Chapter 7 - THE ENEMY WHO HAD BEEN WAITING
Three weeks later, Cross Atlantic Holdings nearly collapsed.
News organizations published stories about Arthur Cross’s criminal network.
Banks froze accounts.
Partners disappeared.
Damian cooperated with investigators.
Every lawyer around him called it insanity.
Claire called it necessary.
She spent eighteen-hour days separating legitimate companies from contaminated ones.
Damian watched her save thousands of jobs one spreadsheet at a time.
Then a package arrived.
No return address.
Inside was a photograph of Claire’s childhood home.
And a note.
YOUR FATHER LEFT SOMETHING BEHIND.
Claire showed Damian.
Within an hour, they were driving north.
Thomas Bennett’s old house had been sold years earlier.
The current owners allowed Claire inside after Damian offered to pay for a hotel.
Claire entered her childhood bedroom.
Nothing.
Then she remembered something.
Her father measured her height every birthday inside the closet.
She opened it.
The marks remained beneath layers of paint.
Age 8.
Age 9.
Age 10.
Beside the final mark was a tiny carved cross.
Damian removed the panel.
Inside was an envelope.
Claire’s hands trembled.
She opened it.
A letter.
My Claire,
If you ever find this, then the Cross family’s past has reached you.
I am sorry.
I promised Victoria I would protect the evidence until Damian was old enough to decide what kind of man he wanted to become.
Claire stopped reading.
Damian stood beside her.
She continued.
The evidence is not here.
It is where your mother taught you never to be afraid of deep water.
Claire looked up.
“Lake Mercer.”
Her family had owned a cabin there.
They drove another hour.
The cabin was abandoned.
Claire walked to the dock.
Her mother had taught her to swim there.
Damian found an old metal chain beneath the boards.
They pulled.
A waterproof case emerged.
Inside were documents.
Photographs.
Bank records.
And one name Damian had not expected.
Senator Robert Lang.
Claire stared.
“He’s running for governor.”
Damian nodded.
Lang had built his career presenting himself as a reformer.
But twenty years earlier, Arthur Cross had paid him repeatedly.
A recent document showed something worse.
Lang had continued receiving money after Arthur’s death.
Claire whispered, “Evelyn wasn’t the top of the network.”
“No.”
Damian looked toward the road.
“She was protecting Lang.”
Headlights appeared.
Three vehicles.
Damian immediately pushed Claire behind the cabin.
Men emerged.
Armed.
Damian’s security team returned fire.
Claire crawled toward the dock with the case.
Someone grabbed her.
She turned and struck him with the metal case.
He fell into the water.
Another man approached.
Claire ran.
A shot struck the tree beside her.
Then Damian appeared.
He tackled the attacker.
They fought near the dock.
Claire saw another gunman aiming at Damian.
She screamed.
“Damian!”
He turned.
Too late.
Claire threw the metal case.
It struck the gunman’s arm as he fired.
The bullet missed Damian.
Damian disarmed him.
Minutes later, the surviving attackers fled.
Claire stood shaking.
Damian approached.
“You threw twenty-two years of evidence into a man’s face.”
“It was heavy.”
Damian stared at her.
Then laughed.
Claire had rarely heard him laugh.
It changed his entire face.
She started laughing too.
Maybe from exhaustion.
Maybe from terror.
Maybe because they were alive.
Then Damian stopped.
He touched her face.
“I almost lost you.”
Claire’s smile faded.
“You didn’t.”
“I keep almost losing you.”
“Then stop keeping me outside everything.”
His hand remained against her cheek.
“I don’t know how.”
“How what?”
“How to have something I can’t control.”
Claire understood.
She stepped closer.
“You don’t control people you love.”
Damian’s eyes changed.
Neither had said the word before.
Claire whispered, “You trust them.”
He kissed her.
Not violently.
Not desperately.
Carefully.
As though asking a question.
Claire answered by pulling him closer.
For several seconds, there was no empire.
No evidence.
No blood.
Only them.
When they separated, Damian rested his forehead against hers.
“I love you.”
Claire smiled through tears.
“I know.”
“That’s an irritating response.”
“I love you too.”
His eyes closed.
Then Claire’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
Senator Lang’s voice came through.
“Ms. Bennett.”
Claire looked at Damian.
Lang continued.
“You have something that belongs to me.”
Claire’s expression hardened.
“No, Senator.”
May you like
She looked at the case.
“I have something that belongs to the public.”
