Chapter 4: The Enemy Wearing a Family Name
The first thing Damian Cross did after Sofia left his office was destroy the room.
Not physically.
Damian was too controlled for that.
He didn't throw glasses against walls or shout until the entire house heard his anger.
That was never how Damian worked.
His anger was quieter.
More precise.
More dangerous.
He stood alone in front of the window overlooking the Cross estate, staring into the darkness beyond the glass.
Six years.
Six years of believing his brother's death was a tragedy.
Six years of accepting a story that never felt right.
Six years of blaming himself.
And now, in one night, everything had changed.
Ethan hadn't died because of bad weather.
He hadn't died because he lost control of the car.
Someone had hunted him.
Someone had followed him.
Someone had made sure the truth disappeared.
And the person who might know everything was a maid who had been standing in his house every day for two years.
A woman he never noticed.
A woman everyone underestimated.
Damian hated that realization.
Not because Sofia had hidden the truth.
Because she had been forced to.
Someone had made a nineteen-year-old girl so afraid that she carried a secret for six years.
Someone had been powerful enough to silence witnesses.
Someone had been close enough to the Cross family to know exactly where to strike.
His phone vibrated.
He looked down.
One message.
Unknown number.
*Stop digging where your brother was buried.*
Damian stared at the screen.
Then another message appeared.
*Some graves should stay closed.*
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he smiled.
Not because it was funny.
Because now he knew.
Fear had a smell.
And whoever sent this message was afraid.
Damian typed one response.
*Who are you?*
The reply came immediately.
*You already know.*
The screen went dark.
Damian looked at the reflection of himself in the window.
Then he picked up the phone again.
"Marcus.""
The call connected instantly.
"Yes, sir.""
"Find out who sent me a message from this number.""
"We'll trace it.""
"No.""
Damian's voice hardened.
"I want the person, not just the phone.""
A pause.
"Understood.""
"And Marcus?""
"Yes?""
"Nobody touches Sofia.""
The silence on the other end lasted slightly too long.
Marcus noticed.
"Someone is after her?""
Damian looked toward the door.
"Someone has been after her for six years.""
Sofia couldn't sleep.
She sat on the edge of her small bed in the servant's quarters, staring at the old wooden box hidden beneath her mattress.
Inside were the few things she had kept from before Cross Manor.
A faded photograph of her mother.
A letter she never sent.
And a small piece of paper.
The only evidence she had from that night.
The thing Ethan had given her.
She had promised herself she would never look at it again.
But promises were easy to make when the past stayed buried.
Tonight, the past was standing in the middle of Cross Manor.
She slowly opened the box.
Her fingers trembled as she unfolded the paper.
Six years ago, Ethan Cross had grabbed her hand while he was dying.
He couldn't speak loudly.
He could barely breathe.
But he forced those words out.
Not a sentence.
Not an explanation.
Just a warning.
A name.
She looked at the paper.
The name she had written afterward because she was terrified she would forget.
The name she had never told anyone.
*Damian.*
Sofia's breathing stopped.
Because she still didn't know what Ethan meant.
Did he mean Damian was in danger?
Did he mean Damian couldn't be trusted?
Did he mean someone using Damian's name?
That was why she stayed silent.
Because she didn't understand.
And because accusing the most powerful man in the city of being connected to his brother's murder was impossible.
But now...
after everything she had discovered...
after seeing the photograph...
after learning Victor Hale was supposedly dead...
she wasn't sure what was real anymore.
A knock came at her door.
Sofia quickly hid the paper.
"Come in.""
The door opened.
It was Damian.
She immediately stood.
"Sir?""
He looked different.
Not physically.
The same expensive suit.
The same cold expression.
But something had changed.
The wall around him was slightly cracked.
"You kept something from me.""
Sofia froze.
"I don't know what you mean.""
Damian looked at the box beneath her mattress.
Her blood ran cold.
"You searched my room?""
"No.""
He walked closer.
"You hide important things in obvious places.""
Sofia said nothing.
Damian held out his hand.
"The paper.""
She stared.
"How did you know?""
"Because if I were you, I would hide the truth somewhere close.""
Slowly, reluctantly, Sofia took out the paper.
She didn't give it to him immediately.
"Before I show you...""
Damian waited.
"I need you to understand something.""
"What?""
"Ethan was afraid.""
The words affected him.
"I know.""
"No.""
Sofia shook her head.
"You don't.""
She looked at the paper.
"He wasn't afraid of dying.""
