Hazel Brooks had never been inside a police station where everyone knew her name.
Yet by six that evening, she was sitting in a private interview room beside Damian Romano, waiting for a detective to explain why her missing ex-boyfriend had suddenly reappeared with a gunshot wound.
The room smelled of coffee and disinfectant.
A clock ticked above the door.
Hazel had not eaten since breakfast.
Damian noticed.
He placed a wrapped sandwich in front of her.
"Eat."
She looked at him.
"Are you always this bossy?"
"Yes."
"Has anyone ever told you it's annoying?"
"Frequently."
She almost smiled.
Then the door opened.
Detective Rachel Bennett entered carrying a folder.
She was in her forties, with tired eyes and the composed expression of someone who had spent years listening to people lie.
"Miss Brooks."
Hazel straightened.
"Is Wyatt alive?"
"Yes. He's receiving treatment. His condition is stable."
Hazel exhaled.
"Can I see him?"
"Not yet."
Damian leaned forward.
"What did he tell you?"
Detective Bennett looked at him.
"Mr. Romano, this interview concerns Miss Brooks."
Damian's jaw tightened.
Hazel placed a hand on his arm.
"It's okay."
He looked at her.
She nodded.
Then she turned toward the detective.
"Please tell me what happened."
Wyatt Mercer had been found in a motel room outside Chicago.
He had suffered a gunshot wound to his shoulder.
Police recovered a black case from beneath the bed.
Inside were encrypted storage devices, printed account records, and copies of financial transactions involving several businesses connected to Frankie Sullivan.
But the records contained something unexpected.
Payments to companies associated with Damian Romano's organization.
Hazel felt cold.
She looked at Damian.
His expression remained unreadable.
Detective Bennett continued.
"Mr. Mercer claims someone inside Mr. Romano's organization helped Sullivan move money through legitimate businesses."
Damian's eyes narrowed.
"Who?"
The detective opened the folder.
"Anthony Bellini."
Damian went completely still.
Hazel looked between them.
"Who is that?"
Damian answered quietly.
"My chief financial officer."
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Hazel asked, "How long has he worked for you?"
"Fourteen years."
Detective Bennett closed the folder.
"Mr. Mercer claims Bellini arranged the transfers and used Miss Brooks's identity to conceal part of the operation."
Hazel stared at her.
"Why me?"
"Because you were connected to Wyatt. Because you had no criminal history. And because someone believed you would be easy to intimidate."
Hazel's throat tightened.
Damian's hand closed around the edge of the table.
The detective noticed.
"Mr. Romano, I suggest you let us handle this."
He looked at her.
"Then handle it."
On the drive back to the estate, Hazel sat silently beside Damian.
Chicago passed beyond the tinted windows.
Traffic lights.
Restaurants.
People walking home from work.
Ordinary lives.
She wondered what it would feel like to be ordinary again.
Damian broke the silence.
"You're thinking about Wyatt."
Hazel looked at him.
"Not the way you think."
"What way do I think?"
"That I still love him."
Damian said nothing.
Hazel looked out the window.
"I loved the person I thought he was."
She swallowed.
"I don't know who he is anymore."
Damian watched her.
"That happens."
Hazel turned toward him.
"Did it happen to you?"
His expression changed.
For a moment, she thought he would refuse to answer.
Then he said, "Yes."
"With Isabella?"
Damian looked away.
Hazel immediately regretted asking.
"I'm sorry."
"No."
He exhaled slowly.
"She was the one person who knew everything about me and still believed I could become someone better."
Hazel remained quiet.
"Four years ago, she was killed on her way to meet me."
"I heard."
Damian's eyes remained fixed on the road ahead.
"I was supposed to be in the car."
Hazel felt her chest tighten.
"Damian."
"I changed my plans at the last minute. She went without me."
He paused.
"I spent four years wondering whether she would still be alive if I'd kept my word."
Hazel reached for his hand.
He looked down.
Her fingers were small against his.
"You couldn't have known," she whispered.
