THE DOMINEERING CEO: The child of deception

Room 304

CHAPTER 5:

The tires screeched as Damien’s Bentley tore out of Cole Tower’s parking lot.

“Faster,” I said. My voice shook. “Please, faster.”

Damien didn’t answer. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel. He’d fired the driver. He was driving himself.

Room 304. Empty.

That text kept replaying in my head.

My phone buzzed again.

UNKNOWN NUMBER:

"10 minutes head start, Mrs. Cole. Hope she’s worth 15 million."

I threw the phone across the car.

“Who is doing this?” I asked like someone would answer

Damien glanced at me. His face was stone, but his jaw was ticking. “Someone who knew about Amara. Someone who was there.”

“Was it Victoria?”

“Victoria’s petty. Not dangerous.” He swerved around a danfo. “This is personal. This is someone from inside.”

St. Mary’s Hospital. 12 minutes later.

We ran through the emergency entrance. Nurses looked up, then quickly looked away when they saw Damien.

Room 304.

The door was open.

The bed was empty. Neatly made. Like no one had been there.

IV stand. Empty.

My mom’s bag. Gone.

Her prayer book. Gone.

My legs gave out.

“Ma!” I screamed. The sound echoed down the hall. “MOM!”

A nurse ran over. Young. Scared. “Miss, you can’t—”

“Where is she?” Damien cut her off. His voice was low, but it made the nurse flinch. “Mrs. Carter. Room 304. Where is she?”

“I— I don’t know, sir. She was here at 6am for rounds. Dr. Adebayo discharged her.”

“Discharged?” I stood up. “To who? She can’t walk! She has tubes!”

The nurse pulled out a tablet. Her hands were shaking. “It says... signed release. By a Mr. Cole.”

Damien went still. “Show me.”

She turned the tablet. The signature at the bottom:

-D. Cole

It wasn’t his signature.

“It’s forged,” Damien said quietly. Too quietly. “Pull the CCTV. Now.”

The nurse nodded and ran.

I sank to the floor. The cold tiles hit my knees. “This is my fault. I signed your contract. I left her.”

Damien knelt in front of me. He didn’t touch me. Not yet.

“Lila. Look at me.”

I couldn’t. Tears were falling too fast.

“Lila.” His voice cracked. Just a little. “This is not your fault. This is mine. I should’ve put guards on her. I was arrogant. I thought paying 15 million meant she was safe.”

He reached out and wiped a tear off my cheek with his thumb.

“I will find her,” he said. “I swear to you. On my life. I will bring her back.”

For the first time, I believed him.

30 minutes later. Security room.

The guard played the CCTV footage.

6:14am. Two men in hospital scrubs came in. Surgical masks. One tall, one short.

They spoke to the nurse. Showed her papers. She nodded.

Then they wheeled my mom out. She was unconscious. Oxygen mask on.

6:17am. They loaded her into a black SUV. No plate. Tinted windows.

The footage cut to static.

“Jammed,” Damien said. He punched the wall. The guard jumped. “They knew about the cameras.”

My phone buzzed.

UNKNOWN NUMBER:

"She’s safe. For now. Want her back? Come alone. Abandoned warehouse.

Idu Industrial. 9pm. Tell Damien and she loses a finger."

I read it out loud. My voice was dead.

Damien took the phone from me. He stared at it. Then he smiled. But it wasn’t his cold CEO smile. It was something darker.

“Good,” he said. “They want me alone.”

“No,” I grabbed his arm. “You heard them. If they see you—”

“They won’t see me,” he said. He turned to me. “Because you’re going. And I’m going to be in the trunk.”

“What?”

“Lila.” He cupped my face with both hands. “Listen to me. This is how we end this. We give them what they want. You. Then I take them down.”

I shook my head. “What if they hurt you? What if they hurt Mom?”

“They won’t.” His thumb brushed my lip. “Because I won’t let them. Not again. Not like Amara.”

The name hit me.

