Chapter 7 - NINE DAYSNine days could be an eternity.
Or no time at all.
For Damian, it became a countdown.
He moved Sofia and Elena out of Manhattan that night.
Not to one of his properties.
Those could be tracked.
Instead, they went to a farmhouse in northern New Jersey owned by Marco's grandmother.
No security cameras outside.
No staff.
No luxury.
Just trees, muddy roads, and three heavily armed men pretending to be relatives visiting for the weekend.
Elena hated the guns.
She hated needing them more.
Sofia seemed delighted by everything.
Chickens.
A wooden swing.
A yellow Labrador named Daisy.
For several hours, the nightmare disappeared.
Elena sat on the porch watching Damian push Sofia on the swing.
“Higher!” Sofia squealed.
Elena nearly cried every time she spoke.
Her daughter had gone from silence to language as if some locked door had finally opened.
Damian smiled.
It was the first time Elena had seen him look ordinary.
Not Caruso.
Not the boss.
Just a father.
Sofia shouted, “Mama!”
Elena waved.
Then Sofia looked at Damian.
“Daddy!”
He froze.
Elena did too.
Sofia laughed.
“Daddy! Higher!”
Damian pushed the swing.
But Elena saw his eyes shine.
That night after Sofia fell asleep, they sat in the kitchen.
“You should cooperate with federal authorities,” Elena said.
Damian looked up.
“About the files.”
“I already am.”
“Completely?”
“No.”
“Damian.”
“I have lawyers reviewing everything.”
“You're negotiating.”
“Yes.”
“Your freedom?”
“My ability to protect Sofia.”
“You can't protect her from prison.”
“Exactly.”
Elena understood.
“What are you offering?”
“Everything useful about Lang's network.”
“And the Caruso evidence?”
Damian stared into his coffee.
“Whatever they demand.”
That surprised her.
“You'd surrender it?”
“For Sofia?”
He looked up.
“Without hesitation.”
Elena studied him.
“Why did you become…”
She gestured vaguely.
“This?”
“A villain?”
“I wasn't going to say that.”
“You were thinking it.”
“Yes.”
Damian almost smiled.
“My father ran the docks.”
“Legally?”
“Sometimes.”
“And you inherited it?”
“I inherited problems.”
He explained quietly.
His father died when Damian was twenty-four.
There had been debts.
Enemies.
Employees depending on the family.
Damian took control.
At first, survival required compromises.
Then compromises became habits.
“Did you hurt people?”
Elena asked.
“Yes.”
She appreciated that he didn't lie.
“Kill anyone?”
Damian stared at her.
“I've caused harm.”
Not an answer.
But enough.
Elena stood.
“I can't build Sofia's life around violence.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
His voice softened.
“Because I've spent two years realizing every enemy I make could someday reach her.”
Elena looked toward the hallway.
“Then change.”
Damian laughed quietly.
“You think it's that simple?”
“No.”
She looked back.
“I think it's that necessary.”
Something passed between them.
Not forgiveness.
Not romance yet.
Recognition.
Then Marco entered.
“We found Adrian.”
Damian stood.
“Where?”
“Philadelphia.”
A photograph appeared on Marco's tablet.
Adrian entering a private medical building.
The sign outside:
VALE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH FOUNDATION.
Elena stared.
“He's still operating.”
“Looks like it.”
Federal agents raided the facility the next morning.
They found no Adrian.
But they found records.
Dozens of falsified adoptions.
Frozen embryos.
Birth certificates.
Offshore payments.
And one current patient file.
SOFIA CARUSO/MORETTI.
Elena stared at it.
“Patient?”
Julian read.
“Genetic beneficiary assessment.”
“What does that mean?”
He turned pages.
Then stopped.
“Oh, hell.”
“What?”
“Sofia isn't simply inheriting shares.”
Damian waited.
“She controls a voting trust that can dissolve Vale Medical Group.”
“So?”
Julian looked at Elena.
“If the company dissolves, its internal records become subject to mandatory disclosure during liquidation.”
Damian understood.
“Which exposes the trafficking network.”
“Yes.”
Elena whispered, “So Lang needs Sofia to inherit…”
“And someone under his control to act as guardian.”
Damian's blood ran cold.
“He doesn't want Sofia dead.”
“No.”
Julian closed the file.
“He wants you two dead.”
Silence.
Elena suddenly heard something outside.
A branch snapping.
Damian reached beneath his jacket.
Marco shut off the kitchen light.
Everyone froze.
Another sound.
Footsteps.
Damian whispered, “Stay here.”
He moved toward the door.
Elena grabbed his sleeve.
“Don't.”
“I have to.”
Three men disappeared outside.
Seconds later, shouting.
A gunshot.
Elena ran toward Sofia's bedroom.
Empty.
Window open.
“No!”
She screamed.
“DAMIAN!”
He charged upstairs.
The bed was empty.
A stuffed rabbit lay on the floor.
Window curtain blowing.
Damian looked outside.
Tire tracks cut across the mud.
Then Sofia appeared behind the closet door.
“Mama?”
Elena spun.
The little girl crawled out.
Daisy the Labrador followed.
Sofia pointed toward the window.
“Bad man.”
Damian crouched.
“What bad man?”
She pointed outside.
“Window.”
“Did he come in?”
Sofia nodded.
“Daisy bite.”
The dog wagged her tail.
Damian almost laughed.
Marco returned.
“One intruder got away. Two in custody.”
Sofia pointed again.
“Bad man say birthday.”
Everyone went silent.
Damian's stomach tightened.
“What did he say about your birthday?”
Sofia struggled for words.
Then whispered:
“Grandpa waiting.”
Elena's face went white.
“My father?”
“No,” Damian said.
May you like
Robert Vale was dead.
Unless he wasn't.
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