Chapter 2 - The Price of ProtectionThe world became noise.
Footsteps.
Gunfire.
Shouting.
Evelyn crouched behind the heavy kitchen island while Damen moved with terrifying precision.
He didn't panic.
He didn't hesitate.
He simply acted.
Two armed men rushed through the doorway.
Damen fired once.
The first man dropped.
The second barely raised his weapon before one of Damen's security guards tackled him from behind.
“Basement!” Damen ordered.
A guard grabbed Evelyn's arm.
“Move!”
She stumbled after him.
They reached a reinforced steel door.
“Inside.”
“What about Damen?”
“He'll follow.”
“I need to know where he is.”
The guard looked at her as though she'd lost her mind.
“You need to stay alive.”
The door slammed shut.
Evelyn heard three more gunshots.
Then silence.
Her hands trembled.
She pressed them against her chest.
Minutes later, the door opened.
Damen stood there.
There was blood on his shirt.
Evelyn's heart lurched.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
She stared at the blood.
“That's not yours?”
“No.”
She exhaled.
Then suddenly became angry.
“You knew this could happen.”
“Yes.”
“You knew someone might attack me.”
“I suspected.”
“You brought me here anyway.”
“I brought you somewhere protected.”
“You brought danger to me!”
His jaw tightened.
“Evelyn, danger was already coming for you.”
She stopped.
“What does that mean?”
Damen didn't answer.
He walked toward the security room.
She followed.
The screens showed the estate from twelve different angles.
One camera flickered.
Another showed a black sedan disappearing down the road.
A third showed the attacker approaching from the woods.
Evelyn recognized the gray suit.
“The man from the hotel.”
Damen nodded.
“His name is Victor Hale.”
“Why does he want me?”
“That's the question.”
Damen opened a file.
Inside were photographs.
Nolan.
His father.
Their business.
Then Evelyn.
Her throat tightened.
“Why am I in your files?”
“You weren't supposed to be.”
He pushed one photograph toward her.
It was taken eight months earlier.
Evelyn leaving her office.
Someone had circled her.
Another photograph showed her entering her apartment.
Another showed her sitting alone at a coffee shop.
“This has been happening for months.”
“Who took these?”
“We don't know.”
She looked at Damen.
“You do know something.”
He was silent.
“You know more than you're telling me.”
“Yes.”
Her frustration exploded.
“What?”
Damen leaned against the desk.
“Nolan didn't reject you because his family thought you were beneath them.”
Evelyn's chest tightened.
“Then why?”
“Because he was ordered to.”
She laughed bitterly.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It will.”
He opened another file.
Inside was a photograph of Nolan meeting Victor Hale.
Evelyn stared at it.
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“Nolan told me he didn't know him.”
“He lied.”
A strange coldness spread through her.
“How long have you known?”
“About the meeting? Four days.”
“And you didn't tell me.”
“I had no proof why they met.”
Damen paused.
“Now I do.”
He clicked another photograph onto the screen.
A document.
A contract.
Evelyn read it twice.
Then a third time.
Her name was there.
So was Nolan's.
And one phrase made her blood turn cold.
Transfer of Beneficial Ownership upon marriage.
She looked up.
“What is this?”
Damen's voice dropped.
“Your family owns something Nolan desperately wants.”
“My family?”
“Your father left you more than debt.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“My father left me a failing printing company and a house.”
“No.”
Damen stepped closer.
“He left you controlling shares in Ward Meridian.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“That's impossible.”
“Your father hid the ownership under a trust.”
She couldn't breathe.
“Why would he do that?”
“Because he knew someone would come after it.”
“And Nolan?”
“Was supposed to marry you.”
Silence filled the room.
Evelyn whispered, “He never loved me.”
“No.”
Damen's gaze softened.
“He wanted what your father left behind.”
Then her phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
She looked at the screen.
A message appeared.
You have until midnight to give us the shares.
Another message arrived.
A photograph.
Nolan standing beside a frightened woman.
Evelyn gasped.
It was her mother.
The final message appeared.
Or she dies.
Damen took the phone from Evelyn's hand.
His expression became something she had never seen before.
May you like
Not anger.
War.
