Chapter 7 - The Price of Betrayal
Damian reached Hazel as the first bullet shattered the light above her.
He dragged her behind a forklift.
“Are you insane?”
“Probably!”
“That wasn’t rhetorical.”
Another volley hit the steel frame.
Damian returned fire.
Across the warehouse, Luca threw himself sideways as one of Frankie’s men went down.
Chaos consumed the building.
Damian’s team entered through three doors.
Frankie fled toward the loading bay.
Anthony followed.
Hazel saw Luca struggling with the rope around his wrists.
“I can reach him.”
“No.”
“Damian—”
“No.”
Then a bullet struck the forklift inches from Damian’s head.
Hazel grabbed a loose metal bar and crawled toward Luca while Damian covered her.
She cut through the plastic restraints.
Luca stared.
“Boss is going to kill you.”
“He already gave me that impression.”
Luca grabbed a fallen weapon.
“Stay behind me.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“Because you keep running toward gunfire.”
Fair point.
Within minutes, Frankie’s remaining men surrendered or escaped.
But Frankie and Anthony were gone.
Damian found Hazel beside Luca.
He looked at her.
She prepared for an argument.
Instead, he pulled her into his arms.
Hard.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he whispered into her hair.
“Never do that again.”
Hazel closed her eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“You should be.”
“But it worked.”
He pulled back.
“Do not ruin your apology.”
Luca laughed.
Damian glared at him.
“You’re remarkably cheerful for someone who was kidnapped.”
“I’ve had a complicated evening.”
Sirens approached.
Damian’s contacts inside federal law enforcement had received the files before the exchange.
Frankie’s organization was collapsing.
But Damian knew the most dangerous moment often came when a cornered man had nothing left to protect.
They returned to the estate before dawn.
Hazel finally slept.
This time in Damian’s bed.
Not because anything happened.
Because when she tried returning to her room, Damian simply said, “Stay.”
She did.
Hazel woke three hours later curled against his chest.
Damian was awake.
“Do you ever sleep?”
“Occasionally.”
“Were you watching me?”
“Yes.”
“That’s creepy.”
“I was checking whether you were breathing.”
“That’s somehow creepier.”
His mouth curved.
Hazel rested her chin against his chest.
“What happens now?”
“Federal agents dismantle Sullivan’s network.”
“And Frankie?”
“We find him.”
“And Anthony?”
Damian’s expression hardened.
“We find him too.”
Hazel touched his face.
“Don’t become someone you hate just because they deserve punishment.”
“You assume I hate myself.”
“I think sometimes you’re afraid you might.”
Damian looked at her for a long moment.
Nobody spoke to him this way.
Maybe that was why he needed her.
His fingers brushed her hair.
“Four years.”
“What?”
“I thought I’d never want this again.”
Hazel smiled.
“Sleeping beside someone?”
“Trusting someone.”
Her smile faded into something softer.
Damian kissed her forehead.
The peace lasted eleven minutes.
Luca knocked.
“Boss.”
Damian groaned.
Hazel laughed.
“What?”
“I’m beginning to dislike doors.”
Luca entered holding an envelope.
“Noah found this taped beneath his bedroom window.”
Damian instantly sat up.
Inside was a photograph.
Hazel walking through the estate garden.
Taken that morning.
On the back were five words.
YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME.
Beneath them:
NOW I TAKE HER.
Hazel stared.
“Frankie?”
Damian shook his head.
The handwriting was familiar.
Anthony.
Damian immediately increased security.
But Anthony knew every protocol.
Every camera.
Every hidden passage.
He had helped design the estate.
That afternoon, Hazel went downstairs for tea.
She never reached the kitchen.
A hand covered her mouth inside the service corridor.
She fought.
A needle entered her neck.
The last thing she saw was Anthony Romano’s face.
“Sorry, sweetheart.”
Darkness swallowed her.
Damian discovered she was missing nine minutes later.
Nine minutes.
That was all Anthony needed.
The security footage showed Hazel entering the corridor.
Then nothing.
Damian stood before the monitor with absolute stillness.
Luca knew that expression.
It was more dangerous than rage.
A phone rang.
Damian answered.
Anthony spoke.
“You always were too much like your father.”
“Where is she?”
“You took the family from me.”
“You sold us.”
“I built this organization before you were old enough to shave.”
“And now you’re hiding behind a twenty-six-year-old maid.”
Anthony’s voice hardened.
“Bring me Sullivan’s files.”
“No.”
A pause.
“Then she dies.”
Damian closed his eyes.
Four years earlier, someone had used Elena to destroy him.
He had promised himself nobody would ever hold that power again.
Then Hazel Brooks had fallen asleep against his chest.
And somehow his entire life had rearranged itself around the possibility of hearing her laugh again.
Anthony whispered, “Choose, Damian.”
Damian opened his eyes.
“You already know my choice.”
He disconnected.
Luca stared at him.
“The files?”
“No.”
“Then what are we doing?”
May you like
Damian picked up his coat.
“I’m bringing Hazel home.”
