Chapter 6 - THE MAN BESIDE HIM
Vincent Shaw had been beside Damian for fifteen years.
Through funerals.
Wars.
Investigations.
Board coups.
The birth of Noah.
Sofia’s death.
If Damian had ever believed in loyalty, Vincent was the reason.
Which was exactly why suspicion felt so dangerous.
By eight that morning, Damian was back at the Hawthorne estate.
Emma remained at the hospital with Noah and two guards Rebecca personally selected.
Damian entered through the front doors.
The mansion felt wrong.
Too quiet.
“Vincent!”
Nothing.
He moved through the foyer.
The broken silence from the night before had settled into something heavier.
A security officer appeared.
“Sir.”
“Where is Shaw?”
“I thought he was with you.”
Damian stopped.
“When did he leave?”
“Three sixteen this morning.”
“Alone?”
The officer hesitated.
“No.”
“With whom?”
“Mrs. Hargrove.”
Damian’s eyes hardened.
“Vehicle?”
“Black Escalade.”
“Track it.”
The officer looked uncomfortable.
“The tracking system was disabled.”
Damian stared at him.
“By whom?”
“Mr. Shaw’s credentials.”
That was enough.
Rebecca arrived ten minutes later.
Damian told her everything.
She did not say Vincent was guilty.
She said something worse.
“Assume everyone can be compromised until proven otherwise.”
Damian hated the sentence.
But he followed it.
At eleven, they found the Escalade abandoned near the river.
No Vincent.
No Hargrove.
No blood.
No bodies.
Only Mrs. Hargrove’s handbag sitting on the passenger seat.
Inside was a folded photograph.
Sofia.
Young.
Laughing.
Standing beside another man.
Damian recognized him.
His uncle.
Raymond Hawthorne.
His father’s younger brother.
The man who had taught Damian how to negotiate.
How to survive.
How to bury weakness.
On the back of the photograph, someone had written a date.
Two weeks before Sofia’s crash.
Rebecca studied it.
“Were they close?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
Damian looked at her.
“I thought I was.”
That answer disturbed him more.
His phone rang.
Emma.
He answered immediately.
“Is Noah okay?”
“Yes.”
Her voice sounded tense.
“What happened?”
“Someone came to the hospital.”
Damian’s body tightened.
“Who?”
“Child Protective Services.”
Rebecca heard and closed her eyes.
Damian’s voice became cold.
“Why?”
“They received an emergency report.”
“From whom?”
“Anonymous.”
Emma continued.
“They claim there’s video of me hurting Noah.”
Damian said nothing.
Rebecca muttered—
“The petition.”
Emma spoke quickly.
“I didn’t touch him.”
“I know.”
“They have footage.”
“What footage?”
“A clip from three weeks ago.”
Damian remembered the security outages.
“What does it show?”
Emma took a breath.
“It shows me pulling Noah by his wrist.”
Damian frowned.
“Did that happen?”
“Yes.”
The admission surprised him.
Emma continued.
“But he was falling down the staircase.”
Damian understood.
“They cut out the fall.”
“Yes.”
The original footage would show Emma saving him.
The edited version showed only the instant she jerked him backward.
Exactly the kind of evidence that could destroy a nanny.
And make Damian look negligent for employing her.
“Where is CPS now?”
“Outside Noah’s room.”
“Rebecca is coming.”
His lawyer nodded.
Then Emma lowered her voice.
“Damian.”
He noticed she had stopped calling him Mr. Hawthorne.
“What?”
“There’s another person here.”
“Who?”
“A woman.”
“Name?”
“She won’t give me one.”
“What does she want?”
Emma glanced through the hospital glass.
“She says she knew Sofia.”
Damian became still.
“And?”
Emma hesitated.
“She says Sofia didn’t die in the crash.”
Rebecca looked sharply at Damian.
Emma continued.
“She says Sofia was alive when they took her from the car.”
May you like
Damian’s hand tightened around the phone.
“And she says Vincent Shaw was there.”
