"
He looked serious.
"Your father didn't die because of an accident."
The world seemed to stop.
"What did you say?"
"He was killed."
I stepped backward.
"No."
"Alessandro knows."
"No."
"He always knew."
My eyes filled with tears.
Because suddenly every strange conversation.
Every missing document.
Every secret meeting.
Everything made sense.
But before I could ask another question...
A security alarm exploded through the mansion.
Damian turned toward the monitors.
The screen showed the front gate.
A convoy of black vehicles had arrived.
My heart stopped.
Because the first car door opened.
And the man who stepped out was the last person I wanted to see.
Alessandro Castellano.
But he wasn't alone.
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The woman standing beside him made Damian go completely silent.
Because it was Isabella.
