Chương 6 - MIDNIGHT
Damian wanted to go alone.
Clara refused.
“He killed my father.”
“That is exactly why you’re not coming.”
“That is exactly why I am.”
“You think revenge will make this easier?”
“No. I think Rosa trusted my father, and she protected me tonight. I’m not hiding while someone threatens her.”
Damian looked at her for a long moment.
“Fine.”
The exchange location was an abandoned ferry terminal.
Midnight.
Vincent stood beneath a rusted light.
Rosa sat in a chair twenty feet away.
Vanessa stood beside her.
Damian’s expression hardened.
“You escaped together.”
Vanessa looked exhausted.
“This ends tonight.”
Damian held up Ledger 17.
“Release Rosa.”
Vincent smiled.
“First the book.”
Clara whispered, “Don’t.”
Damian stepped forward.
Vincent raised his weapon.
Then Vanessa moved.
Not toward Damian.
Toward Vincent.
She slammed her elbow into his arm.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Rosa threw herself sideways.
Damian charged.
Vincent ran.
Clara rushed to Rosa.
“You okay?”
“I am seventy, tied to a chair, and surrounded by idiots. Define okay.”
Clara almost laughed.
Vanessa stood frozen.
Damian stared at her.
“Why?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“Because he was going to kill all of us.”
Sirens approached.
Vincent had nowhere to go.
He ran toward the dock.
Damian followed but stopped at the edge.
Vincent stood aboard a small motorboat.
“You think this changes anything?” Vincent shouted. “Your family built its fortune on lies!”
Damian held up the ledger.
“Then the truth can decide what remains.”
Police boats appeared beyond the pier.
Vincent looked around.
For the first time, the dead man had nowhere to disappear.
He surrendered.
Vanessa was arrested too.
Before officers took her away, she stopped beside Clara.
For a moment, neither woman spoke.
Then Vanessa said, “I hated you before I knew you.”
Clara stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because he respected you.”
She glanced at Damian.
“He never respected me.”
“That wasn’t my fault.”
“I know.”
Vanessa looked down.
It was not an apology.
But it was the closest she had.
By dawn, the engagement was officially over.
The wedding scheduled for that evening was canceled.
News spread rapidly.
Reporters gathered outside the estate.
Damian’s companies issued statements confirming an internal fraud investigation.
And Clara became the woman everyone wanted to photograph.
She hated it.
Three days later, she packed her suitcase.
Damian found her in the staff wing.
“You’re leaving.”
“Yes.”
“I thought you accepted the new position.”
“I did.”
“Then why are you packing?”
“Because I’m not living here.”
Something in his expression changed.
“Because of the press?”
“Because of you.”
Silence.
Clara faced him.
“I know what is happening.”
“What is happening?”
“Whatever this is.”
She gestured between them.
“You almost kissed me.”
“Yes.”
His honesty irritated her.
“And then you offered me a promotion.”
“Yes.”
“You don’t see the problem?”
“I see several.”
“I spent two years working in your house. Yesterday I was cleaning your bedroom. Today you want me in corporate meetings. Somewhere in between, you started looking at me differently.”
“I started seeing you differently.”
“That’s worse.”
Damian frowned.
Clara softened.
“I need to know who I am when I’m not inside your house.”
He understood.
It hurt more because he understood.
“So you’re leaving.”
“I’m moving.”
“Where?”
“Apartment in Stamford.”
“Security?”
“I knew you’d ask.”
“Clara.”
“Yes. Security.”
He nodded.
Then he handed her something.
Her father’s brass key.
She closed her fingers around it.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For believing me that night.”
Damian shook his head.
“I didn’t.”
Clara looked up.
“I investigated you.”
“You investigated everyone.”
“I should have stopped Vanessa before she humiliated you.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I should have known what happened inside my own house.”
Clara stepped closer.
“Then make it a house where it doesn’t happen again.”
He watched her leave.
For a man who had spent his life believing possession meant security, it was an unfamiliar experience.
May you like
He wanted Clara to stay.
So he let her go.
