Chapter 3 - What Yolanda Had Been Hiding
By sunrise, the estate had become a fortress.
But Damen no longer trusted walls.
He sat beside the hospital bed where Samuel Crane was recovering.
The bullet had passed through his shoulder.
The old man would live.
Unfortunately, that meant he would also have to explain.
"You knew Javier was alive."
Crane looked at him.
"Yes."
"For how long?"
"Three years."
Damen's expression remained cold.
"And you told me nothing."
"Your father made me promise."
"My father is dead."
"That doesn't end a promise."
Damen leaned forward.
"You have ten minutes to give me a reason not to put you on the next plane out of Rhode Island."
Crane smiled faintly.
"You are exactly like your father."
"No."
Damen's voice sharpened.
"I am worse when someone threatens a child."
Crane sighed.
"Javier was a brilliant accountant."
"That's not what I asked."
"He discovered the Circle was planning to take control of your family's port operations."
"I already knew there was a conflict."
"No."
Crane shook his head.
"You don't understand the scale."
He opened a file.
"Your father wasn't fighting for the docks."
He turned the page.
"He was fighting for a list."
Damen looked.
Names.
Hundreds.
Politicians.
Judges.
Port officials.
Bankers.
Police commanders.
Business owners.
People who had spent decades helping the Harbor Circle move illegal cargo.
Damen stared.
"And this is in the archive?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"Your father never told me."
"Then why did you say the archive exists?"
"Because Javier told me."
Damen turned sharply.
"You've been working with him."
Crane didn't deny it.
"Javier infiltrated the Circle."
"For three years?"
"Longer."
"Why fake his death?"
"Because they discovered him."
"And Yolanda?"
Crane looked toward the door.
"Yolanda was never just a housekeeper."
Damen's jaw tightened.
"I know."
“She married Javier when she was nineteen.”
“She was with him through everything.”
“Then why come here?”
Crane hesitated.
“To protect Talia.”
Damen stared.
“Protect her from what?”
“From her father.”
The words hit him harder than expected.
"Javier wanted to kill his own daughter?"
"No."
Crane shook his head.
"Javier wanted everyone to believe he would."
Damen slowly understood.
A decoy.
If the Circle believed Talia was Javier's weakness, they would hunt her.
But if they believed Javier was willing to sacrifice his daughter, they would stop looking.
Damen leaned back.
"And Yolanda came here because she needed a secure place."
"Yes."
"Why my estate?"
"Your father trusted this property."
"That's all?"
Crane's eyes lowered.
"There is something else."
Damen waited.
Crane said quietly, "Your father knew Yolanda's mother."
Damen frowned.
"My father knew everyone."
"No."
Crane looked at him.
"He loved her."
Damen went still.
"What?"
"Not in the way you're thinking."
Crane's voice softened.
"Your father and Elena Reyes grew up together. She was the daughter of a dockworker. They were close until your grandfather separated them."
Damen stared.
His father had never mentioned Elena Reyes.
"Did they have a child?"
Crane looked away.
"No."
"Then why does that matter?"
"Because Elena Reyes kept records of the Circle."
Damen's eyes returned to the file.
"Where?"
"In the archive."
That explained the secrecy.
It also created a new problem.
If the archive contained enough evidence to destroy the Circle, people would kill for it.
Damen returned to the estate.
Yolanda was sitting at the breakfast table.
Talia was coloring.
Damen stopped.
She looked up.
"How is Mr. Crane?"
"Alive."
"Good."
"You knew he'd be shot."
Her face tightened.
"I knew it was possible."
"Who are you?"
Yolanda looked down.
"A mother."
"I need more than that."
She was quiet.
Then she said, "I was trained."
Damen frowned.
"For what?"
"Observation. Records. Languages. Numbers. How to disappear."
"You worked for the Circle."
"No."
"Then who?"
"My mother."
He stared.
"Your mother?"
“She taught me how to keep information alive after people were killed for knowing it.”
Damen sat.
"What does the archive contain?"
"Everything."
"Everything?"
"The names of people who profited from the Circle. The routes. Payments. Judges. Officials. The identities of people who disappeared."
"And Javier?"
"His evidence."
Damen looked at Talia.
"Why does he want the key?"
Yolanda swallowed.
"He doesn't."
"Then who?"
"His brother."
Damen froze.
"Javier has a brother?"
"Mateo."
Damen knew the name.
Mateo Reyes had died fifteen years earlier during an explosion on a fishing boat.
At least that was the official story.
Damen stared at Yolanda.
"You're telling me both Reyes brothers are alive?"
"Mateo is alive."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
A little voice interrupted.
"Mommy?"
Yolanda turned.
Talia held up a drawing.
It showed four people.
Yolanda.
Talia.
A tall man.
And a huge black dog.
Damen looked at the drawing.
"Who's the man?"
Talia pointed.
"Daddy."
Damen's eyes narrowed.
The drawing of the man had one unusual detail.
A silver mark on the wrist.
Damen had seen it.
A tattoo.
Javier Reyes had one.
So did Mateo.
But there was something else.
Talia had drawn the man standing beside a boat.
And beneath the boat was a red square.
The red box.
Damen crouched beside her.
"Talia, who told you to draw that?"
She smiled innocently.
"Daddy."
Yolanda went pale.
Damen stood.
"Javier was here."
"No."
"Your daughter says he was."
Yolanda closed her eyes.
Then she whispered, "He came once."
"When?"
"Three months ago."
"Inside this house?"
"At night."
Damen's expression hardened.
"You brought Javier Reyes into my home."
"He needed to see Talia."
"Without telling me?"
"I knew you would kill him."
Damen stopped.
She wasn't wrong.
A man he believed had tried to manipulate his operation had entered his house secretly.
If Damen had known, Javier might never have left.
Yolanda looked at him.
"I didn't bring him here because I trusted him."
"Then why?"
"Because he was her father."
Damen looked at Talia.
The child was still coloring.
Oblivious.
Damen suddenly wondered how long she'd known Javier.
Then another question occurred.
"Does Talia know who I am?"
Yolanda shook her head.
"She knows you are Damen."
"Why did she run to me?"
Yolanda's eyes filled.
"Because she has seen you."
"How?"
"I showed her photographs."
"Why?"
Yolanda took a breath.
"Because Javier told me that if everything went wrong, I should run to the only man in Rhode Island who would protect a child before protecting his empire."
Damen stared at her.
"Me?"
She nodded.
"Your father taught Javier that."
He looked away.
His father had spent years building weapons, companies, alliances.
And somewhere beneath all of it, he had made preparations for a child he had never known.
Talia finished her drawing.
She walked over.
"Damen?"
He looked down.
She held the picture toward him.
"I made you a boat."
He took it.
"Thank you."
"You have to keep Mommy safe."
Damen looked into her serious little eyes.
"I will."
Talia smiled.
Then whispered, "Daddy says the red box can burn the bad people."
Damen's blood ran cold.
"What bad people?"
But Talia was already distracted by the crayons.
Yolanda closed her eyes.
"Damen."
He looked at her.
"We need to find the archive before Javier's brother does."
"Why?"
"Because Mateo isn't trying to expose the Circle."
May you like
Her voice broke.
"He's trying to control it."
