Chapter 2: The Girl Who Knew His Brother
At 2:17 a.m., Damian Cross found his maid standing outside his brother's bedroom.
She was holding a photograph.
And when she noticed him, she dropped it like it had burned her fingers.
"What are you doing here?"" Damian asked.
Sofia turned around.
Her face had gone pale.
"I couldn't sleep.""
"That doesn't explain why you're standing outside a locked room.""
"I was looking for the linen cupboard.""
"That's at the other end of the hallway.""
She looked down.
Damian glanced at the photograph on the floor.
It showed Ethan standing beside a young woman near the entrance of a small roadside diner. He was laughing, one arm resting casually across her shoulders.
The woman had long dark hair.
Damian bent down and picked it up.
He recognized the diner. It was somewhere outside Boston, near the highway where Ethan had died.
But he didn't recognize the woman.
"Where did you get this?""
"It fell from the frame," Sofia said.
"Why were you touching the frame?""
"I wasn't.""
He looked at her.
She swallowed.
"I'm sorry.""
Damian turned the photograph over.
A date had been written on the back.
November 14.
Six years earlier.
Three days before Ethan's accident.
"Do you know this woman?""
"No.""
"Then why are you looking at this photograph like you've seen a ghost?""
Sofia's fingers curled into her apron.
"Because I have.""
Damian went still.
"Explain.""
She looked at the bedroom door.
"Not here.""
He studied her for several seconds before stepping aside.
"Come with me.""
He led her downstairs to his private study. The room smelled of leather, coffee, and the faint trace of cigar smoke. A large portrait of Ethan hung above the fireplace.
Damian had refused to let anyone replace it.
He placed the photograph on his desk.
"Start talking.""
Sofia remained standing.
"Your brother was kind.""
Damian's expression didn't change.
"That isn't a secret.""
"He helped people without expecting anything back.""
"He wasn't perfect.""
"I didn't say he was.""
Damian leaned against the desk.
"How do you know what kind of man he was?""
Sofia stared at the photograph.
"Because he helped my mother.""
The words landed heavily.
"Your mother?""
"Her name was Elena. She worked at a small diner outside Boston. She was sick, and we didn't have money for her treatment.""
Damian said nothing.
Sofia continued.
"One night, a man came into the diner. He'd been in an accident. His hands were bleeding, and he could barely stand. My mother helped him.""
"Ethan?""
She nodded.
"He came back several times after that. He paid her medical bills. He helped us find a specialist. He even brought me books because I was studying for my exams.""
Damian looked down at the photograph again.
"Why didn't you tell me?""
"Because I didn't know if you would believe me.""
"Did Ethan ever mention my family?""
"He told me he had an older brother who was difficult to understand.""
For the first time that night, Damian almost smiled.
"That sounds like him.""
"He said you carried too much responsibility.""
The smile disappeared.
Sofia took a breath.
"He also said you were the only person he trusted with his life.""
Damian looked away.
For a moment, the room seemed to become six years smaller.
He remembered Ethan at seventeen, sneaking into his office to steal expensive whiskey. Ethan at twenty-one, arguing that the family business could survive without making enemies of everyone in the city.
And Ethan at twenty-eight, standing in the doorway of Damian's bedroom on the night before his final drive.
If anything happens to me, don't believe the first story you hear.
Damian had laughed at the time.
He hadn't laughed since.
"Did Ethan tell you he was afraid of someone?"" he asked.
Sofia hesitated.
"Yes.""
"Who?""
"He never gave me a name.""
"What did he say?""
She looked toward the window.
"He said someone close to the family was selling information. He thought the person was using the business to arrange something bigger.""
Damian's eyes narrowed.
"Did he tell you anything else?""
Sofia shook her head.
But her right hand had moved toward her apron pocket.
Damian noticed.
"What are you hiding?""
"Nothing.""
"Show me.""
She slowly removed a small folded piece of paper.
The edges were yellowed. A faint coffee stain covered one corner.
Damian unfolded it.
There were only a few handwritten lines.
If you ever need help, find my brother. Tell him I kept my promise.
Below the message was an address.
And a name.
*MARA VOSS.*
Damian recognized it immediately.
Mara Voss had been his father's private accountant. She had disappeared two months after Ethan's funeral, taking several financial records with her.
The family had assumed she had fled with stolen money.
"Where did you get this?""
"Your brother gave it to my mother.""
"When?""
"Two days before he died.""
Damian looked at her sharply.
"Why didn't you bring this to me when you started working here?""
Sofia's voice became barely audible.
"Because I wasn't sure who killed him.""
The silence was absolute.
Damian slowly put the paper down.
"You think my brother was murdered?""
"I think the accident was arranged.""
"Who told you that?""
"No one.""
"Then why?""
She lifted her eyes.
"Because my mother received a phone call the morning after his funeral. The person on the phone said that if she ever spoke about Ethan again, both of us would disappear.""
Damian's hands tightened against the desk.
"Who called?""
"I don't know. My mother never told me.""
"Where is your mother now?""
Sofia's face crumpled.
"She died four years ago.""
"I'm sorry.""
She nodded, pressing her lips together.
For the first time, Damian noticed how carefully she carried herself in the house. How she never entered a room without knocking. How she always stepped aside when Vivian approached.
It wasn't ordinary nervousness.
It was the behavior of someone who had learned that being noticed could be dangerous.
He picked up the photograph again.
"Is this you?""
Sofia looked at it.
Then she nodded.
Damian stared.
The young woman in the photograph had the same eyes, the same small scar above her left eyebrow.
"You were with Ethan three days before he died.""
"Yes.""
"Why didn't you tell me that?""
"Because I was told never to.""
"By whom?""
Before Sofia could answer, the study door opened.
His head of security, Marcus Reed, entered without knocking.
"Boss. We have a situation.""
Damian slipped the photograph into his desk drawer.
"What?""
"Vivian has left the estate.""
"She's supposed to be under supervision.""
"She was. Her driver says she received a call and asked him to take her to the old Cross residence.""
Damian frowned.
"The house on Mercer Street?""
Marcus nodded.
"There's something else. We checked the storage facility's records.""
"And?""
Marcus placed a tablet on the desk.
A security photograph appeared.
A man stood outside Unit 614, his face turned toward the camera.
Damian recognized the coat.
The posture.
Even the way the man's left hand rested against the door.
His brother had worn that same coat in the photograph Sofia had just shown him.
Marcus spoke quietly.
"Boss, the man in this footage looks exactly like Ethan Cross.""
Damian stared at the screen.
"That's impossible.""
"There's more.""
Marcus enlarged the image.
A second figure stood behind Ethan.
A woman.
Her face was partially visible beneath the hood of a dark coat.
Sofia moved closer.
The moment she saw the woman, her hand flew to her mouth.
Damian turned toward her.
"What is it?""
Sofia shook her head.
"No.""
"What?""
She pointed at the screen.
"That's not possible.""
"Who is she, Sofia?""
Her eyes filled with tears.
"That's my mother.""
Damian looked at the date beneath the photograph.
Nineteen days ago.
Four years after Elena's death.
He turned back toward Sofia.
"Tell me exactly what you know.""
But Sofia couldn't answer.
Because Marcus's tablet suddenly chimed.
A new message had arrived from the storage facility.
It contained a single video attachment.
May you like
And beneath it was a sentence that made Damian's blood turn cold.
*UNIT 614 CONTAINS A LIVE OCCUPANT.*
