The Man Behind the Mask

Chapter 4

Damian cross the restaurant floor with controlled urgency. The ice from his office was gone, replaced by a dark focus that made my stomach flip. Three years ago that look had meant he was coming for me. Tonight it meant he was trying to protect what he had already lost once.

He didn’t look like a CEO executing a termination. He looked like a man trying to outrun something that could destroy all three of us.

“You need to come with me,” Damian said, ignoring his brother entirely. His eyes locked onto mine, hard and demanding. 

“Now, Ivy.”

“Excuse me?” Nathaniel stepped between us so fast the air shifted. The loose charm evaporated into a rigid, territorial line. Heat rolled off him as he blocked Damian’s path, shoulder to shoulder with me. 

“She’s having dinner. With me. You don’t get to march in here and reorder her evening.”

“There’s a leak.” Damian’s voice dropped to a harsh whisper. 

“Someone has been selling Special Projects’ internal data for months. And twenty minutes ago I found out your name is already attached to documents you haven’t even seen yet.”

The room tilted. The expensive wine in my stomach turned to lead. I was Ivy Calloway the woman who had once been Damian Cross lover, the woman who had walked out when the brothers’ war made loving either of them feel like choosing a side. I had spent three years rebuilding myself. Now my name was being used as a weapon again.

“What documents?”

“Not here.” Damian’s gaze flicked across the dim restaurant, cataloging exits and a man three tables over who had been staring at the same untouched drink. When his eyes returned to mine they held something dangerously close to real fear and something far more possessive. 

“My car is outside. I’ll explain where it’s safe.”

“Or she comes with me,” Nathaniel countered, stepping closer until the heat of his body pressed against my side. 

“Since I’m the only one who’s actually been honest with her tonight.”

“Honest?” A bitter twist deformed Damian’s mouth. 

“Is that what you call setting her up to take the fall for whatever you’ve been running behind the board’s back?”

“Stop it. Both of you.” The words tore out of my throat. The sheer absurdity of it two grown men treating me like a prize in their war snapped the last thread of restraint. I stood, spine straight, forcing them both to take half a step back. 

“I am not going anywhere with either of you until someone tells me exactly what is being pinned on my name. No more riddles. What leak?”

Silence stretched. Damian broke first. 

“Six months ago someone inside the division started routing our pitch logs to Halcyon,” he said, jaw tight. 

“This morning my contact confirmed the next batch already carries your digital signature. It’s dated for tomorrow.”

“That’s impossible.” My fingers dug into the silk of my dress. 

“I don’t even have a corporate login yet. I walked away from both of you three years ago.”

“I know.” For a fraction of a second the frost in Damian’s voice cracked, revealing worry. 

“Which means someone is framing you before you can even sit at your desk. The circle of people who could forge a Creative Director’s credentials before HR processes the paperwork is incredibly small.” Damian’s eyes drilled into his brother’s chest. 

“It narrows the list down to this table.”

Nathaniel went entirely still. The restless energy froze into something cold and lethal.

“You think it’s me,” Nathaniel said, voice dropping into a dangerous register.

“I didn’t say that.”

“You never have to.” Nathaniel’s jaw clenched. 

“You’ve thought it since the old man died and left this company without a clear heir.”

“I want what I earned.” Nathaniel’s posture shifted, predatory. 

“There’s a difference between claiming my birthright and destroying the only thing I’ve spent my life trying to prove I’m worthy of.”

“I need to see the log files,” I said, cutting through the tension. 

“Tonight. You two can settle your issues on your own time. Right now I’m the one facing an investigation before my first day is even over.”

Damian nodded once, sharp and decisive, already pulling out his phone. 

“My car. Executive suite.”

“Our car,” Nathaniel corrected, voice carrying a subtle edge as his eyes locked on mine. 

“I’m the one who tracked the leak two weeks ago. You need my key, Damian.”

The brothers stared each other down.

“Fine,” Damian spat. 

“One hour. Her office.”

We bypassed the main rescent night lights. 

Inside my office the air still smelled faintly of old carpet cleaner. Damian went straight to the desk, opening his laptop and plugging in a secure drive. Nathaniel stood at the glass window, fingers flying over his phone before sliding a black USB across the desk.

Before Damian could click the trackpad, my phone vibrated hard against my palm.

I looked down. Same unknown number. But the message wasn’t written in Nathaniel’s rushed style. This was cold, clinical, and precise enough to make the hairs on my arms stand up.

`Ask them both what happened to Elias Cross last will. Ask them why it was never read aloud to the board. Ask them why you were really hired, Ivy. Ask them if they still remember who you used to be when one of them still got to keep you.`

My breath caught. The neat black text felt like a physical hand closing around my throat. Whoever was sending these knew exactly where I was, and exactly which buried secrets could destroy us all.

I slowly raised my head. Both brothers had stopped looking at the laptop. They were staring directly at me, tracking the pale shock on my face.

“Who is texting you?” Nathaniel asked. For the first time all night the charm was completely gone, replaced by absolute alarm.

Before I could answer, the overhead lights flickered once, twice, and then plunged the entire floor into total, pitch-black darkness.

From the hallway outside my door, the heavy click of a manual lock sliding into place echoed through the dark.

And for the first time since I had stepped back into their war, I realized the real danger wasn’t the leak, or the will, or the brothers circling each other.

It was the fact that part of me still wanted both of them to reach for me in the dark.