THE SECOND CUT
1315 Words
The storm came before the sky even turned black.
By the time Ava stepped outside Velvet’s hidden door and into the cold night, rain had begun to fall; light, bitter, like a warning. She didn’t rush. Couldn’t. Her heels clicked steadily against the wet cobblestones as her mind reeled with everything Damien had just told her.
Her parents hadn’t just left her.
They’d been running.
And now… one of them might be alive.
But which one?
And why send her that envelope now?
Her fingers tightened around her coat as she climbed into the back seat of a black car waiting a block away; another sign of Damien’s control. Of how many steps ahead he always played.
The driver nodded without a word, and the car pulled into the night.
Ava leaned her head against the cool window. The city passed in a blur of lights and shadows, but all she saw was the flicker of grainy footage. Her mother laughing. Her father’s arm around her. Together.
It didn’t make sense.
They’d died in a car crash. That’s what she’d been told. A fiery explosion, too violent for any remains.
She remembered the funeral.
Remembered standing in the rain beside a closed casket. Damien hadn’t been there then.
But apparently, Velvet had.
A memory surfaced; quick and brutal.
A man in black standing across the cemetery. Watching. And the gold ring on his hand, marked with the same dagger-shaped V she’d seen in Damien’s secret room.
She hadn’t understood it then.
Now, she wasn’t sure she wanted to.
Back at the penthouse, she didn’t expect to find Damien waiting.
But he was.
At the bar. A glass of scotch untouched beside him. Shirt sleeves rolled. The storm behind him casting jagged shadows across his sharp jaw and darker thoughts.
He turned as she walked in.
“You left alone,” he said.
She shut the door behind her. “I was invited alone.”
His gaze narrowed. “You saw her, didn’t you?”
Ava swallowed. “If that was my mother… why hasn’t she come to me herself?”
“Because Velvet’s rules are older than both of us,” he replied. “And breaking them means blood.”
She crossed the room slowly. “So she’s alive.”
“Yes.”
“And my father?”
Damien’s jaw clenched. “Missing. Presumed dead. But no body.”
Her stomach twisted.
The lie was almost worse than the truth.
She poured herself a drink. Her hand didn’t shake, but her voice did.
“You knew all along.”
“I suspected,” he said. “I couldn’t confirm it until you saw her too.”
“Did you think I’d thank you?”
“No.” His voice dropped. “I thought you’d hate me.”
She turned, eyes glassy. “Why me? Why was I brought back into all this?”
Damien crossed to her, close but not touching.
“Because you’re the last living heir to your father’s encryption protocols. Velvet thinks your memories; your childhood, might hold keys to Sable’s location.”
Ava froze.
“My memories?”
Damien nodded. “Your father encrypted the program across physical and emotional cues. Code layered in fragments. Embedded in voice, place, even scent.”
She shook her head. “I was just a child.”
“And that’s exactly why he chose you. You were the safest vault.”
Ava’s breath caught.
Damien finally reached for her hand. This time, his touch was tentative. A tether, not a chain.
“I never wanted you to carry this,” he said. “But now… there’s no way forward without you.”
She stared down at their joined hands.
His skin was warm. Her heart wasn’t.
“Then tell me everything,” she said quietly. “No more secrets.”
He nodded once.
“Your father built Sable to decode and weaponize global data; financial records, identity frameworks, blacklists, shell corporations. It could expose world governments. Or collapse them.”
Ava blinked. “That’s why they tried to kill him?”
“And your mother,” he added. “But she survived; and returned to Velvet under a new name. She’s hidden there ever since.”
“Then who tried to kill them?”
His eyes turned to steel. “Someone on Velvet’s inner ring. One of the original seven founders. The same person who wants Sable now.”
Ava let go of his hand and turned to the window.
The rain hadn’t stopped.
“I want to see her,” she said.
“You will.”
“No,” she turned back. “I want to look her in the eyes and ask her why she abandoned me. Why she let me grieve her. Why she’s still hiding.”
Damien’s voice was a whisper. “Are you ready for that truth?”
Ava’s voice cracked. “I don’t know.”
He stepped forward and touched her cheek. “I’ll be right there.”
She closed her eyes for a long moment; just long enough to breathe him in. His scent. His heat. The weight of his sins.
“I want to trust you,” she said.
“Then let me show you.”
He kissed her then; slow, not claiming, but surrendering.
Not dominance, but apology.
And for the first time, she kissed him back with something that felt dangerously close to forgiveness.
But beneath it all, her mind screamed a warning.
Because nothing in Velvet came without a price.
The next morning, Ava sat in Damien’s study alone. She traced her fingers over the bookshelves, the secret panel now closed. A part of her wanted to never open it again.
Her gaze landed on a leather-bound photo album tucked into the far corner. Something about it pulled at her.
She opened it slowly.
Inside; black and white images, marked only by dates. 2001. 2002. A young couple. A baby girl.
Her.
Her breath hitched as she flipped to the last photo.
Ava, age five, holding a locket.
The same one her father used to wear.
She glanced up, and that’s when she saw it, behind the bookcase. A glimmer. A seam in the wood. Not the panel she knew. Another one.
She pressed her hand to it.
It opened.
Inside, a safe.
And beneath the safe, a floor panel.
She hesitated, then lifted it.
A flash drive lay beneath velvet lining.
She picked it up. No label. Just one word engraved into the silver: Sable.
The world dropped out from under her.
She stumbled back, breath shallow.
He’d had it all along.
Damien.
He had Sable.
And he hadn’t told her.
Her mind spiraled.
Why lie?
Why pretend it was missing?
Unless…
Unless she was the last piece he needed to unlock it.
Not because she mattered.
But because she was the key.
The door creaked behind her.
She spun.
Damien stood in the doorway. Silent. Watching.
His expression was unreadable.
“Ava,” he said.
Her voice was quiet, but her heart thundered. “You lied.”
He stepped forward. “Let me explain”
“You had it this entire time.”
“I didn’t know it was here”
She held it up. “Bullshit.”
His eyes darkened. “I didn’t know it was active.”
She took a step back. “So I’m just part of the code, then? A walking password?”
“No,” he said sharply. “You’re everything. That’s why I hid it. I didn’t want Velvet to use you. Or break you.”
Her grip tightened. “Then why not destroy it?”
“Because I thought maybe together… we could change the game.”
She stared at him, heart breaking open.
And then she did the one thing she hadn’t done since this all began.
She turned her back.
And walked away.
- Writer
