Chapter 6 - The Price of Being Seen
Mara did not go home that night.
Detective Price insisted on temporary protection after the note was found. Viktor insisted too, though he phrased it less gently.
“You and Lila will remain here until we know who else is involved.”
Mara stared at him.
“In the house where someone poisoned Damian?”
“The east wing is secure.”
“No place is secure if people keep secrets.”
Viktor held her gaze.
“You are right.”
It was the second time in two days that one of Damian Volkov’s men had admitted she was right.
Mara hated that it made her feel less afraid.
Lila stayed in a guest room near Damian’s suite.
Not because Mara wanted her close to the danger, but because Lila refused to sleep anywhere else.
“The sad man is scared at night,” she said.
“He has guards.”
“He still gets scared.”
Mara had no answer for that.
At midnight, she found Damian sitting alone in the dark.
He was awake, staring at the rain beyond the windows.
His medication had been changed. The new doctors said the poison would take time to leave his body, but that his heart could recover.
If he rested.
If he followed treatment.
If nothing else went wrong.
Mara stood in the doorway.
“You should be sleeping.”
“So should you.”
“My daughter thinks you’re scared.”
Damian looked at her.
“Your daughter is observant.”
“Are you?”
He was quiet for a long time.
Then he said, “Yes.”
The honesty surprised her.
“Of dying?” she asked.
“No.”
“Then what?”
“Of surviving and finding out there is nothing left worth surviving for.”
Mara sat in the chair across from him.
For the first time, she saw the full loneliness of his life.
The guards.
The money.
The mansion.
The power.
It had all built walls around him.
But walls could keep danger out only until danger was already inside.
“Why did you become this?” Mara asked.
Damian’s gaze moved toward the window.
“My father was killed when I was thirteen. My mother died two years later. Men took what they wanted because no one stopped them.”
“So you became a man no one could take from.”
“Yes.”
“And did it work?”
His answer was barely a whisper.
“No.”
Mara nodded.
She understood that kind of pain more than she wanted to.
Her own father had disappeared when she was a teenager. Her former partner had promised to build a life with her, then vanished when Lila’s hearing problems became expensive and difficult.
Mara had learned to survive without expecting anyone to stay.
But she had not built an empire from that loneliness.
She had built a small life.
A hard life.
But one with warmth.
“You can still choose differently,” she said.
Damian looked at her.
“Men like me do not get second chances.”
“Everyone gets choices,” Mara replied. “They just don’t get to avoid the consequences of their old ones.”
Before he could answer, the door opened.
Viktor entered, his face tight.
“Dr. Kessler is talking.”
Damian sat straighter.
“What did he say?”
“He says Malenkov paid him. But Malenkov was not the one who ordered the first poison.”
“Who did?”
Viktor hesitated.
“Your brother.”
The room became silent.
Damian’s expression did not change.
But Mara saw his fingers curl around the blanket.
“Arman,” he said.
“Yes.”
Damian had a younger brother?
Mara had never heard the name.
Viktor continued, “Kessler says Arman believed Damian had become weak. He wanted to take over the organization before Malenkov moved against the family.”
“And the plan for Mara?” Damian asked.
“Kessler says that came from Arman too. He wanted leverage against you.”
Mara’s stomach tightened.
Lila.
Arman Volkov had never met her.
Yet he had already marked her as leverage.
Damian stood abruptly.
Pain crossed his face, but he ignored it.
“Where is he?”
“We don’t know.”
“You will find him.”
“Already searching.”
Damian looked at Mara.
His voice became quiet.
“You were right to want to leave.”
“I know.”
“You should leave now.”
Mara stared at him.
“What?”
“I will arrange a safe place. New apartment. Security. Anything you need.”
“And then what? You keep fighting your war, and Lila and I run forever?”
Damian said nothing.
Mara stood.
“My daughter walked into this room because she heard someone hurting. She did not care who you were. She did not care what people said about you. She saw pain, and she tried to help.”
Damian’s eyes fixed on hers.
“You have a chance to be the kind of man she believes you are,” Mara said. “Don’t waste it by making decisions from fear.”
Viktor’s radio crackled.
A guard’s voice came through.
“Security breach. North gate.”
Then another voice, distorted by static.
“Package delivered.”
Viktor moved to the window.
At the gate stood a black van.
Its side door was open.
Inside was a small yellow rain boot.
Mara stopped breathing.
May you like
Lila’s yellow rain boot.
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