Chapter 7 - THE SAFE
The next twenty-four hours changed everything.
Damen moved Hannah, Emma, and Daniel to a secure estate outside Chicago.
Not a mansion.
Not a fortress.
A quiet house surrounded by trees.
Hannah noticed something strange.
Damen slept on a couch outside the hallway.
“You don't have to guard the door.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Why?”
“Because someone shot at your family.”
“You can't protect everyone.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“But I can protect you.”
Hannah's heart skipped.
She looked away.
“That's dangerous.”
“What?”
“Caring this much.”
Damen didn't answer.
She sat beside him.
“Tell me about Sophia.”
He stared into the darkness.
“She was twenty-six.”
“She sounds young.”
“She was.”
“What was she like?”
“Annoying.”
Hannah smiled.
Damen smiled too.
“She talked too much.”
“She sounds wonderful.”
“She was.”
His smile disappeared.
“She was also brave.”
Hannah touched his hand.
“You didn't know she was helping us.”
“No.”
“You know now.”
“Yes.”
“Then maybe stop punishing yourself.”
Damen looked at her.
“Do you?”
“What?”
“Stop punishing yourself?”
Hannah couldn't answer.
He gently took her hand.
“Maybe we're more alike than I thought.”
The next morning, they found the safe.
It was inside an abandoned bank.
The number was Hannah's birthday.
08-15-98.
The safe opened.
Inside were documents.
Photographs.
A flash drive.
And a letter addressed to Damen.
He opened it.
Sophia's handwriting.
Damen,
If you're reading this, then I failed to tell you the truth while I was alive.
His hands shook.
I never betrayed you. I never sold information to Kane. I was trying to protect Hannah Brooks and her sister.
Damen closed his eyes.
Hannah stood beside him.
He continued.
Father knew about Kane. He knew about Keating. He knew what they were doing. But he was afraid.
I wasn't.
That's why they killed me.
Damen's jaw tightened.
The next line made his blood run cold.
But I didn't die alone.
He stopped.
Hannah whispered:
“Keep reading.”
Daniel Brooks was there. Emma was there. And someone else was there.
Damen turned the page.
The name had been blacked out.
Only one word remained.
Mother.
Damen looked up.
“Your mother?”
Hannah shook her head.
“She died years ago.”
Emma entered the room.
“What happened?”
Hannah handed her the letter.
Emma read it.
Her face changed.
“She wasn't talking about Mom.”
“Then who?”
Emma looked at Damen.
“Your mother.”
Damen froze.
“My mother died before Sophia.”
“No.”
Emma shook her head.
“She disappeared.”
Damen stared.
His entire family history had been a lie.
His father had claimed his mother abandoned them.
But Sophia's letter suggested otherwise.
The flash drive contained video files.
They opened the first.
A hidden camera recording.
Victor Kane.
Senator Keating.
And Damen's father.
They were discussing Sophia.
Then Kane said:
“She has the girl.”
Keating replied:
“Which girl?”
“Hannah.”
Damen stared at the screen.
Then his father said something that changed everything.
“She isn't the key.”
Kane frowned.
“Then what is?”
Damen's father looked directly toward the camera.
“Emma.”
Hannah stared.
Emma stepped backward.
“No.”
The video continued.
Kane asked:
“Why?”
“Because Emma remembers.”
Hannah turned to her sister.
“Remembers what?”
Emma's face went white.
“The night they killed my mother.”
Silence.
Then the video revealed the final twist.
Emma had been the witness.
But she hadn't simply witnessed the crime.
She had secretly recorded it.
The original ledger.
The names.
The payments.
The entire network.
All of it was hidden in a recording made by a seven-year-old girl.
And Emma had spent eleven years believing the recording was lost.
Until now.
Emma whispered:
“I know where it is.”
“Where?”
She looked toward Hannah.
“In the doll.”
“What doll?”
“The one Mom gave you.”
Hannah's eyes widened.
“My childhood doll.”
Emma nodded.
“The one you carried everywhere.”
Damen immediately called Marco.
“Find it.”
Marco paused.
Then answered:
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We already have it.”
Damen's face changed.
“Where?”
May you like
Marco's voice became urgent.
“At the clinic.”