جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 20

The words on that screen did something strange to me, a cold, sinking dread mixed with a fury so sharp it almost steadied me, the particular anger that comes from watching someone try to punish you for finding a moment of happiness in the middle of chaos they created."He's watching us," I said quietly. "Somehow, even now, even after his own security scattered."Damian's jaw had gone tight, his eyes scanning the tree line automatically, some old instinct pulling him immediately back into the version of himself that assessed threats before anything else. "Or someone still loyal to him is. Either way, this message means he knows enough about what's happening inside this house to make it personal.""Tell your new friend he should have stayed professional," I repeated, the words settling uncomfortably in my chest. "He's trying to shame you. Make you retreat back behind the rule.""It won't work," Damian said, and something in his voice had gone flat and hard in a way that told me he meant

The elevator ride up to my father's floor felt like it lasted an hour instead of the actual thirty seconds it took, Damian's hand gripping mine tightly enough that I understood he was holding himself together as much as he was holding me.The floor was chaos when the doors opened, security personnel moving through the hallway with the kind of controlled urgency that told me Marcus's warning had already spread through the building, my father's assistant standing near his office door with her face bone white, phone pressed to her ear."Where is he," I said, my voice cracking before I could steady it."He left twenty minutes ago," she said, hanging up mid conversation to answer me. "A car came for him. He said it was you, Ms. Calloway. He said you needed him immediately, some emergency at the house."The floor tilted beneath me. "I never called him. I've been with Damian all morning."Her face went even paler, if that was possible, and she looked toward Damian with something like despera

Deshmukh's call came just before midnight, and I answered it before the first ring finished, my whole body wound so tight with waiting that the sound made me flinch."Surveillance confirms activity at the shipping district property," she said, her voice carrying the particular controlled urgency of someone who had spent the last several hours coordinating something enormous. "Heat signatures consistent with at least three individuals, one showing minimal movement, consistent with a restrained hostage. We believe this is your father's location."Something in my chest cracked open, relief and terror tangled so tightly together I could not separate one from the other. "When do you move.""Tactical team stages at four in the morning. We move at first light, when visibility works in our favor and Cross's people are statistically least alert." A pause, weighted with something careful. "Ms. Calloway, I need you to stay at the estate during the operation. I understand how difficult that will

The next three days passed in a blur of careful, deliberate preparation, every hour consumed by security briefings, venue walkthroughs, and the particular exhausting vigilance of people readying themselves for something they knew was coming but could not fully predict.Deshmukh's team worked alongside Damian and Marcus with a coordination that would have been reassuring if the stakes had not been so impossibly high, cross referencing the guest list against every known associate of Cross's, running background checks on catering staff, event coordinators, even the florist who had handled arrangements for the gala for the past six years without incident."We can't guarantee he won't get inside," Damian told me on the second night, both of us poring over floor plans spread across the dining room table, the house finally quiet after my father had gone to bed early, still recovering, still fragile in ways that broke my heart every time I noticed him flinch at unexpected sounds. "But we can

My whole body went cold at Damian's words, every careful preparation of the last three days collapsing into the single, terrifying reality that Nathaniel Cross was somewhere in this room, watching my father give a speech he had almost certainly planned to interrupt."Where," I whispered, resisting every instinct to simply turn and search the crowd myself."Back of the room, near the column closest to the north exit," Damian said quietly, already speaking into his earpiece with a calm, controlled urgency that belied the tension I could feel radiating through his entire body. "Marcus, visual confirmation, Cross, northeast column, dark suit, standing alone. I want two operatives moving on him now, quiet approach, no visible weapons.""Copy," Marcus's voice crackled back. "Moving."I forced myself to keep my eyes on my father rather than searching the crowd, trusting Damian's assessment completely, my heart hammering so loudly I was certain everyone standing near us must be able to hear i