The Don's Dept

CHAPTER THREE

DAMIEN'S POV

I watched Isabella's car disappear down the street, a smile still playing on my lips. She had no idea who I was, and that made everything both easier and infinitely more complicated.

Adrian was waiting in my penthouse when I arrived, sitting in the dark.

"You know I have lights, right?" I flipped the switch.

"We need to talk about the Chen girl." Adrian didn't move from the leather chair. "You're getting too close."

"Her name is Isabella."

"I know her name. I also know she's Marcus Sterling's wife, which makes her Richard Sterling's daughter-in-law, which makes this entire situation a massive conflict of interest." Adrian stood, crossing his arms. "What are you doing, Damien?"

I poured myself a drink. Adrian had been with me for ten years. He'd seen me build my empire from nothing, watched me destroy men who'd underestimated me, and never once questioned my decisions. But this was different.

"I'm getting information," I said.

"Bullshit. You're sleeping with her."

"Not yet." I took a sip of scotch. "But I will."

Adrian's jaw tightened. "Richard Sterling is trying to absorb Chen Industries. If he succeeds, he'll control thirty percent of the city's commercial real estate. That makes him our biggest competitor. And you're romancing his daughter-in-law?"

"Exactly. Who better to give me inside information on the Sterling family than someone trapped inside it?"

"She doesn't know who you are."

"I'm aware."

"When she finds out, she'll hate you."

I thought about Isabella's laugh, the way she'd kissed me on the sidewalk. "Maybe."

"Definitely." Adrian pulled out his phone, showing me photos. "These were taken tonight. And last night at the bar."

My blood went cold. Isabella and me at dinner, kissing outside her car, every intimate moment captured. "Who hired them?"

"Working on it. But my guess? Helena Chen. She's been trying to contest James Chen's will for months."

"On what grounds?"

"Morality clause. If Isabella commits a******y during the required marriage period, she forfeits the inheritance." Adrian's expression was grim. "Which means every time you two are together, you're helping Helena destroy Isabella's claim to her father's company."

I set down my glass carefully. "Does Isabella know?"

"About the surveillance? Probably by now. Marcus Sterling received copies of the photos."

"And she still met me tonight."

"Either she doesn't care, or she's willing to risk everything for you." Adrian paused. "Or she doesn't fully understand what she's risking."

I thought about how Isabella had hesitated when I'd asked her to come home with me. She knew. She knew and came anyway.

"I need you to find out who's running the surveillance," I said. "And make them stop."

"Damien…"

"I don't care what it costs. Make it stop."

Adrian studied me for a long moment. "You're sure about this?"

"No. But I'm doing it anyway."

He left, and I was alone with my thoughts and my guilt. I'd approached Isabella knowing exactly who she was, knowing her father had borrowed money from me years ago and died before repaying it. I'd planned to use her to get information on the Sterling family, maybe find leverage to force Richard Sterling out of the commercial real estate market.

But then she'd smiled at me in that bar, and when she'd talked about her father, about losing him and fighting to preserve his legacy, something in my chest had cracked open.

My phone buzzed. A text from Isabella: "Thank you for tonight. I needed it more than you know."

I typed back: "Same. When can I see you again?"

The response came quickly: "Tomorrow? Same restaurant?"

"I'll be there."

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

The next morning, I had back-to-back meetings with investors. I conducted business through proxies and shell corporations, keeping my identity hidden because anonymity was power.

"Mr. Blackwood, the Sterling contract," my assistant said, sliding a folder across the desk.

I opened it. Richard Sterling wanted to partner on a new development downtown, fifty-fifty split on a project worth two hundred million. It was a trap. Richard Sterling didn't offer partnerships, he offered hostile takeovers disguised as handshakes.

"Decline," I said. "Politely."

The assistant left, and I pulled up everything I had on Richard Sterling. My investigators had been digging for months. What they'd found was disturbing.

Richard Sterling had a history of destroying partners. James Chen had been one of his targets.

James and Richard had been college friends turned business partners. They'd started Sterling & Chen Development together thirty years ago. But something had happened. They'd split the company, James taking Chen Industries and Richard keeping Sterling & Co.

But Richard had never forgiven whatever James had done. He'd spent decades systematically destroying James's business relationships. When James had gotten sick, Richard had moved in for the kill, proposing a merger that would have given him control of Chen Industries.

James had refused and died a week later.

The official cause of death was heart failure. But my investigators found something interesting: James's medication had been changed two weeks before his death, prescribed by a doctor who'd received a substantial payment from an offshore account the day after James died. An account that traced back to a shell corporation owned by Helena Chen.

James Chen hadn't died of natural causes. He'd been murdered, and his wife had helped.

My phone rang. Adrian.

"The surveillance team is backed by Helena Chen," he said. "But there's another team too. This one's tracking both Isabella and Marcus, and they're better funded. Military grade equipment, encrypted communications, the works."

"Who's paying for it?"

"Still working on that. But Damien, there's something else. Vanessa Drake, Marcus Sterling's girlfriend, she's not who she claims to be."

"Explain."

"Her real name is Vanessa Sterling. She's Richard Sterling's daughter from an affair twenty-five years ago. Richard's been supporting her financially her entire life through a trust fund, but there's no public record of their relationship."

"Does Marcus know?"

"Unknown. But if he doesn't, Richard is using his own daughter to control his son."

"Does Isabella know any of this?"

"No. And boss, there's one more thing. I found out why James Chen borrowed money from you all those years ago."

"I'm listening."

"He was trying to buy out Richard Sterling's shares of their original company. He'd discovered evidence that Richard was embezzling from their joint accounts, and he wanted to force Richard out before going to the authorities. But Richard found out and moved first. He dissolved the partnership and used his connections to make sure no bank would lend to James again."

"So James came to me."

"You were young, hungry, and had money from your father's life insurance. James saw an opportunity." Adrian paused. "He was going to pay you back, Damien. I found the transfer orders in his files. He'd arranged to repay you the week he died, with interest. Twenty million dollars."

James Chen had been an honest man trying to fight a corrupt system, and it had killed him.

"Send me everything you have on Richard Sterling," I said. "Every crime, every affair, every shady deal. I want enough to bury him."

"What are you planning?"

"I'm going to give Isabella the truth. All of it. And then I'm going to help her destroy the people who killed her father."

"Even if it means telling her who you really are?"

"Especially if it means that."

I hung up and checked the time. Three hours until dinner with Isabella.

My phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number: "Stay away from Isabella Chen, or I'll make sure you regret it. - R.S."

Richard Sterling knew who I was. And now he was threatening me.

I smiled, typing back a single word: "No.”