Chapter 7 - The Confession
“No.”
Damian's answer was immediate.
Isabelle folded her arms.
Grant Doyle had barricaded himself inside an abandoned hotel near Boston Harbor after a deal with Marcus Vale apparently collapsed.
He claimed he would surrender only to Isabelle.
Damian considered that absurd.
Isabelle considered it useful.
“He framed me,” she said. “He wants something.”
“Exactly why you're not going.”
“You're doing it again.”
Damian stopped.
“What?”
“Deciding for me because you're afraid.”
“This isn't the same.”
“No. But it comes from the same place.”
He looked at her stomach.
She saw it.
“Our child does not turn me into property.”
“I know.”
“Then say what you actually mean.”
Damian struggled.
“I am terrified.”
The honesty disarmed her.
“Of what?”
“Losing both of you.”
Her expression softened.
“I don't know how to protect you without controlling everything around you.”
“Then learn.”
Damian looked at her.
“All right.”
They compromised.
Isabelle would speak to Grant through a secure video connection.
No physical meeting.
Grant appeared on-screen looking exhausted.
“Hello, Isabelle.”
“You ruined my marriage.”
Grant smiled faintly.
“Damian ruined your marriage. I only handed him the weapon.”
Damian watched from outside the camera's frame.
The words struck exactly where Grant intended.
Isabelle didn't react.
“Why me?”
“You started asking questions.”
“About Northstar?”
“About everything.”
Grant leaned toward the camera.
“You were changing him.”
“Is that supposed to be a crime?”
“To men like Marcus Vale? Yes.”
Grant explained.
Richard Hale had planned to dismantle the criminal side of the Hale organization.
He wanted Damian to inherit legitimate companies instead.
Vale opposed him.
Grant, young and ambitious, became Vale's inside man.
“You killed Richard?” Isabelle asked.
“No.”
“Who did?”
“Vale ordered it.”
“And you helped.”
Grant's silence answered.
Damian closed his eyes.
Grant continued.
“I gave them the warehouse schedule. I didn't know they planned to bomb it.”
“You expect anyone to believe that?”
“No.”
For the first time, Grant looked genuinely tired.
“I spent fourteen years telling myself I wasn't responsible because I didn't push the button.”
Isabelle's voice hardened.
“You knew what kind of men they were.”
“Yes.”
“Then you knew enough.”
Grant nodded.
Damian watched, saying nothing.
“Why betray Damian now?”
“Because Vale never stopped wanting control. Damian started legitimizing the business after marrying you. Vale saw billions disappearing.”
“And you?”
“I wanted out.”
Isabelle laughed without humor.
“You framed a pregnant woman because you wanted out?”
Grant froze.
“Pregnant?”
Damian watched his face carefully.
Grant hadn't known.
Interesting.
“Where is Vale?” Isabelle asked.
Grant glanced away.
“There's a ledger.”
“Where?”
“Richard kept records. Insurance against Vale. I found it after his death.”
“You've had it fourteen years?”
“Yes.”
“What does it contain?”
“Everything. Judges. Companies. murders. Payoffs. Enough to destroy Vale.”
“Where?”
Grant smiled sadly.
“That's why I asked for you.”
Damian stepped into view.
Grant's smile vanished.
“Hello, brother.”
“You don't get to call me that.”
“Fair.”
“Tell us where the ledger is.”
Grant looked directly at Isabelle.
“In the one place Damian would never search.”
Damian's eyes narrowed.
“Where?”
“His mother's grave.”
Silence.
Grant had buried the ledger beneath the headstone of Eleanor Hale.
Damian sent a team.
Two hours later, Lucas called.
They found a waterproof steel box.
Inside was a ledger.
And a letter from Richard Hale to his son.
Damian opened it alone.
Damian,
If you are reading this, then I failed to correct my mistakes before they reached you.
His father admitted everything.
He had built the organization Damian inherited.
Then he regretted what it had become.
Vale believed fear was the only durable form of power.
Richard had eventually disagreed.
Do not inherit my enemies merely because you inherited my name.
Damian read that sentence three times.
Then another.
A man can spend his entire life defending a fortress only to discover the fortress is what imprisoned him.
Damian folded the letter.
Isabelle stood in the doorway.
“What will you do?”
“End it.”
“The war?”
“The organization.”
She stared.
“What?”
“Everything illegal. Every operation Vale wanted preserved.”
“That could take years.”
“Then it takes years.”
“And your enemies?”
“I'll deal with them.”
She stepped closer.
“Why?”
Damian looked down at the letter.
“Because I don't want our child inheriting this.”
Our child.
Not my heir.
Not a Hale.
Their child.
“And because,” he added, “you shouldn't have had to live behind armored glass to love me.”
Isabelle's eyes filled.
She hated that he could still reach the part of her that loved him.
“Don't change your life to win me back.”
“I'm not.”
“Then why?”
“Because even if you never come back, you were right.”
That was the first apology that truly reached her.
Not because he said sorry.
Because it required nothing from her.
Then Lucas burst through the door.
“Damian.”
“What?”
“Grant's hotel.”
Damian saw his expression.
May you like
“What happened?”
“Vale found him first.”
