Chapter 15 - The Man Behind the Providence Deal
Victor Santoro lasted eight months before he decided loyalty to himself outweighed loyalty to Northstar.
His testimony completed the final missing section.
The Providence shipping deal had been Silas’s retirement plan.
Damen’s legitimate network would have absorbed Northstar routes slowly until nobody could separate legal shipments from criminal influence.
Silas intended to disappear permanently after Damen signed.
“He wanted you to inherit it unknowingly,” the prosecutor explained.
Damen shook his head.
“My father all over again.”
“Yes.”
Except Damen had not signed.
Because an eight-year-old girl screamed outside his door.
Four seconds.
That was the difference.
If he had told an aide to handle it—
If he had stayed seated—
If he had finished Victor’s sentence—
Northstar might have survived another generation.
Damen returned home late.
Talia was waiting on the stairs.
“You missed movie night.”
“I know.”
“You’re in trouble.”
“I suspected.”
Yolanda appeared.
“Did you eat?”
“No.”
“More trouble.”
Damen removed his coat.
“This household has become hostile.”
Talia held up the plastic boat.
“I fixed it.”
The hidden compartment was gone.
She had filled it with tiny seashells.
Damen smiled.
“Good.”
“No more secrets.”
“No more secrets.”
That became something of a family rule.
Not absolute.
Everyone deserved privacy.
But the dangerous kind of secrecy—the kind built from fear—had nearly destroyed all of them.
Damen told Yolanda about Victor’s testimony.
She listened quietly.
“So if Talia hadn’t come to you…”
“I would have signed.”
“And Northstar wins.”
“Yes.”
Yolanda looked toward her daughter.
Talia sat on the floor arranging shells.
“Mateo used to say she notices what adults miss.”
Damen smiled.
“He was right.”
“You would have liked him.”
The statement could have been awkward.
It was not.
Damen understood that loving Yolanda did not require erasing Mateo.
A dead husband was not competition.
He was part of the story that created the people Damen now cared about.
“I wish I’d known him,” Damen said.
Yolanda looked at him.
“Thank you.”
That night, after Talia fell asleep halfway through the movie, Damen carried her upstairs.
Yolanda followed.
At the bedroom door, she said, “You know she thinks you’re her person now.”
Damen looked down at the sleeping child.
“What does that mean?”
“The person she runs to.”
His expression softened.
“That’s a large responsibility.”
“Yes.”
“Does she know I’m bad at feelings?”
“She has noticed.”
He smiled.
Yolanda touched his arm.
“But you’re getting better.”
May you like
For once, Damen did not argue.
---
