Chapter 6 - Checkmate
The chess club had been abandoned for nine years.
Hazel entered first.
Damian followed.
A single lamp burned over an old chessboard.
An older man sat behind it.
Hazel stopped.
“Dad.”
Daniel Shaw stood slowly.
Time had changed him.
But not enough.
Hazel recognized him immediately.
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I had no choice.”
“There’s always a choice.”
“If I contacted you, they would have found you.”
“So you watched me?”
Daniel looked at Damian.
“Constantly.”
Hazel stiffened.
“You knew I was at Apex?”
“I arranged it.”
Damian’s eyes narrowed.
“You put her in my company?”
“Yes.”
“Without telling her?”
“Yes.”
Hazel’s voice became dangerously quiet.
“Why Damian?”
Daniel looked at his daughter.
“Because his father tried to expose Vincent.”
Damian froze.
“My father died in a plane crash.”
“No.”
Daniel pushed a folder across the chess table.
“The official investigation was manipulated.”
Damian did not touch it.
Daniel continued.
“Your father discovered Apex routes were being sold. He contacted Black Harbor. Before he could testify, he died.”
Damian stared at the folder.
“And Vincent took control.”
“Yes.”
Hazel sat slowly.
“So you sent me to protect Damian.”
“And to watch Apex.”
“Three years.”
“I thought it would take three months.”
Damian finally opened the folder.
Inside were financial records.
Names.
Accounts.
Communications.
Enough to expose what remained of the network.
Hazel looked at her father.
“Why come back now?”
“Because Vincent knows I’m alive.”
“Then you’re in danger.”
Daniel smiled sadly.
“I’ve been in danger for seven years.”
Damian closed the folder.
“We turn everything over.”
Daniel nodded.
“That was always the plan.”
Hazel looked at him.
“No more disappearing.”
Daniel said nothing.
“Dad.”
“No more.”
She stood.
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then Daniel opened his arms.
Hazel crossed the room.
Damian turned away, giving them privacy.
His phone vibrated.
Marcus.
LOCKE IS TALKING. VINCENT TOO. THEY’RE TURNING ON EACH OTHER.
Damian looked back.
The war that had consumed seven years was ending without another fight.
Not because someone was stronger.
Because somebody had kept records.
Hazel noticed his expression.
“What?”
“Bastion is cooperating.”
Daniel laughed.
“Of course he is.”
“And Vincent?”
“Let me guess,” Hazel said. “He’s blaming Bastion.”
“Exactly.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Men like that are loyal only while loyalty is profitable.”
By evening, authorities had Daniel’s evidence.
By morning, accounts were frozen.
Investigators descended on companies connected to the network.
Damian spent two days answering questions.
Hazel spent three.
On Friday evening, she returned to Apex.
The forty-second floor was almost empty.
Damian was standing in the boardroom where he had fired her.
Hazel remained at the door.
“You asked to see me?”
“Yes.”
She glanced at her watch.
“I’m four minutes late.”
“I’m trying to become less sensitive about that.”
She smiled.
Damian pointed to her old chair.
Hazel did not sit.
“What do you want?”
“To offer you your job back.”
“No.”
He nodded.
“I expected that.”
“Good.”
“So I prepared another offer.”
He slid a folder toward her.
Hazel opened it.
Her eyebrows rose.
“Director of Corporate Security?”
“Full authority.”
“Over Marcus?”
“Joint authority.”
“Executive access?”
“Yes.”
“Independent budget?”
“Yes.”
Hazel closed the folder.
“Absolutely not.”
Damian blinked.
“Why?”
“Because you’re trying to hire me before you say what you actually brought me here to say.”
Damian stared.
Three years, and she still read him faster than anyone.
“All right.”
He walked around the table.
“I was wrong about you.”
“We established that.”
“I underestimated you.”
“Also established.”
“I treated you like furniture.”
“Getting warmer.”
“And when you finally needed me to trust you, I cared more about what Bastion thought than what you were trying to tell me.”
Hazel’s teasing expression disappeared.
Damian continued.
“You saved my life, and I fired you for it.”
“Yes.”
“I can’t undo that.”
“No.”
“But I can make sure I never become that man again.”
Hazel studied him.
Then she opened the folder once more.
“When would I start?”
Damian smiled.
“Monday.”
She shook her head.
“Tuesday.”
“Why Tuesday?”
“I have plans Monday.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Plans?”
“Yes.”
“With whom?”
Hazel smiled.
“That is no longer within your administrative clearance, Mr. Russo.”
She walked toward the door.
Damian watched her go.
Then she stopped.
“Seven o’clock.”
He frowned.
Hazel looked over her shoulder.
“My plans Monday. Dinner. Seven.”
“With me?”
“If you’re not late.”
Then she left.
May you like
For once, Damian Russo had absolutely nothing to say.
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