I don’t remember running downstairs.
I remember Damian grabbing the keys from Vincent.
I remember tires screaming against wet pavement.
And I remember calling Noah’s floor seven times without an answer.
“Drive faster.”
Damian was already doing nearly ninety.
“Damian, faster.”
His eyes flicked toward me.
It was the first time I had used his first name.
Neither of us mentioned it.
Vincent sat in the back coordinating security.
“Fire department is responding. Alarm originated on the third floor.”
“That’s Noah’s floor.”
“I know.”
“Where are our men?”
“No response.”
I closed my eyes.
Damian’s hand suddenly covered mine.
“Emily.”
I looked down.
His hand was larger than mine, warm and steady.
“We’re getting him.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes.”
“How can you possibly know?”
“Because believing anything else won’t get us there faster.”
I gripped his hand.
For once, I didn’t care who he was.
Billionaire.
Boss.
Dangerous man.
I just needed something solid.
Smoke was visible when we reached St. Catherine’s.
I opened the SUV door before it stopped.
Damian caught me.
“No.”
“My brother is inside.”
“So are firefighters.”
“I’m going in.”
“You’ll become another person they have to rescue.”
I fought him.
Actually fought him.
“Let me go!”
He wrapped both arms around me.
“Emily.”
“NOAH!”
“Listen to me.”
“He can’t get himself out!”
“I know.”
“He can’t walk!”
“I know.”
I broke against him.
The fear I had held inside for a year came out all at once.
My parents dying.
Noah lying unconscious.
Doctors telling me he might never wake up.
Every bill.
Every night alone.
Every phone call I dreaded.
Damian held me while I sobbed.
Then Vincent shouted.
“There!”
Two firefighters emerged.
Between them was a stretcher.
I saw Noah.
I tore free.
“Noah!”
His eyes were closed.
An oxygen mask covered his face.
“Is he alive?”
A paramedic blocked me.
“Ma’am—”
“I’m his sister.”
“He’s breathing.”
My knees nearly gave out.
“What happened?”
“Smoke exposure appears minimal.”
“Why isn’t he awake?”
“Medication, probably. We need to transport him.”
“Medication?”
The paramedic frowned.
“You’d have to ask his physician.”
Vincent and Damian exchanged a look.
Something was wrong.
Noah hadn’t been scheduled for sedation.
We followed the ambulance to the hospital.
Two hours later, a physician confirmed someone had administered Noah a sedative approximately thirty minutes before the fire alarm.
The fire itself had been small.
A distraction.
Someone had intended to remove Noah during the evacuation.
They had almost succeeded.
One of Damian’s security men had been found unconscious in a service stairwell.
The other had been locked inside a supply room.
Rebecca was still missing.
I sat beside Noah’s hospital bed until noon.
Damian never left.
Eventually I noticed him standing in the doorway.
“You have a company to run.”
“It’ll survive.”
“You have meetings.”
“Canceled.”
“You never cancel meetings.”
“I do now.”
I studied him.
“Why are you doing this?”
His gaze dropped.
“What?”
“All of it.”
“Because someone targeted your family because of something connected to my business.”
“That explains security.”
“Yes.”
“It doesn’t explain you sitting in a hospital for six hours.”
Silence.
“Damian.”
He walked to the window.
“My younger sister was seventeen when she died.”
I had never heard him mention a sister.
“I’m sorry.”
“Her name was Anna.”
His voice remained controlled, but his shoulders were rigid.
“My father had enemies. He believed money made us untouchable. So when threats came, he treated them like background noise.”
I said nothing.
“One night, Anna wanted to go to a concert. Security told her no. She argued. My father eventually let her go with one driver because he was tired of listening to her complain.”
Damian stared through the glass.
“The car never reached the concert.”
My chest tightened.
“What happened?”
“Someone wanted leverage against my father.”
He finally looked at me.
“They took Anna.”
I understood the rest without hearing it.
“She never came home?”
“No.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I was twenty-two. I spent years believing that if I had gone with her, I could have stopped it.”
“You couldn’t know.”
“Neither could you.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“You blame yourself for your parents’ accident.”
My eyes burned.
“I wasn’t there.”
“That’s exactly why.”
“How do you know?”
