Chapter 5 - The Debt
Harper spent three days recovering.
When she finally woke, Damian was sitting by the window.
No suit.
Black shirt.
Dark jeans.
He looked almost human.
“Where's Claudia?”
“Gone.”
Harper nodded.
“Good.”
Damian placed a check beside her.
Seventy thousand dollars.
Her mother's debt.
Harper stared at it.
“I said no.”
“It's not charity.”
“I don't care what you call it.”
“Hazard compensation.”
“You're impossible.”
“So are you.”
She looked at him.
“What do you want?”
Damian answered immediately.
“You.”
Harper's breath caught.
“Not as a maid.”
He moved closer.
“As an equal.”
She laughed once.
“You're asking a woman who cleans your toilets to stand beside you?”
“No.”
He looked directly into her eyes.
“I'm asking the woman who saved one of my men, exposed my fiancée, and survived a murder attempt to stand beside me.”
Harper didn't answer.
Instead, she asked:
“How many people have you killed?”
Damian's face hardened.
“Enough.”
“How many innocent people?”
He didn't answer immediately.
“Some.”
Harper swallowed.
“Then I won't pretend you're a good man.”
“I never asked you to.”
“And I won't become your trophy.”
“I don't want a trophy.”
“You don't control me.”
“I know.”
“If I discover you're lying to me—”
“You walk.”
She studied him.
“You'd let me?”
“Yes.”
That was the first answer Damian had given her that she believed.
She accepted the check.
Not because she belonged to him.
Because the debt belonged to the hospital.
But before she could sign anything, the door opened.
Thomas stood there.
“Boss.”
Damian looked over.
“What?”
“We found something.”
He handed Damian a photograph.
Harper watched Damian's expression change.
It wasn't anger.
It was recognition.
“What?”
Damian didn't answer.
Harper stood.
“What's wrong?”
Damian handed her the photograph.
It showed Claudia entering the basement.
Behind her stood the security captain.
Victor Hale.
Harper looked up.
“Who is he?”
“My head of internal security.”
“Was he working with Claudia?”
“I don't know.”
The photograph showed Victor looking directly at the camera.
As if he knew he was being watched.
Damian's phone rang.
He answered.
A man's voice came through.
“Your docks belong to us now.”
Damian's eyes hardened.
“Who is this?”
“You're asking the wrong question.”
The call ended.
A second later, every security monitor in the estate went black.
Damian stood.
“Lock the house.”
Thomas moved.
Harper looked toward the windows.
Outside, headlights appeared along the private road.
One.
Two.
Six.
Then twelve.
Damian grabbed his weapon.
Harper stared at him.
“Are they here for you?”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“They're here because someone inside my house has been feeding them information.”
Harper understood.
Claudia had never been the real enemy.
May you like
She had only been the distraction.
And suddenly, the entire story changed.
