Chapter 7 - The Man Behind the Silence
Three months later, my life looked completely different.
Mom was recovering.
Eli returned to school football.
Priya became my best friend again.
And Damian and I were officially together.
Or as officially as two people could be when Damian still insisted on pretending he didn’t have a romantic bone in his body.
He did.
He just hid them under expensive suits.
One Saturday, he took me to the lake.
“No spreadsheets?”
“No.”
“No meetings?”
“No.”
“No terrifying employees?”
He looked at me.
“You are the only terrifying employee I have.”
I smiled.
“You like me.”
“Unfortunately.”
We walked along the water.
Then Damian stopped.
“I want to show you something.”
He took me to a private family cabin.
Inside were old photographs.
His father.
His mother.
Evan as a child.
Damian at sixteen.
I picked up a photo.
“You look angry.”
“I was.”
“Why?”
“I thought being angry kept people from hurting you.”
I looked at him.
“Did it?”
“No.”
He took the photograph from me.
“My father taught me that power was the only protection.”
“And now?”
“Now I think trust is.”
His eyes met mine.
“You changed that.”
I smiled.
Then he pulled another folder from a drawer.
“What is this?”
“My father’s final financial records.”
I frowned.
“Why show me?”
“Because there is something you should know.”
My heart sank.
“What now?”
“Your mother’s hospital bills.”
I blinked.
“What about them?”
“They were paid.”
“By insurance.”
“No.”
My eyes widened.
“By your father.”
He explained that years ago, my father had created a trust for Mom in case something happened to him.
The account had been hidden until now.
It contained enough money to cover her treatment and Eli’s education.
I stared.
“I thought we were broke.”
“You were.”
“And the money?”
“Locked.”
“Why?”
“To keep Victor from finding it.”
Tears filled my eyes.
My father had been protecting us all along.
Damian took my hands.
“You don’t have to work fourteen-hour days anymore.”
“But I want to work.”
“I know.”
“I like my job.”
“I know.”
“I’m not quitting.”
His lips curved.
“Good.”
Then he said:
“But I want you to stop thinking survival is your only option.”
That sentence stayed with me.
I realized Damian wasn’t trying to rescue me.
He was trying to teach me that I didn’t need rescuing.
A week later, I received an unexpected promotion.
Director of Financial Integrity.
I stared at the letter.
“This has to be a joke.”
Damian shook his head.
“You found the fraud.”
“I was an analyst.”
“You are now the person nobody gets to ignore.”
I smiled.
“That sounds dangerous.”
“It is.”
My new office was on the executive floor.
Right across from Damian’s.
One afternoon, I caught him staring at me through the glass.
I walked in.
“Watching me again?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I like knowing where you are.”
My heart fluttered.
Then an assistant interrupted.
“Mr. Cole, there’s someone here to see Ms. Bennett.”
“Who?”
A man entered.
David Mercer.
A former investigator who had worked with my father.
He handed me a sealed envelope.
“There’s something your father never found.”
“What?”
“A name.”
I opened the envelope.
One word.
Marlowe.
I looked at Damian.
He frowned.
“Who is Marlowe?”
David whispered:
“The person who financed Victor.”
Then he walked away.
May you like
The investigation that we thought was over had just opened another door.
But this time, Damian and I faced it together.