“Because you work until you collapse. You pay for every possible treatment for Noah. You visit every weekend even when you’ve been traveling for five days. You behave like keeping him alive is a debt you owe.”
The truth hurt.
“The last time my mother called, I didn’t answer.”
Damian said nothing.
“I was on a date.”
I laughed bitterly.
“She called twice. I texted that I’d call tomorrow.”
My voice broke.
“There wasn’t a tomorrow.”
He approached slowly.
“You didn’t cause the accident.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
I looked away.
“No.”
His hand touched my cheek.
It was the gentlest thing I had ever seen him do.
“Then hear it from someone who wasted sixteen years learning the same lesson.”
My eyes met his.
“Loving someone doesn’t give you the power to prevent every terrible thing.”
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then Noah made a sound.
I turned immediately.
His eyes opened.
“Hey.”
I hurried to him.
“You’re okay.”
His gaze moved toward Damian.
Recognition flickered.
Then Noah’s lips moved.
“Em.”
“Yes.”
His hand lifted weakly.
I caught it.
He tried speaking again.
“Dad.”
I leaned closer.
“What about Dad?”
His breathing changed.
“Truck.”
“Yes. We found Dad’s notes.”
Noah’s fingers tightened.
“Not…”
“What?”
He swallowed painfully.
“Acc…ident.”
Every hair on my arms rose.
Damian moved closer.
“What does he remember?”
Noah’s eyes filled with frustration.
I stroked his hair.
“Slowly.”
“Man.”
“What man?”
“Road.”
My heart pounded.
“There was a man on the road?”
Noah blinked.
“Car.”
Damian pulled out his phone.
“Vincent. Bring the photographs.”
Ten minutes later, Vincent arrived with images of executives connected to Great Lakes Maritime and Voss Infrastructure.
We showed them to Noah one by one.
Nothing.
Then Adrian Voss appeared.
Noah’s heart monitor accelerated.
His eyes widened.
He tried pushing the photograph away.
“That’s him?” I whispered.
Noah stared at me.
Then nodded.
The room went silent.
Damian’s face became frighteningly calm.
“What happened that night, Noah?”
My brother struggled.
“Dad… stopped.”
“Why?”
“Truck.”
His eyes closed briefly.
“Man… angry.”
“Voss?”
Noah nodded.
I could barely breathe.
“What did Dad say?”
Noah’s mouth trembled.
“Evidence.”
Damian looked at me.
My father’s briefcase.
Noah continued.
“Voss… followed.”
My knees weakened.
The crash had never been an accident.
My father had discovered something.
Voss confronted him.
Then followed my family onto an icy highway.
Maybe he had forced them off the road.
Maybe one of his trucks had.
Either way, he had left them there.
My mother and father died.
Noah nearly did.
And for a year, Adrian Voss had believed the evidence died with them.
Until Noah started remembering.
That was why Rebecca removed the therapy report.
That was why someone wanted his medical records.
That was why they tried taking him.
Damian turned to Vincent.
“Get everything to federal investigators.”
Vincent nodded.
“No private retaliation,” Damian added.
Vincent looked surprised.
So did I.
Damian saw my expression.
“What?”
“I thought…”
“That I’d have him dragged into an alley?”
I said nothing.
“Emily, men like Voss survive by convincing themselves everyone is as corrupt as they are. I want him in a courtroom. I want every company, every account, every accomplice exposed.”
His eyes hardened.
“And I want Noah to watch him lose everything.”
Before Vincent could leave, my phone rang.
Unknown number.
Damian looked at the screen.
“Don’t.”
But something made me answer.
“Hello?”
A woman spoke.
“Emily.”
I knew the voice.
Rebecca.
My entire body went cold.
“Where are you?”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“You tried to take my brother.”
“I was trying to keep him alive.”
I froze.
“What?”
Damian leaned closer.
Rebecca’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“You don’t understand what Voss is planning.”
“Then explain it.”
“I can’t over the phone.”
“You expect me to trust you?”
“No.”
A pause.
“But you should know this.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“What?”
“Adrian knows you found your father’s briefcase.”
My eyes flew to Damian.
Rebecca continued.
“And there’s someone inside Hamilton’s organization telling him everything you do.”
Then the line went dead.