Chapter 7 - Yolanda’s Secret
For eleven minutes after Talia disappeared, Damen Pharaoh became the most dangerous version of himself.
Not loud.
Not reckless.
Focused.
The estate erupted around him—security teams searching grounds, vehicles positioned at exits, phones ringing—but Damen stood in the center of the study and reconstructed the abduction one decision at a time.
Smoke diversion.
East window.
Rope.
Vehicle.
North gate.
Someone had known precisely where Talia would be.
Someone had known precisely when security would shift.
Inside help.
Again.
Jacoby entered.
“North gate guard is gone.”
“Name?”
“Frank Delaney.”
“Years employed?”
“Six.”
Damen laughed once.
No humor.
“Anyone else want to betray me tonight?”
Jacoby did not answer.
Yolanda stood near the desk clutching Talia’s bow.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“She’s my daughter.”
“That’s exactly why you’re not.”
Yolanda stepped toward him.
“You do not get to decide whether I go after my child.”
Damen looked at her.
Under other circumstances, most people lowered their eyes.
She did not.
“You’re right.”
She blinked.
“You’re still not coming.”
“Damen—”
“If Elias wants leverage, you are leverage too.”
“He already has the only leverage he needs.”
Her voice broke.
Damen softened.
“Yolanda.”
“No.”
Tears came now.
“You promised her.”
“I know.”
“You looked her in the eyes and promised.”
“I know.”
“Then bring her back.”
He nodded.
“I will.”
She grabbed his arm before he could turn.
“There’s something I haven’t told you.”
Damen waited.
“When Mateo died, he left me a voicemail.”
“What did it say?”
“I thought it was nonsense.”
“Yolanda.”
She took out her phone.
“I kept it.”
The recording was old and damaged.
Mateo’s voice filled the study.
Breathing hard.
“Landa, listen. If you ever hear this, the second book isn’t a book. Northstar isn’t shipments. It’s names. People. The harbor is just where they move the favors. Don’t trust Ward. Don’t trust—”
Static swallowed several words.
Then:
“—Pharaoh doesn’t know. The son doesn’t know.”
Damen froze.
Mateo knew.
Years before Damen understood anything, Mateo Reyes had known Augustus Pharaoh was hiding Northstar from his son.
The message continued.
“If something happens to me, tell Talia I wanted to come home.”
The recording ended.
Yolanda cried silently.
Damen stared at the phone.
“Why didn’t you give this to police?”
“I did.”
“What?”
“The detective said the recording was too unclear.”
“Who?”
“Detective Paul Brennan.”
Jacoby, standing nearby, went still.
Damen noticed.
“What?”
Jacoby pulled out his phone.
“Brennan retired three years ago.”
“So?”
“He works private security now.”
“For who?”
Jacoby looked up.
“Providence.”
Victor Santoro.
Everything connected back.
Damen grabbed his coat.
At 8:46 p.m., a convoy left the estate.
Damen was not alone.
Elias had demanded it.
Damen had ignored him.
But the vehicles stopped two miles from Pier Seventeen.
From there Damen continued in one car with Jacoby hidden in the rear cargo space.
Other teams approached by water and neighboring warehouses.
Damen parked.
Pier Seventeen was nearly abandoned.
Wind rolled off Narragansett Bay.
Container cranes loomed against the dark sky like skeletons.
A single warehouse glowed ahead.
Damen entered.
Talia sat in a chair near the center.
Not tied.
Not hurt.
Terrified.
“Talia.”
She stood.
“Damen!”
A man stepped from the shadows.
Caleb Ward.
Blue ring.
Behind him, Elias.
Older.
Gray-haired.
Impeccably dressed.
As though this were another business meeting.
“Good,” Elias said. “You came.”
Damen’s eyes remained on Talia.
“Let her walk to me.”
“After the ledger.”
“You know I copied it.”
Elias smiled.
“Yes.”
“So why are we here?”
“To correct a larger problem.”
Victor Santoro emerged from the shadows.
Damen was not surprised.
“You.”
Victor sighed.
“You really should have finished that meeting.”
Damen almost smiled.
“People keep telling me that.”
Talia looked at him.
He gave her the smallest nod.
Stay calm.
She understood.
Elias said, “Your father built something extraordinary.”
“My father built a criminal network.”
“Your father built stability.”
“He murdered people.”
“He made difficult decisions.”
“Mateo Reyes?”
Elias’s expression did not change.
“One dockworker against a system supporting thousands.”
Damen stepped closer.
“You ever wonder why men like you always describe murder as arithmetic?”
Victor interrupted.
“Enough philosophy.”
He held up documents.
“We need your signature.”
Damen laughed.
“Still?”
“Especially now.”
“Why?”
“Because if Northstar collapses, every person connected to it starts talking.”
“And?”
“And powerful people dislike talking.”
Damen looked at Talia.
She was watching Caleb.
Not Elias.
Something about her expression changed.
Damen knew that look.
She had noticed something.
Caleb’s phone was sticking from his coat.
Talia slowly moved one hand toward it.
Damen kept Elias talking.
“My father trusted you.”
“He understood me.”
“He should have fired you.”
“He was smarter than you.”
Talia’s fingers reached the phone.
Caleb noticed.
“What are you doing?”
She grabbed it and ran.
Chaos.
Caleb lunged.
Damen moved.
He hit Caleb hard enough to send him into a table, then pulled Talia behind him.
Jacoby emerged from concealment.
Doors opened.
Security teams flooded the warehouse.
Victor ran toward the rear exit.
Federal agents entered from the opposite side.
Elias stared.
“What did you do?”
Damen held Talia against him.
“I stopped protecting my father.”
Elias finally understood.
“You gave them everything.”
“Yes.”
“You destroyed your own family.”
Damen looked down at Talia.
“No.”
Then at Yolanda’s daughter’s frightened face.
“I think I finally figured out what family means.”
Elias was taken into custody.
Victor followed.
Caleb, dazed but conscious, was restrained.
Talia buried her face against Damen’s chest.
“I knew you’d come.”
Damen closed his eyes.
For the first time that night, he allowed himself to breathe.
“I promised.”
But while investigators filled Pier Seventeen, Jacoby approached with news that made Damen’s relief disappear.
“Caleb’s phone.”
“What about it?”
“There’s a message from ten minutes ago.”
“From who?”
Jacoby showed him.
UNKNOWN:
IF PHARAOH HAS THE GIRL, MOVE THE REYES WOMAN.
Damen stared.
Yolanda.
Back at the estate.
He called.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then a guard finally picked up.
His voice was panicked.
“Mr. Pharaoh…”
Damen already knew.
“What happened?”
May you like
“Yolanda Reyes is missing.”
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