Damian became still.
"He was afraid of what would happen after.""
A painful silence filled the room.
"What did he say?""
Sofia looked at him.
"I don't know if it was a warning.""
"Tell me.""
Her fingers tightened around the paper.
"He said your name.""
Damian's expression changed.
"My name?""
She nodded.
"He grabbed me and said...""
Her voice became quieter.
"Don't trust Damian.""
The room went silent.
Sofia watched him carefully.
Waiting for anger.
Waiting for disbelief.
Waiting for him to accuse her.
But Damian did none of those things.
He simply stood there.
Like someone had just taken a piece of his world and shattered it.
"Say it again.""
Sofia swallowed.
"He said don't trust Damian.""
Damian looked away.
For a moment, he wasn't the mafia boss.
He wasn't the billionaire.
He wasn't the man everyone feared.
He was just Ethan's older brother.
A man hearing the final words of the person he loved most.
"What did you think it meant?""
Sofia hesitated.
"I thought maybe...""
"Maybe what?""
"Maybe he was warning me about you.""
Damian nodded slowly.
"And you still worked here.""
"I needed answers.""
The honesty surprised him.
"You stayed near me because you thought I might know the truth.""
"Yes.""
"Or because you thought I was involved.""
Sofia didn't answer.
Damian looked at her.
"You were afraid of me.""
"Yes.""
The answer was immediate.
Most people lied to Damian.
They told him what they thought he wanted to hear.
Sofia didn't.
And strangely...
that made him trust her more.
"What changed?""
She looked confused.
"What?""
"Tonight.""
He stepped closer.
"You were afraid of me for two years.""
A pause.
"Why tell me now?""
Sofia looked down.
"Because you found the car.""
"That isn't enough.""
She stayed silent.
Damian waited.
Finally, she whispered:
"Because when Vivian hurt me...""
She looked at him.
"You asked if I was okay.""
The simplicity of the answer caught him off guard.
Sofia continued.
"No one here ever asked.""
Something inside Damian shifted.
Not weakness.
Not pity.
Something more dangerous.
Recognition.
He had spent years surrounded by people who wanted his protection but never gave him their honesty.
Sofia had been terrified of him.
And she still told him the truth.
A sound came from the hallway.
Damian immediately turned.
His entire body changed.
The softness disappeared.
The businessman disappeared.
The predator returned.
He opened the door.
Nobody was there.
But on the floor was an envelope.
Damian picked it up.
The writing on the front was simple.
*For Sofia.*
Her face went pale.
"I don't know who sent that.""
Damian looked at her.
"I believe you.""
He opened it carefully.
Inside was a single photograph.
Sofia and Ethan.
Together.
Her heart stopped.
Because she had never taken that picture.
She had never seen it before.
Damian looked at her.
"You said you never met him.""
"I didn't.""
"Then explain this.""
She stared at the image.
It showed her standing beside Ethan outside the hospital.
The night he died.
Her memory flooded back.
She had forgotten.
No.
She had buried it.
Ethan hadn't just seen her.
He had spoken to her before the crash.
He had known her.
Damian noticed her expression.
"You remember.""
Sofia touched the photograph.
"I thought...""
"What?""
"I thought I was just someone who happened to be there.""
Damian's eyes narrowed.
"But?""
Her voice shook.
"But Ethan knew my name.""
A dangerous silence followed.
Because that changed everything.
Sofia wasn't a random witness.
She wasn't just the girl who found him.
Ethan had chosen her.
Trusted her.
Given her his final warning.
Damian looked at the photograph again.
Then at Sofia.
"Why would my brother know a maid?""
Sofia looked at him.
"I wasn't a maid then.""
The answer surprised him.
"What were you?""
She hesitated.
Then she said:
"I worked at the hospital where Ethan was treated after an accident weeks before he died.""
Damian stared.
"What accident?""
Sofia looked down.
"The accident that started everything.""
The room went silent.
"Tell me.""
She took a deep breath.
"Three weeks before Ethan died, someone tried to kill him.""
Damian's eyes darkened.
"And you know this because?""
Sofia looked at the photograph.
"Because I was the person who saved his life.""
Outside the window, thunder shook the estate.
And for the first time in six years...
Damian Cross realized he didn't know his brother's final days at all.
Not the truth.
Not the danger.
Not the person Ethan trusted.
But someone did.
Someone had been hiding behind the Cross family name.
May you like
And now Sofia wasn't just a witness.
She was the missing piece of a murder that had never truly ended.
