Chapter 5 - The Maid Who Wouldn't Run
The bullet entered below Damian's shoulder.
It missed his heart.
Barely.
The Costa estate transformed into a fortress.
Doors locked.
Vehicles blocked the driveway.
Damian's private physician arrived within twelve minutes.
Harper stood outside the bedroom with blood drying across her hands.
Mrs. Gable approached.
"You saved him."
Harper looked down.
She had pressed both hands against Damian's wound for nine minutes.
"I stopped him from bleeding."
"Same thing tonight."
Hours later, Damian woke.
Harper entered.
His eyes found her immediately.
"You stayed."
"You owe me a uniform."
He glanced at the blood covering it.
"I'll buy the company."
"That seems excessive."
His mouth moved faintly.
Then he winced.
Harper sat beside him.
"Claudia?"
"Gone."
"Her father?"
"Also gone."
Damian's men had discovered Richard Vale boarded a private aircraft ninety minutes after the shooting.
Claudia had vanished with him.
But Harper noticed something else.
"How did the shooter know we'd be on the terrace?"
Damian looked toward her.
Someone inside the house had told them.
The traitor had to be staff, security, or family.
Damian ordered everyone investigated.
Harper objected.
"You'll scare the guilty person into running."
"What do you suggest?"
"Let them think you're weak."
"I've been shot."
"Commit to the role."
He stared at her.
"You want me to pretend I'm dying."
"I want the person who betrayed you to believe they need to finish the job."
Damian smiled despite the pain.
"Remind me never to make you angry."
Three days later, word spread that Damian's condition had deteriorated.
That night, Harper sat alone beside his apparently unconscious body.
At 1:13 a.m., the door opened.
Mrs. Gable entered.
Harper's heart sank.
The older woman carried a syringe.
"Mrs. Gable?"
Tears filled her eyes.
"I'm sorry."
Damian opened his eyes.
Mrs. Gable froze.
Two guards entered behind her.
She dropped the syringe.
"Please."
Damian sat up.
"Who?"
"They have my grandson."
Harper stood.
"Who has him?"
"Claudia."
The truth poured out.
Claudia had controlled the estate through blackmail for years. Staff who "vanished" had mostly been paid to leave after witnessing things Claudia wanted hidden. Others were threatened.
Mrs. Gable's grandson had been taken two days earlier.
Claudia demanded that she inject Damian with potassium chloride.
Damian's fury was frightening.
But Harper touched his arm.
"She came in crying."
He looked at her.
"She didn't want to do it."
Mrs. Gable collapsed.
"Please find him."
Damian did.
Before sunrise, his men traced Claudia's message to an abandoned hunting lodge.
They recovered the boy alive.
Claudia wasn't there.
But they found something else.
A laptop.
On it were recordings of Richard Vale discussing Vittorio Costa's death.
And one recent recording.
Richard's voice was unmistakable.
"The maid has the ledger. Claudia, stop obsessing over Damian. Kill Harper and bring me the drive."
Damian listened twice.
Then closed the laptop.
Harper stood behind him.
"Well," she said quietly, "that's inconvenient."
He turned.
"You need to leave New York."
"No."
"Harper."
"No."
"They're trying to kill you."
"They were trying before I knew why."
"I can put you somewhere safe."
She stepped closer.
"My mother spent twenty-seven years hiding this because she believed someone eventually had to finish it."
"That someone doesn't have to be you."
"Maybe I want it to be."
Damian stared at her.
Then Harper asked the question that changed everything.
"Are you trying to protect me because of the ledger?"
Silence.
"Or because you care whether I come back?"
His expression softened.
"Both."
For once, Harper had no sarcastic answer.
Damian touched her cheek.
Slowly.
Giving her every opportunity to move away.
She didn't.
Their first kiss was quiet.
No fireworks.
No dramatic declaration.
Just two exhausted people standing in a dangerous house, discovering something neither had planned.
Then Damian's phone rang.
He answered.
His face hardened.
"What?"
Harper watched him.
Damian lowered the phone.
"Richard Vale just went on television."
May you like
"And?"
"He accused you of murdering Claudia."