“Is that why you’re doing this? Because you couldn’t save her?”

Damien’s eyes darkened. “I’m doing this because I won’t lose you too.”

The words hung in the air.

I should’ve argued. I should’ve said no.

But my mom was out there. And Damien... Damien looked at me like I was the only thing in the world that mattered.

“Okay,” I whispered. “Okay. 9pm.”

************

8:45pm. Idu Industrial Warehouse.

It was dark. Broken windows. Smelled like rust and old oil.

I got out of a taxi. Alone. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it would crack my ribs.

“Hello?” I called out. “I’m here. Let my mom go.”

Footsteps.

The tall man from the CCTV stepped out. Still in scrubs. Still masked.

“You came alone?” His voice was muffled.

“Yes.”

“Where’s Cole?”

“I don’t know.” I lied. “He’s at the office.”

The man laughed. “He thinks we’re stupid. Check her.”

The short man patted me down. Found nothing.

“Bring her in,” Tall Man said.

Inside. Fluorescent lights flickered.

And there was my mom.

On a metal chair. Tied up. Oxygen tank beside her. She was awake. Eyes wide with fear.

“Mom!” I ran to her. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

She shook her head. Tears fell. “Lila... baby...”

The two men stood behind us.

“Where’s Cole?” Tall Man asked again.

“I told you, I don’t—”

The warehouse doors slammed shut.

Damien.

He walked in from the shadows. No suit. Black t-shirt. Black pants. And in his hand... a gun.

“Evening, gentlemen,” he said. “You took something that belongs to me.”

Tall Man pulled out his own gun. Pointed it at my mom’s head.

“Don’t move, Cole. Or the old woman dies.”

Damien didn’t stop walking. “Put the gun down.”

“Or what? You’ll shoot? You shoot, she dies.”

Damien stopped 10 feet from us. He looked at me. Then at my mom.

“I’m sorry,” he mouthed to me.

Then he raised the gun.

Bang.

The light above Tall Man exploded. Glass rained down.

In the chaos, Damien moved. Fast. Like a ghost.

He disarmed Short Man in 2 seconds. Elbow to the throat. Gun to the floor.

He turned and shot Tall Man in the leg. The man screamed and dropped his gun.

It was over in 15 seconds.

I was still shaking as Damien cut the ropes on my mom.

“Ma, it’s me. It’s okay.”

She clung to me. “My baby. My baby.”

Damien stood over the two men. His gun was still pointed at them.

“Who hired you?” he asked. His voice was ice.

Tall Man spit blood. “Go to hell, Cole.”

Damien crouched down. “Last chance. Who. Hired. You.”

The man laughed.

“You really don’t know? "

'Ask your dead wife. Ask Amara.'

Damien’s face went blank.

He stood up. Walked to the door.

“Police are 2 minutes out,” he said. “You want to talk to them, or to me?”

He looked at me. “Let’s go home, Lila.”

We drove in silence. My mom was asleep in the back, hooked to a portable oxygen tank one of Damien’s men brought.

At the mansion, maids took her to the guest room. A doctor was already waiting.

Alone in the hallway, Damien stopped me.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

I nodded.

“Good.” He exhaled. Like he’d been holding his breath all night.

Then he pulled me into a hug. Tight. Desperate.

“I thought I lost you,” he whispered into my hair. “I thought I’d be too late. Again.”

I didn’t push him away.

“I’m here,” I said. “We’re here.”

He pulled back. Looked at me.

“Lila. I need to tell you something. About Amara. About who might’ve—”

His phone rang.

He answered. Listened.

His face went white.

“What?” he said. “What do you mean the hospital records are gone?”

He hung up.

“They wiped St. Mary’s entire database,” he said. “Amara’s file. My mom’s admission. Everything. Someone doesn’t want us to know the truth.”

He looked at me.

“And Lila... the only person with access to delete those files is family.”

My blood ran cold.

“Family?”

Damien nodded.

“Welcome to the Cole family, wife.”

TO BE CONTINUED...