Chapter 9 - The Girl Who Refused to Be Taken Again
Megan hit the pavement beneath the fire escape hard enough to send pain shooting through her right ankle.
For a second, she couldn't breathe.
Then she heard a window opening above her.
She looked up.
The man in the delivery jacket leaned out of her bedroom window.
Their eyes met.
He didn't shout.
He simply disappeared back into the apartment.
That frightened her more than anything.
Megan forced herself upright.
Her ankle protested, but she ran toward the street.
"Help!" she screamed. "Someone's trying to hurt me!"
A woman carrying grocery bags stopped on the sidewalk.
A delivery driver turned toward her.
Megan stumbled into the light of a convenience store and nearly collided with a young employee coming outside.
"Call the police!"
He looked at her bleeding hands.
"What happened?"
"Someone broke into my apartment."
The employee pulled her inside and locked the glass door.
Megan dropped behind the counter, gasping.
Through the window, she saw a dark SUV emerge from the alley.
The driver slowed near the store.
For one awful moment, she thought the vehicle would stop.
Then sirens sounded.
The SUV accelerated through the intersection and disappeared.
Megan pressed her forehead against the counter.
She had escaped.
Again.
But she understood that escape wasn't the same thing as freedom.
Within minutes, officers surrounded the building.
Elena arrived shortly afterward.
She found Megan sitting on a plastic chair in the store's back office, wrapped in a blanket.
"Are you hurt?"
"My ankle."
"Anywhere else?"
Megan shook her head.
Then she began crying.
Not quietly.
Not politely.
The sobs came from somewhere deep and exhausted.
Elena knelt beside her.
"You got out."
Megan covered her face.
"I thought I was safe."
"I know."
"He found me."
"We don't yet know how."
Megan looked at her.
"Then nowhere is safe."
Elena didn't offer false reassurance.
"We're going to take this seriously. And we're going to find you another way forward."
At the hospital, doctors treated Megan's swollen ankle and the cuts on her palms.
She hadn't broken anything.
The injuries were painful but manageable.
Detective Grant arrived after midnight.
She took Megan's statement carefully, then explained what investigators had found.
The intruder had entered the building using a copied maintenance access code.
Security footage showed him following Megan's transport from the flower shop two days earlier.
He hadn't discovered the confidential address through Elena's organization.
He'd watched Megan long enough to learn where she was staying.
That knowledge made Megan feel sick.
"What did he want?"
"We're still investigating."
"Was it Victor?"
"We suspect a connection, but we need evidence."
"Did you find the man?"
"Not yet. We recovered footage of the vehicle and some material he left behind."
Megan stared at her bandaged hands.
"He didn't come to rob me."
"No," Tessa agreed.
"He came to take me."
The detective didn't answer immediately.
Then she said, "That's one possibility we're investigating."
Megan drew a slow breath.
"I want to help you stop him."
"You already have."
"Then tell me what else I can do."
Tessa studied her.
"Right now, you can give yourself permission to recover."
Megan shook her head.
"I don't want to spend the rest of my life recovering while people like Rick keep doing whatever they want."
Tessa leaned forward.
"Then we'll talk about what happens next. But you're not going to be used as bait."
It was a promise Megan needed to hear.
At two in the morning, Damian arrived at the hospital.
He didn't enter Megan's room.
Instead, he waited in the corridor until Elena came outside.
"How is she?"
"She's frightened. Her ankle is injured."
"Can I speak to her?"
"That's her decision."
Damian nodded.
"Tell her I'm here. If she doesn't want to see me, I'll leave."
Elena returned several minutes later.
"She'll speak with you briefly."
When Damian entered, Megan was sitting upright against the pillows.
Her hands were bandaged.
A bruise was developing beneath her knee.
He stopped several feet away.
"I'm sorry."
Megan looked at him.
"For what?"
"Because Kade's people are hunting you over something connected to my family's operations."
"You didn't send the man."
"No."
"But your father built the system that made this possible."
Damian accepted the accusation.
"Yes."
Megan watched him.
"Did you know Avery was in trouble before she disappeared?"
The question struck with extraordinary precision.
Damian's face changed.
Megan knew the answer before he spoke.
"Yes."
Her chest tightened.
"What?"
"Avery sent a warning to one of my companies about suspicious transportation invoices."
"When?"
"Two weeks before she vanished."
Megan stared at him.
"What did you do?"
"I forwarded it to Victor Kade because he supervised the division."
For several seconds, Megan couldn't speak.
The man who had saved her from Rick had once handed a frightened woman's warning directly to the person she feared.
"Did you ever ask Avery what happened?"
Damian lowered his eyes.
"No."
"Did you even know her name?"
"Not until after she disappeared."
Megan turned toward the window.
The city lights blurred through her tears.
"I thought you were different."
Damian's voice was quiet.
"I'm trying to be."
"That's not the same thing."
"No."
He remained still.
Megan pulled the blanket closer.
"I don't want to see you right now."
For one heartbeat, Damian looked as if he might say something.
Then he nodded.
"I understand."
He left without another word.
Megan watched the door close.
She had wanted him to be the hero of a story in which one powerful man could defeat all the others.
Now she understood something harder.
Damian Caruso might be capable of protecting her.
But he was also capable of terrible mistakes.
And she couldn't build her freedom on pretending otherwise.
Across the corridor, Damian reached for his phone.
He called his attorney.
"Prepare a full disclosure."
His lawyer sounded alarmed.
"Damian, that could destroy everything."
Damian looked through the hospital window toward the dark city.
"I know."
"Do you understand the consequences?"
"Yes."
He thought of Avery's unanswered warning.
Of Laura Reed searching for seventeen months.
Of Megan climbing out of a window rather than surrendering.
May you like
Then he spoke the words his father's organization had taught him never to say.
"I'm ready to accept them."
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