Damian's jaw tightened.
"That doesn't change what happened."
"No," Hazel said softly. "But it means you don't have to punish yourself forever."
He looked at her.
For a long moment, neither spoke.
Then Damian gently closed his hand around hers.
At the estate, Marco was waiting.
His expression was grim.
"Bellini's gone."
Damian stopped.
"What?"
"He left his office two hours ago. His phone is off. His driver says he took a private vehicle."
"Where's his family?"
"His wife and daughter are at their home. They say they haven't heard from him."
Damian looked toward the security monitors.
"Notify the detective."
Marco nodded.
Then he hesitated.
"There's something else."
Hazel felt her stomach tighten.
"What?"
Marco handed Damian a photograph.
It showed Lena Price entering a private bank.
Beside her was Anthony Bellini.
Hazel stared.
"Lena?"
Marco nodded.
"She met Bellini three days before Wyatt disappeared."
Hazel sat down.
Her best friend.
Her boyfriend.
Damian's financial officer.
Frankie Sullivan.
All connected.
And somehow, she had been placed at the center of it.
"Why?" she whispered.
Damian looked at the photograph.
"Because someone needed a person who could be blamed if the scheme collapsed."
Hazel's eyes filled.
"They chose me."
Damian crouched in front of her.
"Hazel."
She shook her head.
"They knew I couldn't fight back."
"Look at me."
She lifted her eyes.
"You're not alone anymore."
That evening, Hazel received a call from an unfamiliar number.
She almost ignored it.
Then she answered.
"Hello?"
A woman spoke.
"Hazel?"
Her breath caught.
"Lena?"
Silence.
Then Lena began to cry.
"I'm sorry."
Hazel gripped the phone.
"Where are you?"
"I can't tell you."
"Why did you do this?"
Lena sobbed.
"I didn't know what they were going to do to you."
Hazel closed her eyes.
"You knew about the money."
"Yes."
"You knew Wyatt was stealing records."
"Yes."
"You knew Frankie was threatening me."
Lena did not answer.
Hazel felt something inside her break.
"You were my best friend."
"I know."
"Then why?"
Lena's voice trembled.
"Because Bellini promised Wyatt and me a way out. He said nobody would get hurt."
Hazel laughed bitterly.
"Nobody?"
"I'm sorry."
Hazel wiped her eyes.
"Where is Bellini?"
Lena hesitated.
Then she whispered, "He's going to destroy the original records tonight."
Damian, who had been standing nearby, immediately looked up.
Hazel switched the call to speaker.
"Where?"
Lena's breathing became uneven.
"At the old shipping terminal."
A sudden noise sounded in the background.
Lena gasped.
Then a man's voice shouted something Hazel could not understand.
The call ended.
Hazel stared at the phone.
"Damian?"
He was already reaching for his own.
"Marco. Contact Detective Bennett. Tell her we have a location."
Hazel stood.
"I'm coming."
"No."
"Damian—"
"It's dangerous."
"Lena is there."
"We don't know that."
"She's my friend."
Damian looked at her.
Hazel's voice trembled.
"She betrayed me. I know that. But I don't want her to die."
His expression softened.
He stepped closer.
"Then help me make sure she doesn't."
Twenty minutes later, Hazel sat beside Detective Bennett in a secure conference room at the estate.
She had agreed to remain there while the police investigated the terminal.
Damian stood near the window.
His phone vibrated.
He read the message.
Then his expression changed.
Hazel noticed immediately.
"What?"
Damian looked at Detective Bennett.
"Bellini's attorney just contacted mine."
The detective frowned.
"What does he want?"
Damian held up the phone.
"He says Bellini has evidence about Isabella's death."
Hazel felt the room tilt.
Damian's face went pale.
For four years, he had believed his wife's murder was connected to a rival organization.
But Bellini's message suggested something far worse.
The man Damian had trusted for fourteen years might know who had ordered the bombing.
And the evidence was hidden inside the same financial records that had destroyed Hazel's life.