Chapter 5: A Real Answer
961 Words
“Elena.”
Damian’s voice cuts through the air, sharper now, closer.
“What did she say to you?”
Elena’s brain scrambles for something to give him, some safe version. Nothing fits. He’s watching too closely, reading her, waiting for the cracks to show.
“She threatened me,” she says.
It’s not the full story, but it isn’t a lie either.
He freezes. All the movement drains out of him.
“Threatened you how?”
Mateo tugs at Damian’s hand, completely missing the tension. “Ms. Reyes. Can we do reading time now?”
Damian doesn’t look away from her.
“Buddy, just give me a second.”
“But you promised”
“One second, Mateo.”
Before either of them can push it, Elena crouches down so she’s on Mateo’s level. “Hey. Your dad and I have to talk about boring adult stuff for a minute. How about you pick out three books, and I’ll be right in?”
Mateo studies her, and is serious about it.
“Three books. Not two.”
“Three. You got it.”
He rushes off, feet slapping against the floor. For a second, the hallway feels almost normal again.
Then Elena straightens. The feeling cracks and slips away.
“Threatened you how?” Damian asks again, but quieter now that Mateo’s gone. “Specifically.”
Elena forced herself to answer. “She said if I don’t do exactly what she wants, she’ll make sure I never work in childcare again. Get me flagged by agencies. Destroy my name.”
“Why would she do that?”
Her heart pounds. This is it. This is the moment, the split in the road she's been dreading all day. She could just tell him. Right here, right now. Before the truth gets even heavier.
But she doesn’t.
“I don’t know,” she says.
The lie sits thick on her tongue, metallic and hard.
Damian’s eyes narrow, but not in suspicion. It’s disbelief, like he’s mapped the truth out in his head, and she just refuses to say it.
“You don’t know,” he says.
“No.”
“My mother doesn’t threaten strangers for fun, Elena. She does it to people who matter. People who have something to lose.” He steps closer, too close, voice dropping low. “What is it you have to lose?”
Elena's back finds the wall again, the second time today.
“My job. Same as anyone.”
“That’s not what your face is telling me.”
“You don’t know my face.”
He huffs a kind of bitter laugh. “I’ve been reading it since seven this morning.” His voice is rough now, softer. “I know when it lies to me.”
The space between them charges up, something electric and sharp twisting in the air, something she can’t blame on anger anymore.
Her heart pounds for a different reason now, and she hates that she’s hyper-aware of how close he is.
“Damian”
“That’s the first time you’ve said my name.”
His voice, quiet this time. Different.
Elena’s breath stutters.
“I…”
“Say it again.”
“This isn’t…”
“Say it again, Elena.”
He glances at her mouth, quick but not quick enough to miss. Suddenly, something wild and strong leaps up in her stomach, startling, hot.
She should step away. Put space between them before it turns into something she can’t undo.
She stays frozen.
A door creaks down the hall.
They break apart like they’ve been burned, even though nothing happened. Even though they were just standing there, side by side, breathing.
“Daddy?” Mateo calls from the playroom doorway. He’s clutching his books, confusion screwing up his face. “I picked up my books. Why are you guys just standing there?”
Damian clears his throat and steps back for real this time, sliding on his CEO's face so fast Elena almost has to question if anything just happened.
“Coming, bud.”
He glances at Elena one last time, something dark and heated still burning behind his eyes, just barely covered.
“This conversation isn’t over,” he says, slowly, just for her.
He heads toward Mateo, softening his voice for his son, and turns into someone gentler on the spot. The man inches from her face seconds ago is gone.
Elena presses her hand flat over her chest, as if she can trap her wild heartbeat.
It doesn’t work. Her skin was still tingling with heat from where Damian stood. Her name sounds different now, echoed in his voice.
Her phone buzzes in her pocket.
She jumps, almost expecting her mother’s name to light up the screen.
It’s not her mother.
UNKNOWN NUMBER
I know who you gave up five years ago. I have the hospital records to prove it. Meet me tomorrow, 10 a.m., at Riverside Café. Come alone, or I send everything to Damian Cross myself, tonight.
The words hit her hard.
Hospital records.
Bianca never said anything about those. Bianca always talked about abstractions, files, leverage, identity. She was cold. Legal. Distant.
This is different. This message sounds like someone who was actually there.
Elena’s thumb hovers over the screen, shaking.
Down the hall, she catches Mateo’s laugh, bright and real, dragging her back for just a second. Damian’s voice follows, low and steady, starting a story out loud just because his son asked for it. It all sounds so normal.
But Elena stares at the message.
Come alone, or I will send everything to Damian Cross myself, tonight. Her grip tightens around her phone.
Whoever sent this isn’t working with Bianca.
They’re here for something else. And they’re against everyone.
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