Chapter 4 - The Sister Who Never Died
The address led to a small bookstore in Chicago.
Damon entered alone.
Kate waited outside because the woman had insisted.
Twenty minutes passed.
Then forty.
At fifty-three minutes, Damon emerged.
His face was pale.
"She's alive," he said.
Kate stood.
"Elena?"
He nodded.
"Where?"
"Vermont."
Kate smiled.
But Damon didn't.
"What's wrong?"
"She doesn't want to see me."
The words seemed impossible coming from him.
"Did she say why?"
"She's afraid of what happens if Caldwell discovers where she is."
"Damon, Caldwell already knows you're investigating."
"Exactly."
Kate understood.
Finding Elena could expose her.
So Damon did something no one expected.
He stopped looking.
Publicly, at least.
He returned home.
He resumed business.
He made no calls that could be traced.
But Rachel continued quietly.
So did Kate.
Meanwhile, Preston Caldwell's life began collapsing.
Three more women gave statements.
Then another.
Then two former employees.
Patterns emerged.
Complaints had been buried.
Money had changed hands.
Records had vanished.
Senator Caldwell continued defending his son publicly, insisting the accusations should be tested through the legal process and denying that he had ordered any cover-up.
Then federal investigators announced an inquiry into financial transactions involving members of Caldwell's former security network.
The wall around Preston was gone.
And without it, people began talking.
One evening, Kate returned to the Blackwell estate for the first time since her injury.
Her arm remained in a cast.
Damon found her in the kitchen.
"What are you doing here?"
"Working."
"No."
She smiled.
"I'm bored."
"Still no."
"I can organize inventory with one hand."
"Kate."
She sighed.
"Fine."
Damon poured her coffee.
They sat at the servants' table rather than in his formal dining room.
For a while neither spoke.
Then Kate asked, "Why did Elena stay away?"
Damon stared into his cup.
"Because of me."
"You don't know that."
"I do."
He explained.
When they were younger, Damon had been ruthless about protecting his family.
After their mother died, he became more controlling.
Elena hated it.
The night she disappeared, she believed that if Damon knew what Preston had done, he would start a war.
"And she was probably right," Damon said.
Kate looked at him.
"Would you have?"
"At twenty-nine?"
He gave a humorless smile.
"Yes."
"And now?"
Damon thought about it.
"Now I understand destroying someone isn't the same as getting justice."
That mattered.
Kate realized the fifteen men hadn't disappeared because Damon killed them.
He had removed their ability to protect Preston.
It was calculated.
Still frightening.
But different.
"You've changed."
"Maybe."
"Elena might need to see that."
Two days later, a letter arrived.
No return address.
Damon recognized the handwriting before opening it.
Elena.
He read it alone.
Then gave it to Kate.
Damon,
I have watched you from a distance for eleven years. I know you searched for me. I know you hated yourself. None of this was your fault.
Damon stopped Kate.
"Read that again."
She did.
His eyes closed.
The letter continued.
Elena explained that Victor had helped her disappear because she possessed documents proving that Caldwell associates had pressured witnesses and buried complaints involving Preston.
But there was more.
Senator Caldwell hadn't been the person she feared most.
Someone inside the Blackwell organization had been selling information.
Victor discovered him.
Elena refused to identify him in the letter.
Instead she wrote:
He's still close to you.
Kate looked up.
Damon's expression had hardened.
"Who?"
The answer arrived sooner than either expected.
A sound came from the hallway.
Damon turned.
His longtime adviser, Adrian Cross, stood in the doorway.
Adrian had worked for Damon for fourteen years.
He had closed the estate gates the night Kate was injured.
He had removed Preston's fifteen protectors.
He knew everything.
And now he was staring at Elena's letter.
Damon slowly stood.
"How long have you been there?"
Adrian didn't answer.
His eyes went to Kate.
Then back to Damon.
"Long enough."
Kate's stomach dropped.
Damon stepped between her and the doorway.
"Are you the man Elena was afraid of?"
Adrian's face changed.
Not guilt.
Grief.
"No."
"Then who?"
Adrian swallowed.
"Damon, sit down."
"Tell me."
Adrian looked toward the windows.
Then said five words that changed everything.
May you like
"Your father never worked alone."
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