Chapter 4 - The Woman Behind the Rule
Hazel expected Damian’s protection to feel like imprisonment.
Instead, it felt dangerously like being cared for.
Her brother Noah was brought to the Romano estate before sunset.
The seventeen-year-old burst from the SUV furious rather than frightened.
“Hazel!”
She ran down the front steps.
Noah hugged her so hard she almost cried.
Then he noticed Damian standing behind her.
Noah’s eyes widened.
“Is that your boss?”
“Yes.”
“The scary one?”
Damian raised an eyebrow.
Hazel closed her eyes.
“Thank you, Noah.”
“What? You said everyone is terrified of him.”
“I don’t recall saying everyone.”
“You said one gardener quit because Mr. Romano looked at him for too long.”
Damian’s mouth twitched.
Hazel wanted the earth to swallow her.
Noah leaned toward her.
“He’s bigger than I pictured.”
“I can hear you,” Damian said.
Noah straightened.
“Yes, sir.”
For the first time in days, Hazel laughed.
Damian watched her.
It changed her entire face.
That realization bothered him more than it should have.
Over the next two days, Luca’s team studied Evan’s files.
The second encryption key remained missing.
Without it, the evidence showed Sullivan’s operation but lacked the digital authentication needed to prove the files had not been altered.
Hazel tried returning to work.
Damian refused.
“You’re not going to the diner.”
“I need my paycheck.”
“I’ll continue paying your salary.”
“For doing nothing?”
“You can clean.”
“You have thirty employees.”
“Then clean something they missed.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“So is getting shot over minimum wage.”
She glared at him.
Damian discovered he liked when Hazel glared.
That was another problem.
Thursday evening, she found him alone in the library.
His bandage needed changing.
“I can do it myself,” he said.
“You did a terrible job yesterday.”
“I survived.”
“Your standards are incredibly low for a millionaire.”
“Billionaire.”
Hazel stared.
“Was correcting that really necessary?”
“No.”
She laughed.
Damian removed his shirt.
Hazel changed the dressing.
This time, when her fingertips touched his skin, he did not tense.
“You really haven’t let a woman touch you in four years?”
He looked at her.
“People talk.”
“They do when their employer has rules that sound like something from a gothic novel.”
Damian remained silent.
Hazel almost apologized.
Then he spoke.
“Her name was Elena.”
Hazel stopped.
“My fiancée.”
She had expected betrayal.
She had not expected grief.
“We were together six years.”
Damian stared toward the fire.
“She knew what my family was. She also knew I wanted out of certain parts of it.”
“What happened?”
“My enemies discovered she existed.”
Hazel’s hand lowered.
“They kidnapped her?”
“No.”
His voice became quieter.
“She sold them information.”
Hazel blinked.
Elena had secretly worked with Damian’s rival for nearly a year. She had provided schedules, security routes, names.
Then the rival decided Elena knew too much.
“They killed her?”
Damian nodded.
“I found her.”
The words explained everything his expression did not.
Hazel sat beside him.
“So you decided touching someone meant trusting them.”
“And trusting someone meant giving them a weapon.”
“That’s lonely.”
“It’s efficient.”
“No. It’s lonely.”
Damian looked at her.
Most people feared disagreeing with him.
Hazel apparently became braver whenever she was exhausted.
“Why aren’t you afraid of me?” he asked.
“I am.”
“You hide it well.”
“I’m more afraid of losing Noah.”
Her honesty landed harder than flattery ever could.
Damian reached toward her face.
Then stopped.
Hazel saw the hesitation.
Slowly, she closed the remaining distance herself.
She placed her cheek against his palm.
Damian stopped breathing.
Nothing terrible happened.
No betrayal.
No knife.
No gunfire.
Just warmth.
Hazel whispered, “See?”
His thumb moved gently beneath her eye.
“I see.”
For one impossible moment, they leaned closer.
Then Luca entered.
“Boss.”
Damian immediately withdrew his hand.
Luca looked between them.
“I found Evan.”
Hazel stood so quickly she nearly knocked over a lamp.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Her knees weakened.
“Where?”
“Chicago.”
A photograph appeared on Luca’s tablet.
Evan Cole walked from a convenience store three days earlier.
Healthy.
Clean clothes.
No sign of captivity.
Hazel stared at the image.
“He abandoned me.”
Damian’s jaw tightened.
“There’s more.”
Security footage showed Evan climbing into a black SUV.
The driver stepped outside.
Frankie Sullivan.
Hazel felt the room disappear beneath her.
“They’re together.”
Damian said nothing.
Evan had not escaped Sullivan.
He had joined him.
And Hazel finally understood.
The debt had never been real.
The threats had never been about sixty thousand dollars.
She had been bait.
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
Damian nodded.
“Answer.”
Hazel put it on speaker.
Evan’s voice filled the room.
“Hey, Haze.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“You son of a bitch.”
Silence.
Then Evan sighed.
“I deserve that.”
“You left me.”
“I had to.”
“You left Sullivan threatening my brother!”
“That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“You expect me to believe you?”
“No.”
Evan sounded exhausted.
“But if you want Noah alive, listen carefully.”
Damian’s expression hardened.
Evan continued.
“Frankie doesn’t need the phone anymore. He knows Damian has it.”
Hazel looked at Damian.
“What does he need?”
“You.”
“Why?”
A long pause.
“Because the second key isn’t a password.”
Hazel’s pulse accelerated.
“What is it?”
“You’ve been wearing it for six months.”
Her hand automatically moved to the small silver pendant around her neck.
The necklace Evan had given her before disappearing.
Damian stared at it.
Evan whispered, “And Frankie is coming to take it.”
A gunshot exploded through the phone.
May you like
Hazel screamed.
The call ended.
