Chapter 2 - The Debt of a Dangerous Man
Leah spent the next hour pretending everything was normal.
She served drinks.
She smiled at guests.
She refilled coffee.
She did not look at the photograph again.
She kept it inside her pocket until the banquet ended.
Then she went to the staff bathroom, locked the door, and called Mr. Alvarez.
He answered immediately.
“Everything okay?”
“Is Matteo still with you?”
“Yes.”
“Did anyone come by?”
“No.”
Leah exhaled.
“Good.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
She hated lying to him.
But telling him the truth would only frighten him.
When she stepped outside, Gabriel was waiting.
He leaned against the hallway wall.
“Mr. Rosetti wants to see you.”
“No.”
Gabriel looked surprised.
“I’m not asking.”
“And I’m not going.”
He sighed.
“Leah.”
She held up the photograph.
“Tell him I’m going home.”
Gabriel’s expression changed.
“Where did you get that?”
“Someone left it for me.”
He took it carefully.
His face became cold.
“This is recent.”
“I know.”
“Your apartment is compromised.”
Leah’s heart dropped.
“What do you mean?”
“Do not go home.”
“I have Matteo.”
“He’s with Mr. Alvarez.”
“He’s coming with me.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“Not yet.”
Leah stepped closer.
“You tell me where my nephew is.”
“Safe.”
“I want proof.”
Gabriel called someone.
A video arrived.
Matteo was sitting at a diner eating pancakes with Mr. Alvarez.
Leah almost cried.
Gabriel put his phone away.
“He’s safe.”
“For how long?”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“On whether you listen.”
Leah followed Gabriel to Damian.
He stood in a private office overlooking the river.
The moment she entered, he turned.
“You saw the photograph.”
“Yes.”
“Anyone touch you?”
“No.”
“Anyone follow you?”
“I don’t know.”
Damian looked toward Gabriel.
“Double her protection.”
“I don’t need protection.”
“You do.”
“I need my normal life.”
“That life is over.”
She stared at him.
“You don't get to decide that.”
“I didn’t.”
“Then who did?”
He held her gaze.
“The people who tried to kill me.”
Leah folded her arms.
“Why me?”
“That’s what I intend to find out.”
A silence followed.
Then Damian walked toward her.
He looked exhausted.
“Leah, there are two possibilities.”
“I'm listening.”
“They think you saw something at the hotel.”
“I did.”
“Or they know you saved me.”
“They do.”
He shook his head.
“You still don’t understand.”
“What?”
“They don’t want to scare you.”
“Then what do they want?”
He looked directly into her eyes.
“They want me to believe you are the person who betrayed me.”
Leah laughed bitterly.
“I met you three days ago.”
“That’s why it works.”
He showed her a photograph.
A woman in a red coat standing near the hotel entrance.
“She was there the night I was drugged.”
Leah looked closer.
“She looks familiar.”
“Do you know her?”
“No.”
Damian handed her another photograph.
This one showed the same woman speaking to one of the hotel managers.
Leah frowned.
“She works for the hotel.”
“Exactly.”
The manager was later identified as Victor Hale.
He had worked at the Grand Aurelia for eleven years.
He disappeared before police could question him.
Leah’s old shoe, the one she had complained about, suddenly seemed unimportant.
Because Victor had accessed employee records.
He knew her schedule.
He knew Matteo’s name.
And he had enough information to build a believable story that Leah was part of the conspiracy.
Damian’s enemies wanted to use her.
But they had underestimated one thing.
Damian did not trust easily.
And now he trusted Leah more than he understood.
That night, Damian offered Leah a room in his private residence.
She refused.
Then someone fired three bullets through her apartment window.
Afterward, she stopped refusing.
The mansion sat behind iron gates on the outskirts of the city.
Leah hated every inch of it.
The marble floors.
The security cameras.
The armed guards.
The enormous kitchen.
The quiet.
Matteo loved it.
“This place is bigger than school,” he said.
“It’s not ours.”
“Can we pretend?”
Leah smiled.
“Maybe for one night.”
Damian watched from the doorway.
Matteo looked at him.
“Are you the boss?”
Damian almost smiled.
“Something like that.”
“Do you have a dog?”
“No.”
“You need one.”
Gabriel coughed to hide a laugh.
Damian gave him a look.
Later, after Matteo went to bed, Leah found Damian in the library.
“You scare him.”
“He seems fine.”
“He is.”
“Good.”
She sat across from him.
“Why did you bring us here?”
“Because I can protect you.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because it’s true.”
Leah sighed.
“I don't want your life.”
“You don't have it.”
“Then why does it feel like I do?”
Damian looked away.
“Because my enemies think you matter.”
“And do I?”
He looked back.
“Yes.”
The answer was too fast.
Too honest.
Leah looked down.
“Why?”
“I don't know yet.”
He stood.
“Maybe I should.”
A knock interrupted them.
Gabriel entered.
“We found the woman in the red coat.”
Damian’s entire expression changed.
“Where?”
“Dead.”
“How?”
“Same drug.”
Leah stood.
“She was killed?”
Gabriel nodded.
“Someone wants to erase every connection.”
Damian frowned.
“Who found her?”
“The police.”
“Who called them?”
Gabriel hesitated.
“Victor Hale.”
Damian looked at Leah.
“He’s alive.”
The room went quiet.
“Then why was the woman killed?”
“To make Victor look guilty.”
Damian nodded.
“So someone is framing him too.”
Leah understood.
“This is bigger than you.”
“Yes.”
“Who is Sable?”
Damian looked at her sharply.
“How do you know that name?”
“One of the men at the hotel said it.”
Gabriel swore quietly.
Damian walked closer.
“Sable isn't a person.”
“What is it?”
“An operation.”
“Run by who?”
“We don't know.”
“Then maybe that's where you start.”
He stared at her.
“You really do not know when to stay silent.”
“No.”
A faint smile crossed his face.
“Good.”
The next morning, a package arrived.
Inside was a broken gold bracelet.
Leah recognized it immediately.
It belonged to her mother.
She had kept it locked inside a drawer since she was seventeen.
Her hands began to shake.
A note was attached.
YOU ARE NOT WHO YOU THINK YOU ARE.
Damian read it.
He looked at Leah.
“Tell me everything about your mother.”
“She died when I was seventeen.”
“How?”
“Car accident.”
“Are you sure?”
Leah frowned.
“That’s what I was told.”
Damian called Gabriel.
“Find the original accident report.”
Leah suddenly felt cold.
Why would anyone connect her mother to Damian’s world?
Why would someone send her bracelet?
And why now?
Within hours, Gabriel returned.
“The report has been altered.”
Leah stared at him.
“What?”
“There was no accident.”
Damian’s face became unreadable.
“Then what happened?”
Gabriel placed a file on the table.
“Your mother disappeared.”
Leah stopped breathing.
“No.”
“Six months before she supposedly died.”
She shook her head.
“My father identified the body.”
“Your father also died three months later.”
Leah’s hands trembled.
Damian watched her carefully.
“We’re going to find out the truth.”
“Why?”
“Because somebody has spent seventeen years making sure you never did.”
Leah looked at him.
For the first time, she wasn't simply afraid.
She was angry.
And somewhere deep inside the Rosetti organization, someone was watching their conversation through a hidden camera.
A distorted voice whispered:
“She remembers the bracelet.”
May you like
Another voice answered.
“Then bring the girl to Sable.”
