Chapter 2 - VICTORIA TOOK THE DIAMONDS
By sunrise, Damian knew three things.
His sons were alive.
His wife was missing.
And somebody he trusted had tried to erase his family.
Clara learned a fourth.
Damian Costello did not know what to do with gratitude.
He stood inside the private hospital room where Oliver and Owen were being checked.
The babies had mild smoke exposure.
Nothing worse.
Clara had burns across her forearm, cuts on both feet and a bruised shoulder.
She wanted Providence.
Her mother.
Damian wanted security.
“You are not going anywhere alone.”
Clara looked at him.
“Mr. Costello—”
“Someone inside my organization knows you heard them.”
“Yes.”
“They know you escaped.”
“Maybe.”
“They will assume you can identify something.”
“I can't.”
“They don't know that.”
Fair.
Still:
“My mother is in Providence.”
“I’ll bring her here.”
“No.”
His expression tightened.
Clara had never said no to him before.
Not directly.
“Her treatment is there.”
“I can move treatment.”
“No.”
“Clara.”
There it was.
The voice that turned requests into decisions.
Clara straightened.
“Your wife left your children because she decided for them what survival should look like.”
Damian’s face changed.
She immediately regretted the cruelty.
Not the point.
“You don't get to decide for me because you're frightened.”
Silence.
His security chief, Nico Serrano, looked toward the floor.
Smart man.
Damian took a slow breath.
“What do you want?”
Better.
“A hotel near my mother’s hospital.”
“I own—”
“Not yours.”
He stopped.
“Fine.”
“Police know the location.”
“Yes.”
“One security person outside.”
“Three.”
“One.”
“Two.”
Clara considered.
“One in the lobby. One outside.”
Damian looked offended by compromise.
“Fine.”
“And I’m paid while I recover.”
“Obviously.”
“Not as a favor.”
His jaw tightened.
“Medical leave. Full wage.”
“Thank you.”
He looked exhausted.
Then:
“The boys…”
Clara looked toward the bassinets.
Oliver was asleep.
Owen stared at the ceiling as though nothing had happened.
“What about them?”
“They settle when you hold them.”
“That will change.”
Damian looked almost alarmed.
“What?”
“They know my voice because I spent time in the nursery.”
He said nothing.
“That doesn't mean they need me permanently.”
Another pause.
“Right.”
He clearly did not like that answer.
Good.
Meanwhile investigators found Briggs.
Alive.
Gunshot through the shoulder.
He told the same story Clara had witnessed.
Victoria packed jewelry.
He tried to get her to the nursery.
She refused.
“I thought she was panicking,” Briggs said.
“Then she said the children would slow us down.”
Damian sat across from him.
“What did you do?”
“I should have gone back.”
“Yes.”
Briggs closed his eyes.
“I followed her to the east tunnel because I thought I could put her on the boat, then return.”
“You didn't.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Two gunmen were waiting at the dock.”
That changed things.
“They knew the route?”
“Yes.”
“Only family and senior security know that passage.”
Exactly.
Briggs fought.
One attacker fled.
The other shot him.
Victoria escaped in the confusion.
On the boat?
No.
Security footage from a marina four miles north showed a woman matching Victoria entering a black sedan.
Waiting for her:
A man wearing a dark coat.
Face hidden.
But the vehicle belonged to a company controlled by Adrian Mercer.
Damian watched the footage once.
Then again.
No visible reaction.
Nico asked:
“You want me to bring Mercer in?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because if he thinks we know, everyone else connected disappears.”
May you like
Damian looked toward the nursery.
“We let him think the house burned clean.”
