Chapter 4 - The File That Destroyed Ellie Hart
Stephen Keller arrived at Damien's downtown office at 2:13 the next morning.
I didn't want to be there.
Damien insisted.
“You're part of this.”
“I’m a waitress.”
“No.”
His gaze held mine.
“You stopped being just a waitress when someone from your past targeted my family.”
Keller entered escorted by two security men.
He looked older.
But I recognized him instantly.
He recognized me too.
“Ellie?”
My hands went cold.
Damien gestured toward a chair.
“Sit.”
Keller looked around.
“What is this?”
Damien placed a photograph of the contaminated bottle on the desk.
Keller's face changed.
Barely.
But enough.
I saw it.
Damien did too.
“You recognize it,” he said.
“No.”
“You looked afraid.”
“Because you're Damien Moretti.”
Damien almost smiled.
“Reasonable answer.”
I stepped forward.
“Why did you frame me?”
Keller stared at me.
“I didn't.”
“You altered patient records.”
“No.”
“You used my credentials.”
“No.”
“Marco Bellini visited you.”
Nothing.
That was the first useful answer.
Silence.
Damien leaned forward.
“Marco is currently telling my people you did everything.”
Keller's head snapped up.
“He said that?”
Damien said nothing.
Keller realized too late that he'd reacted.
“Interesting,” Damien murmured.
Keller looked furious.
“That coward.”
My heart accelerated.
“So you do know him.”
Keller closed his eyes.
When he opened them, he looked defeated.
“It wasn't supposed to hurt anyone.”
Damien's chair moved backward.
I spoke first.
“What wasn't?”
Keller looked at me.
“The records.”
“Explain.”
“Marco wanted information.”
“What information?”
“Children of influential families. Conditions. Medications. Home schedules.”
“Why?”
“I didn't ask.”
“You destroyed my career because you didn't ask?”
“I needed money.”
I stared at him.
“You blamed me.”
“I panicked.”
“Forty-seven thousand dollars.”
He frowned.
“What?”
“That is what your panic cost me after legal bills and everything else.”
“Ellie—”
“Don't say my name.”
Damien remained silent.
For once, he let me control the room.
I asked, “Why now?”
Keller hesitated.
“Marco contacted me again.”
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
“The same time you returned to Chicago.”
“Yes.”
“Why Damien's company?”
Keller looked toward him.
“Access.”
Damien's voice dropped.
“To my children?”
“I never agreed to that.”
“But Marco did.”
“I don't know.”
Damien stood.
“You're lying.”
Keller's composure collapsed.
“He wasn't trying to kill them!”
The room went completely still.
Damien stepped around the desk.
“What did you say?”
Keller backed away.
“He wanted to create an emergency.”
“Why?”
“To make you vulnerable.”
Damien stared at him.
“Explain quickly.”
Keller swallowed.
“Marco believed you were going to remove him from the organization.”
Damien didn't deny it.
“He needed leverage,” Keller continued. “Chaos. Something that would force you to depend on people close to you.”
“My sons were leverage?”
“I told him not to do it.”
“But you helped.”
“I supplied information, not—”
Damien moved.
I stepped between them.
“Damien.”
“Get out of my way.”
“No.”
“He used my children.”
“And now he can testify against Marco.”
Damien stared over my shoulder at Keller.
I lowered my voice.
“You want to protect your sons?”
His eyes shifted to me.
“Then end this correctly.”
Seconds passed.
Finally Damien stepped back.
“Call my attorney.”
His security chief nodded.
“And the police.”
Keller looked shocked.
So did I.
Damien noticed.
“What?”
“I wasn't expecting that.”
“You expected me to kill him?”
“I expected you to want to.”
“I do.”
Keller went pale.
Damien looked at him.
“But Ellie is right.”
Then the office door opened.
A guard rushed inside.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“Marco escaped.”
Damien's expression changed.
“How?”
“He had help.”
“From who?”
The guard looked at me.
“We don't know.”
Then he held out a phone.
“But he left a message.”
Damien played it.
Marco's voice filled the room.
“Ellie Hart destroyed everything once. She won't do it twice.”
I stared at Damien.
The message continued.
“If you want your answers, bring her to Lakeshore.”
My old clinic.
The place where my life had fallen apart.
Damien switched off the recording.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“He wants me.”
“He isn't getting you.”
“Then we'll never know what he still has.”
“I said no.”
“And I said we end this correctly.”
His jaw tightened.
“You're not walking into a trap.”
I held his gaze.
May you like
“Then don't let me walk in alone.”
---
