Chapter 5
The men came for Kate on Tuesday, three days after the garden.
She was leaving the hospital — her mother had finally opened her eyes and asked for water, and Kate had cried in the parking lot until a nurse brought her tissues — when a black sedan pulled up to the curb and a man in a gray coat got out.
“Miss Bennett?”
Her blood turned to ice. Renzo was already moving — he stepped between them with the unhurried calm of a man who had spent his life standing between people and harm.
“Can I help you?” Renzo asked.
The man in the gray coat showed a badge. “Federal consultant. I’m working with the Caldwell family on a missing-person matter. We just need a few minutes of Miss Bennett’s time.”
“Miss Bennett is expected at her mother’s bedside. She’s a witness in an ongoing insurance matter. She’s not available.”
“Sir, this is not a request.”
“Neither is this.” Renzo didn’t move. “You’re on private property. You’re speaking to a woman who was in an accident and is under doctor’s orders to avoid stress. If you want to talk to her, you’ll go through her attorney. Who will be calling yours before lunch.”
The man in the gray coat studied Renzo for a long moment. Then he smiled — a thin, knowing smile — and got back in the car.
“Mr. Blackwell,” Kate whispered.
“He knows,” Renzo said. “He saw them on the security feed the moment they turned onto your street. He said to bring you to the house. Now.”
The car ride was short. Kate sat in the back, her mother’s face still behind her eyes, the man’s thin smile still in front of them. When they pulled through the gates of the estate, Damon was waiting in the courtyard, already in a dark coat, keys in his hand.
“They won’t stop with you,” he said without preamble. “They’ll go to the hospital next. They’ll go to your mother. They’ll find the anonymous donor — they’re good, the senator paid for the best. They will trace the money to a shell company, and the shell company to me, and then they’ll have everything they need to take down the walls we built.”
“So what do we do?”
“I’m going to the senator tonight. I’m going to give him a choice.” Damon’s voice was flat, controlled — the voice of a man doing a very careful calculation. “I’m going to tell him his son is alive, and that he’s safe, and that he’s confessed, in writing, to nine other women. I’m going to give him the letters. I’m going to give him a way to make all of this disappear — the investigators, the questions, everything. In exchange for one thing.”
“What?”
“He stops looking. He walks away. He retires from public life and never speaks another word about his son.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
Damon looked at her for a long moment. “Then I show the letters to the press myself. His career, his family name, his memorial for his boy — all of it burns. He’ll spend the rest of his life as the father of a monster, and the world will know exactly what his money bought.”
Kate stared at him. “He could hurt you. He has resources. He has connections.”
“He does.” Damon smiled — a small, sharp smile. “And I have his son. That’s the whole game, Kate. Everything I’ve ever learned about this city comes down to that. He won’t hurt me, because he can’t afford to find out what I’d do in return.”
“You’re going alone?”
“I am.”
“Then I’m coming with you.” Kate stepped forward. “You said I could say no to anything you asked me. This isn’t you asking. This is me telling you. I’m coming.”
Damon stared at her — genuinely surprised, the way he had looked at her in the storage room when she said she trusted him. “Kate. It’s a senator. It’s a negotiation. It’s not a place for—”
“For what?” she said quietly. “For the woman he hurt? You made me a record that night, Damon. You made sure someone remembered. That’s all I’m asking you to do now — let me be in the room. Let me be the reason he believes you. You said it yourself. I’m the only reason he’ll believe a word you say.”
The wind moved through the courtyard. Damon looked at her for a long time. “The car leaves at seven,” he said finally. “Wear something that says you’re not afraid.”
May you like
Kate nodded. And as she turned to walk into the house, she saw the headlights of a black sedan stop at the gates — and the man in the gray coat step out, this time with papers in his hand.
“Kate,” Damon said softly. “Go inside. Now. Whatever happens next — you do not speak to that man. Not one word.”
