Chapter 2 - The Man Inside the House
Damian did not react.
That was what made Leo nervous.
Khloe had barely managed to whisper the name before exhaustion overtook her.
"Bruno."
The name remained inside Damian's mind.
Bruno.
The man standing twenty feet away.
The man who had been beside Damian that morning when he discovered Khloe missing.
The man who had served the Russo family for fifteen years.
Damian looked toward the doorway.
Bruno stood there with two others.
"Get the doctor," Damian ordered calmly.
Bruno nodded.
"Already called him."
"Good."
Damian lifted Khloe carefully.
She instinctively wrapped one arm around his neck.
He carried her from the basement.
Bruno stepped forward.
"Boss, let me—"
"No."
One word.
Bruno stopped.
During the drive back, Khloe slept against Damian.
He said nothing.
Leo sat opposite them.
His eyes met Damian's once.
Damian gave the smallest shake of his head.
Not here.
They took Khloe to a private medical suite inside one of Russo Holdings' buildings.
The physician confirmed that she was exhausted and dehydrated, with bruising and minor injuries, but nothing immediately life-threatening.
Damian remained beside her.
At 2:13 a.m., Khloe woke.
"How long?"
"About two hours."
"Where's Bruno?"
Damian leaned forward.
"Tell me exactly what happened."
Khloe closed her eyes.
"I was asleep. I heard glass break."
She remembered three men.
Masks.
They knew the apartment.
They knew the security code.
They knew exactly where her bedroom was.
One man had spoken on the phone.
Khloe hadn't heard everything.
But she had heard enough.
"He said, 'Bruno confirmed Russo doesn't know.'"
Damian's jaw tightened.
"Anything else?"
"Yes."
Her eyes opened.
"They weren't supposed to hurt me."
Damian stared at her.
"What?"
"That was part of the instruction. I heard them arguing. One of them said I had to be delivered alive."
"To Walsh?"
Khloe hesitated.
"I don't think Walsh was giving the orders."
That changed everything.
Damian stood.
"Rest."
She caught his wrist.
"Don't."
He looked down.
"Don't what?"
"Become the version of yourself everyone is afraid of."
His expression softened almost imperceptibly.
"Someone took you."
"And you found me."
"That's not enough."
"It has to be enough tonight."
Damian looked at her fingers around his wrist.
Then he gently removed them.
"Sleep."
He left.
Leo waited outside.
"Where's Bruno?"
"Conference room."
"Alone?"
"Yes."
Damian entered twenty minutes later.
Bruno sat at the table.
He looked confused.
Then he saw Damian's expression.
"Boss?"
Damian closed the door.
"How long?"
Bruno frowned.
"How long what?"
"Have you been talking to Walsh?"
Color disappeared from Bruno's face.
That was answer enough.
But what followed wasn't what Damian expected.
"Boss, I can explain."
"Try."
Bruno stood slowly.
"My brother owes Walsh money."
Damian said nothing.
"Six months ago, Walsh approached me. He wanted schedules. Buildings. Nothing major."
"You gave him access to Khloe's apartment."
"No."
Damian stepped closer.
"I gave him the security architecture," Bruno admitted. "But I didn't know he was going after her."
"Why?"
"My brother has two daughters."
His voice broke.
"They threatened them."
Damian's anger remained, but something complicated entered it.
"Why didn't you come to me?"
Bruno looked down.
"Because Walsh showed me photographs. My nieces leaving school. My brother's wife at work. He said if you knew, they'd disappear."
Damian stared at him.
"And you believed him?"
"I was afraid."
Damian's voice lowered.
"So you traded Khloe for them."
"No."
Bruno looked up sharply.
"I swear to you, I didn't know."
"Who gave Walsh the information?"
"I dealt with a middleman."
"Name."
Bruno hesitated.
"Vincent Caruso."
Damian's expression changed.
Vincent was not a street soldier.
He was Russo Holdings' chief financial officer.
More importantly, he was Damian's mother's cousin.
Family.
"That's impossible," Leo said from the doorway.
Bruno shook his head.
"I met him twice. Vincent said he was handling communications for Walsh."
Damian turned toward Leo.
"Where is Caruso?"
Leo checked his phone.
"According to security, he left headquarters at six."
"Home?"
"No."
"Find him."
Vincent Caruso was found forty minutes later.
Dead?
No.
That would have been easier.
He was sitting calmly inside a private restaurant in Midtown.
Waiting for Damian.
When Damian entered, Vincent dismissed the waiter.
"You found her."
Damian stopped across the table.
"You knew."
Vincent poured wine.
"I suspected you would."
"Why?"
Vincent smiled sadly.
"Sit down."
Damian didn't.
"You're going to tell me why Khloe was taken."
"No."
Vincent looked toward him.
"I'm going to tell you why she was returned."
Damian's eyes narrowed.
"Returned?"
"Do you really believe you found that basement because your people were clever?"
Vincent leaned back.
"The van was meant to appear on those cameras."
"The watch?"
"Placed deliberately."
Damian felt cold.
"Why?"
"Because Walsh wanted you angry."
"At him?"
Vincent shook his head.
"At Bruno."
Silence.
Damian understood.
"Someone wants me cleaning my own organization."
"Exactly."
"Who?"
Vincent's expression changed.
For the first time, fear appeared.
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"I wish I were."
Vincent slid an envelope across the table.
Damian opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Khloe.
She was leaving Damian's Tribeca headquarters.
The photograph had been taken two years earlier.
On the back were five handwritten words.
SHE IS THE ONLY KEY.
Damian looked up.
"What does this mean?"
Vincent swallowed.
"I think Khloe knows something."
"About what?"
"Your father."
Damian stopped breathing for a moment.
His father, Antonio Russo, had died twelve years earlier.
Officially, a heart attack.
Unofficially, Damian had always suspected something else.
Vincent leaned closer.
"Three years ago, when Khloe repaired the family books, she found an account nobody was supposed to discover."
"What account?"
"One your father created before he died."
Damian stared at him.
"What's in it?"
Vincent's answer was barely a whisper.
"Enough evidence to destroy the Russo organization."
May you like
Then Vincent said something even worse.
"And Khloe has known about it for three years."
