Chapter 4 - THE TRUTH ABOUT ROBERT HAYESThe shooting stopped as suddenly as it began.
When the lights returned, the attacker was gone.
Only one thing remained.
A small envelope.
Damian opened it.
Inside was an old police badge.
Robert Hayes's badge.
Sienna stared.
"Where did they get that?"
Damian examined the engraving.
"Your father gave it to someone."
"No."
"How do you know?"
"Because he never took it off."
Damian looked at her.
"Then why was it found here?"
Sienna had no answer.
They returned to the penthouse.
For the first time, Damian sat across from her without giving orders.
"I need to tell you something."
She waited.
"Your father was investigating my family."
"I know."
"No."
Damian leaned forward.
"He wasn't investigating the Russo organization."
He paused.
"He was investigating a federal task force."
Sienna frowned.
"What?"
"Several years ago, an anti-organized-crime unit was secretly working with criminals."
Her face went pale.
"That's impossible."
"It happened."
"Why?"
"Money."
Damian placed documents on the table.
"Certain officials were manufacturing gang wars. They would feed information to one side, let violence happen, then use the chaos to seize assets."
Sienna stared.
"Who?"
"Your father's former supervisor."
She remembered the name.
Captain Harold Vance.
Her father had hated him.
Damian continued.
"Robert discovered it."
"So they killed him."
"No."
Sienna looked up.
"Then what?"
"They made him disappear."
"Where?"
"We don't know."
Sienna's hands trembled.
"You said he was dead."
"I said that's what you were told."
"Why would my mother lie?"
"To protect you."
Sienna stood.
"I need to see her."
"We'll find her."
Hours later, Silas brought news.
A camera had captured Sienna's mother leaving the apartment alive.
She had been taken willingly.
Sienna's stomach dropped.
"She went with them."
Damian nodded.
"Why?"
"Because they threatened you."
That answer hurt.
Her mother had always protected her.
Even through lies.
Even through poverty.
Even through years of silence.
That evening, Damian found Sienna sitting beside the window.
"You should sleep."
"I can't."
He sat beside her.
"You think I'm dangerous."
"You are."
He almost smiled.
"Fair."
"But you're not the person I'm afraid of."
Damian looked at her.
"Who are you afraid of?"
"Everyone."
He nodded.
"I understand."
She studied him.
"Do you?"
"More than you think."
Silence settled between them.
Then Sienna asked:
"Why did you save me?"
Damian looked toward Manhattan.
"Because you used the signal."
"That's all?"
"No."
He paused.
"My father taught me what it meant."
"What did he say?"
"Sanctuary is a promise."
Sienna looked at him.
"And you keep promises?"
"Always."
She smiled faintly.
"Even bad ones?"
"Especially those."
Their eyes met.
Something shifted.
Not romance.
Not yet.
Something more dangerous.
Trust.
Then Damian's phone rang.
He answered.
His face hardened.
"Where?"
A pause.
"Are you sure?"
Another pause.
He ended the call.
Sienna stood.
"What?"
"We found your mother."
"Where?"
"An abandoned church in Brooklyn."
"Is she alive?"
"Yes."
Relief hit Sienna.
"Then let's go."
Damian grabbed his jacket.
"We're going."
But neither of them noticed the message arriving on Silas's phone.
A message from an unknown number.
DON'T BRING RUSSO.
Underneath was a photograph.
Robert Hayes.
Alive.
Standing beside Sienna's mother.
May you like
And behind them...
was Damian's father.
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