Chapter 2 - THE FIFTEEN MEN WHO NEVER MADE IT HOME
At 2:17 in the morning, Kate Bennett woke to the sound of rain against the hospital window.
For several seconds, she didn't remember where she was.
Then the pain returned.
Her wrist was wrapped in a rigid cast.
Her shoulder ached.
Her throat felt dry.
And somewhere beyond the glass, Chicago glowed beneath a storm-darkened sky.
She slowly turned her head.
Damon Blackwell was sitting in the chair beside the window.
He was still wearing the same black suit.
His jacket was folded neatly over the back of the chair.
His sleeves were rolled to his forearms.
And he hadn't slept.
Kate stared at him.
“You're still here?”
Damon looked over.
“I said I wouldn't leave you alone.”
“You didn't have to stay.”
“Yes.”
The certainty in his voice made her uncomfortable.
Kate pulled the blanket higher.
“What happened downstairs?”
Damon's expression didn't change.
“The gala ended.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
“I know.”
She waited.
Damon finally stood.
“Preston Caldwell is alive.”
Kate released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.
“But he's under protective custody.”
“Police?”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“Then whose?”
Damon walked toward the window.
“Mine.”
Kate frowned.
“You can't just keep someone prisoner.”
“I didn't.”
“Then where is he?”
“Somewhere he can't hurt you.”
Kate stared at his back.
“And the other fourteen?”
Damon didn't answer immediately.
That was answer enough.
“Damon.”
“They're alive.”
She swallowed.
“All of them?”
“Yes.”
“Then where are they?”
“Being questioned.”
“By whom?”
He turned.
“People who know how to recognize the truth when money has taught someone to lie.”
Kate didn't like the sound of that.
“Are you threatening them?”
“No.”
His voice was almost gentle.
“I'm giving them an opportunity.”
“To do what?”
“To tell the truth before Senator Caldwell decides to destroy evidence.”
Kate's stomach tightened.
“Senator Caldwell?”
Damon nodded.
“He's not just Preston's father.”
“What else is he?”
Damon looked at her for a long moment.
“He's one of the men who helped build the system that made Preston believe he could do whatever he wanted.”
Kate felt cold.
“Why?”
“Because powerful families protect their own.”
She looked down at her cast.
“I told you they would destroy me.”
“They won't.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because I know something you don't.”
“What?”
Damon stepped closer.
“Your employment isn't the reason they were interested in you.”
Kate's heart stopped.
“What does that mean?”
Damon placed a thin folder on the table.
“Open it.”
Her left hand struggled with the clasp.
Eventually, she managed.
Inside were photographs.
Kate recognized the Blackwell estate.
Then herself.
Working.
Walking.
Carrying trays.
Speaking to guests.
There were photographs of her mother leaving the hospital.
Her apartment.
Her car.
Her daily routine.
Kate's blood turned cold.
“Why were they watching me?”
“We don't know yet.”
“Then why do you have these?”
“Because someone has been watching you for months.”
She looked up.
“Who?”
Damon's expression hardened.
“That's what I'm finding out.”
Kate stared at the photographs.
“How long?”
“Eleven months.”
The same amount of time she had worked at Blackwell Estate.
She suddenly remembered something.
The first week she had started working there, a man had asked her to deliver a sealed envelope to the library.
She had forgotten about it.
Then there had been another strange incident.
A woman asking whether Margaret Bennett was her mother.
A man waiting outside the hospital.
A missing package.
A phone call that had ended the moment Kate answered.
She slowly raised her eyes.
“Damon.”
“Yes?”
“I think I know where this started.”
He waited.
“When I was nineteen, my father called me.”
Damon became still.
“He had been gone for years. He said he wanted to apologize.”
“What happened?”
“I never met him.”
“Why?”
“He died two days before we were supposed to meet.”
Damon's jaw tightened.
“Do you know how?”
“Car accident.”
“Who told you?”
“The police.”
“Which police department?”
Kate frowned.
“I don't remember.”
Damon reached for his phone.
“Matteo.”
The call connected immediately.
“Pull every record concerning Thomas Bennett's death.”
Kate stared.
“You think my father's death is connected to this?”
“I think coincidences are too expensive to ignore.”
Before Kate could answer, the hospital door opened.
Matteo entered.
His face was unusually serious.
“Damon.”
“What?”
“We found something.”
Matteo placed a photograph on the table.
Kate looked at it.
Her breath disappeared.
It showed a younger version of her father.
Standing beside Senator Richard Caldwell.
And beside them was another man.
Damon's father.
Kate looked from the photograph to Damon.
“When was this taken?”
“Twenty-eight years ago.”
Kate's fingers trembled.
“My father knew your father?”
“Apparently.”
Matteo placed another document down.
“And there's more.”
Kate looked at it.
Her father's name appeared on a corporate registration.
Blackwell Maritime Holdings.
She looked at Damon.
“What is that?”
“My father's first company.”
Kate felt dizzy.
“You're telling me my father worked for your family?”
“No.”
Damon's eyes narrowed.
“He was a partner.”
Silence filled the room.
Then Kate remembered her mother's words.
Never give cruel people a reason to remember your name.
She had always thought Margaret was talking about surviving poverty.
Maybe she had been talking about something else.
The hospital lights flickered.
Damon looked toward the door.
His instincts changed instantly.
“What?”
He raised one finger.
Everyone became silent.
Footsteps approached.
Slow.
Measured.
Then someone stopped outside Kate's room.
A knock came.
Three times.
Pause.
Two more.
Damon's hand moved beneath his jacket.
The door opened.
A woman entered.
She was approximately sixty years old.
Elegant.
Gray-haired.
And wearing a pearl necklace.
Kate recognized her immediately.
Margaret Bennett.
Her mother.
Kate's eyes widened.
“Mom?”
Margaret looked at her daughter.
Then at Damon.
And finally at the photograph on the table.
Her face went completely pale.
“You found out.”
Kate froze.
Damon slowly stood.
“Found out what?”
Margaret's eyes filled with tears.
“The reason your father died.”
She looked at Kate.
“The reason I taught you to disappear.”
Then she whispered the sentence that changed everything.
“Your father didn't abandon us.”
May you like
“He was murdered.”
And someone in the Blackwell family had ordered it.
