Chapter 3 - The Trap in the Shadows
The rain began at midnight, pouring over the highway in heavy, grey sheets.
Damian sat in the back of an armored SUV, staring out at the blurred tail lights of the traffic ahead. Beside him, Leo—his most loyal enforcer and head of personal security—handed him a digital dossier.
"We tracked the bus ticket Clara bought under her maiden name, sir," Leo reported quietly. "She took a three-o'clock interstate transport out of Manhattan heading north toward a small coastal town in Maine. She rented a small, secluded cabin near the docks under an alias."
"Is she safe?" Damian asked, his knuckles white as he gripped the armrest.
"For now," Leo replied. "But Boss... Marcus Kane’s private security detail logged a vehicle leaving the Westchester perimeter forty minutes ago. Two of his best trackers are heading in the same direction. Marcus must have realized the rabbit was missing from the room."
Damian’s jaw tightened. "Faster, Leo."
"Yes, Boss."
As the vehicle sped through the dark highway, Damian opened his leather notebook and pulled out the small child's drawing he had found in his desk drawer earlier that afternoon.
He stared at the crude pencil strokes. Mr. Damian. The man without a mouth.
He remembered a moment from three weeks ago—a rainy Tuesday afternoon. He had been sitting in his study, exhausted after a twelve-hour negotiation with European logistics brokers. He had rubbed his temples, leaning back in his leather chair, when a soft patter of footfalls sounded at the doorway.
Little Lily had stood there, wearing her oversized purple boots, holding a yellow plastic teacup. She had walked right up to his desk, set the cup down beside his official documents, whispered, "For you, Mister," and scurried away before he could even answer.
He had set the teacup aside, never drinking from it, treating it as an inconvenience.
How blind had he been?
While he was surrounding himself with bodyguards, luxury, and paranoia, the true loyalty in his life had been sitting in the kitchen, preparing his meals with quiet care, watching over him from the shadows.
May you like
"Ten minutes out, Boss," Leo called out from the front seat, pulling a pair of suppressed pistols from the glove box. "The cabin is right off the coastal highway."
Damian looked out into the black night. "If Marcus’s men touch a single hair on either of them, do not leave a single one of them standing."
