Chapter 17 - RAYMOND’S LAST LIE
Raymond disappeared before they reached him.
His house was empty.
Closets stripped.
Safe cleared.
Passport gone.
But Damian did not chase him.
Not immediately.
That was the old Damian.
The man August created.
The man who answered betrayal with blood.
Instead, Damian sat with Rebecca and federal prosecutor Daniel Cho.
And gave a statement.
A real one.
Not clean.
Not selective.
Everything.
Shell companies.
Old payoffs.
Operations he inherited.
Operations he had authorized.
Rebecca stared at him.
“Damian.”
He continued.
“You understand what you’re doing?”
“Yes.”
“You could go to prison.”
“Yes.”
Emma stood outside the glass listening.
Damian did not know she was there.
Cho asked—
“Why cooperate now?”
Damian looked through the window at Noah.
“Because my son will never inherit this.”
That was the moment Emma understood he had changed.
Not completely.
People did not become different in one night.
But he had chosen direction.
Sometimes that was the beginning.
Raymond finally contacted Damian six hours later.
“Come alone.”
Damian almost laughed.
Everyone in his family loved that sentence.
“Where?”
“The cemetery.”
Sofia’s grave.
The grave that had never contained Sofia.
Raymond stood beside it in the rain.
No umbrella.
No weapon visible.
Damian approached.
“You took August’s money.”
Raymond nodded.
“You arranged Sofia’s crash.”
“No.”
“The ledger says otherwise.”
“I confirmed the accident.”
“What does that mean?”
Raymond looked at the gravestone.
“I was supposed to stop her car before she reached the federal prosecutor.”
Damian’s jaw tightened.
“What did you do?”
“I tampered with the electronic system.”
Damian stepped closer.
“You caused the crash.”
“I intended to disable the engine.”
“You sent her through a guardrail.”
Raymond’s voice broke.
“I know.”
For the first time, he looked old.
Not powerful.
Not calculating.
Just ruined.
“You left her there.”
“No.”
Raymond looked at him.
“I called Crane.”
“To save her?”
“Yes.”
“And then August took her.”
“I didn’t know he would.”
Damian stared at the grave.
Three years of grief built over an empty box.
“Why help August?”
“Your father owned all of us.”
“Not Sofia.”
Raymond smiled sadly.
“No.”
“That’s why he feared her.”
Raymond nodded.
Damian asked—
“Where is August?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why call me?”
Raymond reached into his coat.
Damian tensed.
Raymond removed a key card.
“Harbor Control Tower.”
“Why?”
“August has a ship leaving tonight.”
“What ship?”
“The Aurelia.”
Damian knew it.
A Hawthorne container vessel.
Destination: international waters.
“He’s leaving.”
Raymond nodded.
“With what?”
“The original Black Crown servers.”
Damian’s eyes sharpened.
“If he destroys them?”
“Victoria’s records may not be enough.”
Raymond held out the card.
Damian took it.
“Why help me?”
Raymond looked at Sofia’s grave.
“Because I spent three years convincing myself I wasn’t the man who killed her.”
His voice shook.
“Then I saw her alive.”
Damian went still.
“When?”
“Last month.”
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
Damian’s hand clenched.
Raymond did not step backward.
“You can kill me.”
“I could.”
“I deserve it.”
Damian stared at him.
Then released his fist.
“No.”
Raymond looked surprised.
“You don’t get to make me my father.”
Sirens approached.
Federal vehicles.
Raymond understood.
“You brought them.”
“Yes.”
Raymond laughed once.
“Sofia really did win.”
Agents surrounded him.
Before being taken away, Raymond looked at Damian.
“One more thing.”
“What?”
“August knows Emma is Sofia’s cousin.”
Damian’s expression hardened.
“He also knows Sofia transferred the missing three hundred million into an account controlled by someone outside the Hawthorne bloodline.”
Damian understood.
Emma.
Raymond smiled bitterly.
“She doesn’t know she’s worth three hundred million dollars.”
Across town, Emma opened the door of her apartment.
May you like
Someone was already sitting inside.
August Hawthorne.
