Chapter 6 - The Enemy Inside
The Costa estate went into lockdown.
Steel shutters descended over the glass walls.
Security doors sealed.
The staff were moved into the interior corridor.
Damian stood in the center of the command room while Thomas displayed surveillance footage.
“Six vehicles,” Thomas said.
“License plates?”
“Fake.”
“Who knew I was leaving the city today?”
Thomas hesitated.
“Victor.”
Damian looked at him.
“Anyone else?”
“Claudia.”
“She was gone.”
“Exactly.”
Damian understood.
Claudia had not simply been trying to hurt Harper.
Someone had wanted Harper dead.
Because Harper had seen something.
The wine dinner.
The necklace.
Leo's shooting.
The freezer.
Every incident had been designed to isolate her.
But why?
Harper walked to the security console.
“Show me the footage from the night Leo was shot.”
Thomas looked at Damian.
Damian nodded.
The footage played.
Men carrying Leo.
Damian arriving.
Harper taking command.
Then Harper noticed something.
“Stop.”
The screen froze.
“What?”
She pointed.
“The ambulance.”
“What about it?”
“The doctor arrived ten minutes after you called.”
Damian frowned.
“So?”
“Look at the timestamp.”
Thomas zoomed in.
The doctor had arrived six minutes before the emergency call was made.
Silence.
Damian's eyes narrowed.
“That wasn't our doctor.”
Thomas checked.
The physician had used a temporary badge.
Someone had expected Leo to be shot.
Someone had arranged the fake medical response.
Harper looked at Damian.
“Leo wasn't the target.”
“Who was?”
“Maybe you.”
Damian shook his head.
“No.”
“Then who?”
He looked at her.
“You.”
Harper's blood ran cold.
The shooting had happened in the exact hallway where Harper was working.
Leo had been placed between them.
He had been shot because the shooter believed Harper would intervene.
Why?
Because someone already knew what Harper could do.
Damian turned toward Thomas.
“Find everything on Harper Lane.”
She frowned.
“You already investigated me.”
“Not enough.”
Thomas began typing.
A minute later, his face changed.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“Harper wasn't only working in hospitals.”
He turned the monitor.
A file appeared.
Military training records.
Emergency response certification.
A sealed federal document.
Damian looked at Harper.
“What is this?”
Harper went silent.
She had hoped this day would never come.
“Tell me.”
She closed her eyes.
“My father wasn't a construction worker.”
Damian waited.
“He was an FBI financial crimes investigator.”
Thomas stiffened.
“He spent twelve years building a case against organized crime.”
Damian's eyes hardened.
“Against whom?”
Harper looked at him.
“Your father.”
Silence.
Damian stepped closer.
“You're telling me you're the daughter of the man who nearly destroyed the Costa organization?”
“Yes.”
“Why are you here?”
Harper's voice broke for the first time.
“Because he disappeared.”
Damian stared.
“He vanished when I was sixteen. My mother said he died.”
“And you don't believe her?”
“No.”
She pulled a photograph from beneath the mattress.
A man standing beside a younger Harper.
On the back was a handwritten message.
If I disappear, trust the Costa heir least of all.
Damian read it.
His face became unreadable.
Harper watched him.
“I didn't come here to spy on you.”
“Then why?”
“To find out what happened to my father.”
Damian looked at her.
For the first time, neither of them knew whether they were lovers, enemies, or allies.
Then a gunshot cracked through the estate.
Thomas ran toward the door.
Damian grabbed Harper's wrist.
“Stay behind me.”
She pulled free.
“No.”
Damian looked at her.
Harper picked up a weapon from the security desk.
“I told you.”
She chambered a round.
“I don't need your protection.”
Damian stared at her for half a second.
Then smiled.
“Good.”
Because now he finally understood.
May you like
Harper wasn't the woman he had to protect.
She might be the woman who could save him.
