Chapter 18 - THE FALSE VICTORY
The old Cross Atlantic terminal sat on the Hudson.
Abandoned warehouses.
Rusting cranes.
Empty loading bays.
Rebecca's team surrounded the area beyond visible range.
Mom and I entered alone.
I carried the ledger.
Or what Damian believed was the ledger.
The real one remained in federal custody.
Celeste sat in a chair inside the warehouse.
Her hands were tied.
She was frightened but unharmed.
Damian stood behind her.
No weapon in his hands.
That somehow made him more unsettling.
"Claire."
"Let her go."
"Give me the ledger."
"You already control the company."
"Not permanently."
"So this was all for paper?"
"This was all for freedom."
I almost laughed.
"From what?"
"Families."
He looked around the terminal.
"Hale. Cross. Old women writing rules for people not yet born."
For one second, I understood him.
Then he ruined it.
"You could have had everything beside me."
"I did."
"No."
He stepped closer.
"You kept asking questions."
There it was.
Damian didn't want a wife.
He wanted compliance.
Mom said,
"You helped your father attack me."
His face tightened.
"I was seventeen."
"You moved his vehicle."
"I didn't cut your brakes."
"You knew what he planned."
"I knew he wanted to scare you."
"You watched my funeral afterward."
Damian looked away.
That was enough.
Mom's voice shook.
"You watched my daughter bury me."
He snapped.
"I was seventeen!"
The words echoed through the warehouse.
And Rebecca's hidden microphones captured every syllable.
Damian realized it a second too late.
His face changed.
I set the fake ledger down.
"It's over."
He smiled.
"No."
Then alarms began sounding across the terminal.
Rebecca spoke through my hidden earpiece.
"Claire, get out."
Outside, trucks started.
Containers moved.
Damian had planned a second exit.
He grabbed the ledger and ran.
Agents entered.
Celeste was freed.
Damian disappeared into the loading yard.
Ten minutes later, police announced they had caught him near the river.
Rebecca returned.
"We have him."
Mom hugged me.
Celeste began crying.
For the first time in two days, I believed it was over.
Then Rebecca's phone rang.
Her expression changed.
"What?"
She listened.
Then looked at me.
"They didn't arrest Damian."
My stomach dropped.
"Who did they arrest?"
"Nathan."
I turned.
"What?"
"He was driving Damian's car."
A decoy.
Rebecca swore.
Then my phone vibrated.
Damian.
One photograph.
My father sitting inside the Hale mansion study.
Damian standing behind him.
A caption.
COME HOME.
We had been watching the wrong battlefield.
While every agent chased him toward the river...
May you like
Damian had gone back to where everything started.
My house.
