Chapter 4 - Her Father Came Back
Patrick appeared at Blackstone Terminal on Christmas Eve.
Drunk.
Angry.
And convinced Claire belonged to him.
Security stopped him outside.
Claire watched through the glass.
"Send him away," Damian said.
"No."
Damian looked at her.
"You don't owe him a conversation."
"I know."
That was precisely why she wanted one.
Claire walked onto the platform.
Patrick shouted immediately.
"There she is!"
"Hello, Dad."
"You think you're better than me now?"
"No."
She stopped several feet away.
"I think I'm better without you."
Patrick pointed toward Damian.
"He turned you against me."
Damian remained behind Claire.
She didn't need to look back.
"No. You did that."
"I made one mistake."
"One?"
Patrick's face reddened.
"I was desperate."
"You sold me."
"I knew Voss wouldn't hurt you."
Claire stared at him.
"That's your defense?"
Patrick hesitated.
Then made the mistake that ended everything.
"I want my share."
Claire laughed.
"Of what?"
"You're working for him now. I heard you're doing his books."
"My money isn't yours."
"I raised you!"
"And I've been paying for it ever since."
Patrick stepped toward her.
Damian moved.
Claire raised one hand.
"Don't."
Damian stopped.
Claire faced her father herself.
"You don't get to frighten me anymore."
Patrick stared at her.
Something changed in his expression.
For perhaps the first time, he realized the daughter he'd controlled for years was gone.
"You'll regret this."
Claire shook her head.
"No."
She turned toward the terminal.
"I regret waiting this long."
Patrick shouted after her.
"Claire!"
She kept walking.
Then came another voice.
"Mr. Donovan."
Damian.
Claire turned.
Damian stood beneath the old station clock.
"You were warned never to approach her again."
Patrick sneered.
"She's my daughter."
"She's an adult."
"She's family."
Damian's expression became cold.
"Family isn't something you own."
Patrick looked toward Claire.
She said nothing.
Security escorted him away.
That night, Claire found Damian alone beneath the stopped clock.
"Why 11:17?"
He looked up.
"You keep asking."
"You keep avoiding."
Long silence.
"My younger sister died at 11:17."
Claire's expression softened.
"Damian—"
"She was nineteen."
"What happened?"
"My father owed money."
Claire understood before he finished.
"He used her?"
Damian nodded.
"I was twenty-three. I arrived too late."
Claire looked at the clock again.
Suddenly everything made sense.
The motel.
The contract.
The fury he'd hidden when Patrick offered her.
"You didn't rescue me because of my father."
"No."
"You rescued me because you couldn't rescue her."
Damian looked away.
"Maybe."
Claire stepped beside him.
May you like
"You did this time."
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