DAMIEN
***
She’d covered her tracks well.
Too well.
For hours, Damien scoured digital trails, security networks, street cameras… anything she might’ve passed.
And each time he thought he had a lead, it dissolved under scrutiny. Isla had always been clever. Strategic. But this? This was surgical.
She wasn’t hiding.
She was staying just visible enough to remind him she could.
And that burned more than her silence.
“You taught her well,” Gabriel said from the doorway, watching the endless feed of monitors and data streams.
“Almost too well.”
Damien didn’t look up. “She already knew how to vanish. I just gave her better tools.”
“And now you regret it?”
“No.” Damien’s jaw tightened.
“I regret not telling her sooner that she didn’t need to run from me.”
***
It wasn’t until 6 a
