Chapter 3 - The Photograph Nobody Was Supposed to See
The first clue was hidden inside a photograph taken three weeks earlier.
Lily found it at 8:15 that morning.
The image appeared ordinary.
A charity gala.
Hundreds of guests.
Crystal chandeliers.
Champagne.
Damian speaking with donors near the main staircase.
Marcus Voss standing twenty feet away.
Nothing unusual.
Except the reflection.
Lily zoomed into a mirrored panel behind the bar.
There was a fourth man.
He stood directly behind Marcus.
Lily had never noticed him during the event.
Damian approached.
“What do you see?”
She enlarged the image.
“This.”
He stared.
“That's Gabriel Sloan.”
“Who is he?”
“Chief financial officer of one of our European subsidiaries.”
“Why would he be talking to Marcus?”
“I don't know.”
Lily switched to another photograph.
“There.”
Gabriel again.
A different room.
A different angle.
He had moved.
But not randomly.
“Look at his hand.”
Damian leaned closer.
Gabriel was holding a folder.
On the folder was a symbol.
The broken crown.
Damian swore.
Lily looked at him.
“Northstar.”
“Northstar doesn't work for us anymore.”
“When did you cancel their contract?”
“Two months ago.”
“Then why are they still moving through your buildings?”
He stared at the photograph.
“Because someone kept paying them.”
That afternoon, Damian summoned his senior executives.
Lily remained in another room.
She watched through the glass.
There were seven men and two women.
Nine people who had worked with Damian for years.
One of them was the traitor.
Lily took notes.
Not names.
Movements.
Who looked at Damian.
Who looked at Marcus when Marcus wasn't there.
Who touched their phone.
Who avoided the topic of Adrian.
By the end of the meeting, she had one conclusion.
Someone was lying.
Someone else was afraid.
And a third person knew exactly why.
Her conclusion surprised Damian.
“The legal director.”
He looked at her.
“You think Helen Ward is involved?”
“Not directly.”
“Then why?”
“She kept looking at your left hand.”
“My hand?”
“You were wearing your father's ring.”
“So?”
“Every time you mentioned Adrian, she looked at it.”
Damian frowned.
Lily pulled up footage from the meeting.
“There.”
Helen's eyes flicked down.
Then away.
Again.
Again.
Damian went silent.
“What does the ring have to do with Adrian?”
“I don't know.”
“Then why does it matter?”
“Because people don't stare at meaningless things.”
That evening, Damian asked his father about the ring.
His father was in assisted living outside the city.
An old man with sharp eyes and a memory that worked only when it wanted to.
When Damian showed him the ring, the older man's face changed.
“Where did you get that?”
“You gave it to me.”
“No.”
His father shook his head.
“I gave that to your brother.”
Damian froze.
“My brother is dead.”
“Yes.”
The old man's voice became softer.
“That's the problem.”
Damian had spent eighteen years believing his older brother, Luca, died in a boating accident.
His father had never discussed it.
Not once.
Lily sat beside him in the private room.
She watched Damian absorb the impossible statement.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
His father looked toward the window.
“Luca didn't die that night.”
Silence.
“Then what happened?”
“He found the accounts.”
“What accounts?”
“The ones your organization was never supposed to have.”
Damian stared at him.
His father whispered:
“Money moved through shell companies. Political donations. Smuggling routes. Private contracts. Your brother tried to expose it.”
“Who was involved?”
The old man looked directly at Damian.
“You were.”
Damian recoiled.
“I was twenty.”
“You signed documents.”
“I didn't know.”
“I know.”
His father's expression softened.
“Luca knew you didn't.”
“Where is he?”
A long silence.
“Alive.”
Lily covered her mouth.
Damian stood.
“Where?”
His father closed his eyes.
“Ask Marcus Voss.”
On the drive back to the city, Damian said nothing.
Lily watched him.
Finally she spoke.
“You okay?”
“No.”
“At least you're honest.”
He looked at her.
“How do you keep calm?”
“I don't.”
“You look calm.”
“That's because I've had eleven years of practice looking through a viewfinder while people panic in front of me.”
He drove several blocks before saying:
“I thought my brother was dead.”
“You believed what you were told.”
“Yes.”
“And now?”
“Now I think my entire family lied to me.”
Lily looked out the window.
“Maybe not everyone.”
He glanced at her.
“You don't know that.”
“No.”
“But you want to believe it.”
She nodded.
“I do.”
For some reason, that answer stayed with him.
That night, Lily received a message from an unknown number.
A photograph appeared on her phone.
It showed her leaving the apartment.
Underneath it were five words.
STOP LOOKING OR DIE.
She showed Damian.
He stared at the image.
“Ethan.”
Ethan entered.
“What?”
Damian handed him the phone.
“Find where this was taken.”
Within minutes they discovered the photograph had been captured from across the street.
A surveillance vehicle.
Still nearby.
Damian looked at Lily.
“You're not leaving this building alone.”
“You're starting to sound possessive.”
“I am starting to sound responsible.”
“There's a difference?”
“Right now, no.”
She smiled slightly.
Then looked at him.
“Damian.”
“Yes?”
“If your brother is alive…”
“I know.”
“He may be the key to everything.”
Damian nodded.
“He may also be the reason everyone is trying to kill us.”
“Then we find him first.”
Their eyes met.
Neither moved.
The space between them suddenly felt too small.
Damian looked away.
Lily noticed.
For the first time, the man who could intimidate boardrooms seemed unsure around her.
It was almost endearing.
Then Ethan entered again.
“We found the vehicle.”
Damian turned.
“Where?”
“Outside a warehouse on Fulton Street.”
“Who owns it?”
May you like
Ethan's expression tightened.
“Marcus Voss.”
