Chapter 13 - MIDNIGHT
August gave Damian six hours.
Midnight.
Bring the drive to Hawthorne Terminal Nine.
Come alone.
No police.
No Vincent.
No Victoria.
No Rebecca.
Every rule meant August understood exactly who surrounded Damian.
Which meant he still had eyes everywhere.
Rebecca examined the drive.
“It’s encrypted.”
“Can you open it?”
“Not without the key.”
Damian told her about Noah’s full legal name.
They entered it.
Nothing.
Different combinations.
Nothing.
Then Emma’s earlier message returned to him.
Don’t trust the first place you remember.
Sofia had always done that.
Hide meanings behind meanings.
Noah James Crown Hawthorne wasn’t the key.
It was the instruction.
Initials.
N.J.C.H.
Rebecca tried them.
Nothing.
Then Vincent spoke.
“Birth time.”
Damian turned.
“What?”
“Sofia was obsessive about Noah’s exact birth time.”
2:17 a.m.
Rebecca entered NJCH0217.
The screen changed.
Hundreds of files appeared.
Black Crown.
Accounts.
Names.
Videos.
Payments.
Orders.
Rebecca stared.
“This could collapse half the city.”
Damian scrolled.
Then saw a folder titled:
SOFIA.
Inside was a video.
Timestamp: three days after her supposed death.
Damian could barely press play.
Sofia appeared.
Bandages on her face.
Weak.
Alive.
“If Damian ever sees this…”
She breathed painfully.
“…August is alive.”
Damian closed his eyes.
Sofia continued.
“He believes Noah is the only leverage Damian cannot sacrifice.”
She looked directly into the camera.
“He’s right.”
Damian’s throat tightened.
“I created a dead-man archive. If the Black Crown network attempts to take Noah, Damian can release everything.”
Rebecca whispered—
“She built a deterrent.”
Sofia continued.
“But there is one person Damian must protect.”
Emma leaned closer.
The video glitched.
Then—
“Her name is—”
Static.
The file corrupted.
Damian slammed his palm against the desk.
Rebecca tried recovery.
“Part of it is damaged.”
“Fix it.”
“I’m trying.”
Vincent checked the clock.
8:41 p.m.
Three hours and nineteen minutes.
Victoria had been silent for nearly an hour.
Then she spoke.
“I know where August will keep them.”
Everyone turned.
Damian’s stare could have frozen stone.
“You knew my father was alive.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Before I met you.”
“Why marry me?”
Victoria swallowed.
“August ordered it.”
Emma’s recordings.
The abuse.
The guardianship petition.
It all fit.
“You were supposed to make me lose Noah.”
“Yes.”
“And take control of his trust.”
“Yes.”
“Why hurt him?”
Victoria’s mask cracked.
“I needed evidence that the house was unsafe.”
“You used an eighteen-month-old child as evidence.”
“I never intended permanent injury.”
The room went silent.
Damian looked at her with disgust.
Victoria’s eyes filled.
“You think August asks people?”
“No.”
“He owns them.”
“You still had a choice.”
“So did Sofia.”
Damian stepped toward her.
“Do not speak her name.”
Victoria flinched.
Then whispered—
“Sofia chose you.”
Damian stopped.
“She could have given August the archive and walked away.”
Victoria’s voice trembled.
“She refused because she believed one day you would become better than your father.”
Damian stared.
Victoria wiped her face.
“I hated her for that.”
“Why?”
“Because my brother Julian died working for August.”
The medication.
Julian Sinclair.
“He was seventeen.”
Damian’s expression changed.
“August used him?”
“As a courier.”
Victoria nodded.
“When Julian tried to leave, he overdosed.”
“On the medication found in Noah’s room?”
“Yes.”
Damian understood the ugliness.
Victoria had kept her dead brother’s prescription.
Then used it on Noah.
“Why?”
“I wanted your family to hurt.”
Her answer was almost inaudible.
“And August offered me the one thing I wanted more than revenge.”
“What?”
“Control.”
Nobody spoke.
Victoria looked at the clock.
“If you want Noah alive, stop thinking like a father.”
Damian’s eyes hardened.
“What does that mean?”
“August expects you to choose Noah.”
“Of course I choose Noah.”
“Exactly.”
Victoria stood.
“That’s the trap.”
At 9:03 p.m., Rebecca’s laptop chimed.
The damaged Sofia video had partially recovered.
Sofia’s face appeared again.
“There is one person Damian must protect.”
Static cleared.
“Emma Carter.”
Everyone turned toward the empty chair beside them.
Emma was not there.
Because Emma was still August’s prisoner.
Damian stared at the screen.
May you like
Sofia continued.
“Emma doesn’t know who she really is.”
