Chapter 8 - The Trap Inside Russo Tower
Emergency lights came on.
Red.
Rainer moved.
Leo was ready.
Within seconds, the situation ended without a shot.
Rainer was restrained.
Authorities entered from the stairwell.
But Khloe barely noticed.
She stared at Thomas.
"You gave him Dominic's schedule?"
Thomas nodded.
"Why?"
"He threatened your mother."
Khloe's expression changed.
Thomas explained.
Rainer had discovered he survived the explosion.
He threatened to kill Khloe and her mother unless Thomas revealed when Dominic would be alone.
Thomas gave him the time.
Then tried to warn Dominic.
He was too late.
"I spent nineteen years trying to undo that decision."
Khloe's eyes filled.
"You could have come home."
"I was ashamed."
"That's not the same as protecting us."
"I know."
She turned away.
Thomas didn't follow.
This time, he understood that loving his daughter meant allowing her to choose the distance between them.
Rainer was escorted away.
Before leaving, he looked at Damian.
"Your father wasn't innocent."
Damian replied quietly.
"No one said he was."
Rainer smiled.
"Then read the last file."
The archive contained thousands of documents.
One folder was marked DAMIAN.
Inside was Dominic's final video.
Damian watched alone at first.
Then he called Khloe in.
His father appeared older than Damian remembered.
Tired.
"If you're watching this, son, you've probably learned that I made enemies."
Dominic smiled sadly.
"I also made mistakes."
He admitted using aggressive business tactics in his younger years.
He had trusted dangerous people.
Ignored warning signs.
Allowed ambition to make him careless.
Then Victor Mercer confronted him.
Thomas Hayes showed him the accounts.
Gabriel Vale offered evidence.
Dominic finally understood what his empire had enabled.
"I tried to fix it too late."
Damian's jaw tightened.
Dominic continued.
"If you inherit anything from me, don't inherit my silence."
Khloe looked at Damian.
The message ended.
Damian remained still.
For most of his adult life, he'd remembered his father as something larger than human.
Now he saw a man.
Flawed.
Afraid.
Trying to repair damage.
Khloe touched his hand.
Damian didn't pull away.
"Are you okay?"
"No."
She smiled faintly.
"Good."
He looked at her.
She repeated his words from earlier.
"I'd be worried if you said yes."
He laughed.
A small sound.
But real.
Then his expression changed.
"Khloe."
"What?"
"I should have told you something before any of this happened."
She waited.
"I sent the lilies."
Her eyes widened.
"You?"
"Yes."
"Why anonymously?"
"Because apparently I'm capable of running a multinational company but not signing a card."
Khloe laughed.
For the first time since her disappearance, the sound wasn't forced.
"You sent me flowers and then pretended you didn't know where they came from?"
"That was the strategy."
"Terrible strategy."
"I've reconsidered it."
She looked at him.
"Why did you send them?"
Damian's answer almost came.
Then Leo burst through the door.
"We have a problem."
Damian closed his eyes.
"Of course we do."
"The archive transmission didn't go only to investigators."
"Where else?"
"Automatic release."
"To whom?"
"Press."
Khloe stared.
Every record could become public.
Including confidential information belonging to innocent employees.
Dominic's dead-man switch had been designed in another era.
It didn't distinguish evidence from collateral damage.
"We have twenty minutes before release," Leo said.
"Can we stop it?"
"Maybe."
Khloe sat at the computer.
She understood Dominic's file structure better than anyone.
Damian watched her work.
Fifteen minutes.
Ten.
Five.
She separated the criminal evidence from private employee records.
One minute.
Thirty seconds.
"Khloe."
"I know."
Ten.
Nine.
Eight.
She pressed ENTER.
The timer stopped.
Leo exhaled.
"Did it work?"
Khloe checked.
Evidence had gone to authorities.
Protected personal files remained sealed.
"It worked."
Damian looked at her.
Of course it had.
She had always done the impossible assignment.
The crisis appeared finished.
Rainer was in custody.
Evidence was preserved.
Thomas was alive.
Gabriel agreed to testify.
Evelyn gave a full statement.
Marcus surrendered every document his father had hidden.
For the first time in nineteen years, the truth was moving toward daylight.
But Damian still felt something wrong.
"Where's Rainer's phone?"
Leo frowned.
"Evidence."
"Before that."
"His pocket."
"Who called him last?"
Leo checked the photographed evidence log.
One incoming number.
No name.
Three minutes before they entered the floor.
Khloe traced it.
Her expression changed.
"Damian."
"What?"
"The number belongs to an internal extension."
"Whose?"
Khloe stared at the screen.
"Your father's old office."
That office had been sealed for nineteen years.
No phone service.
No active extension.
Yet someone had called Rainer from it.
They went upstairs.
The door was locked.
Damian still had the original key.
He inserted it.
Turned.
The door opened.
Dust covered the furniture.
Nothing appeared disturbed.
Then Khloe noticed footprints.
Fresh.
They led behind Dominic's desk.
A panel stood open.
Inside was another phone.
Still warm.
Leo checked the call log.
One outgoing call.
Rainer.
One incoming call.
Three minutes later.
Unknown.
Then a voicemail.
Damian played it.
A man's voice spoke.
"Edward failed. Begin the second protocol."
Khloe looked at Damian.
"Rainer wasn't the last one."
A sound came from the hallway.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Approaching.
Damian moved toward the door.
Someone stopped outside.
A shadow appeared beneath it.
Then a voice said:
"Damian, before you open that door, you need to know what your father did to me."
Damian recognized the voice.
May you like
So did Leo.
It belonged to someone who had been standing beside them from the beginning...
