Chapter 12 - THE SISTER WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
Z
Damon did not believe Thomas Bennett.
Not at first.
He had seen Sofia’s death certificate.
He had attended her funeral.
He had stood beside a closed coffin while his father told a room full of mourners that his daughter had been troubled, reckless, and impossible to save.
Damon remembered the rain that afternoon.
He remembered the smell of wet flowers.
He remembered throwing dirt onto the coffin.
“You’re lying.”
Thomas shook his head.
“I wish I were.”
Damon grabbed the edge of the conference table.
“Say that again.”
“Sofia is alive.”
“Where?”
Thomas swallowed.
“I don’t know exactly.”
Damon’s expression hardened.
“Then how do you know?”
“Because she contacted me.”
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
Kate watched Damon carefully.
His face had become unnaturally pale.
“What did she say?” Kate asked.
Thomas reached into his jacket.
Damon moved instantly.
“Hands where I can see them.”
Thomas froze.
Kate placed a hand on Damon’s arm.
“He’s getting something.”
Damon stepped back.
Thomas removed a small photograph.
A woman stood outside a grocery store beside a young teenage boy.
She was in her late thirties.
Dark hair.
Green eyes.
A narrow face.
The resemblance was unmistakable.
Damon took the photograph.
His hands began to shake.
Kate had never seen that happen.
“Where was this taken?”
“Portland.”
“When?”
“August.”
Damon studied the woman.
Then the boy.
“How old is he?”
“Fourteen.”
Damon looked up sharply.
“Sofia has a son?”
Thomas nodded.
The room fell silent.
Damon had a nephew.
A boy who had lived fourteen years without knowing his uncle existed.
Kate watched something shift in Damon’s expression.
Grief.
Shock.
Anger.
Then a terrible kind of hope.
“Why would she fake her death?” he whispered.
Thomas took a breath.
“Because Victor wanted her silenced.”
Sofia Blackwell had discovered something shortly before the crash.
According to Thomas, she found a copy of Isabella’s original evidence while searching through her mother’s belongings.
The documents connected Victor Blackwell and Richard Halden to a series of illegal shipments.
But they also implicated powerful men in Washington.
Sofia planned to go public.
Then someone tried to kill her.
A mechanic found her brake lines damaged.
A friend’s apartment was broken into.
And finally, someone left a photograph of Damon sleeping inside his college apartment.
Sofia understood the message.
If she continued, Damon would die.
So she disappeared.
Thomas helped arrange false identification through an old contact.
The car accident was staged with help from someone inside Victor’s organization who secretly remained loyal to Isabella.
It was elaborate.
Dangerous.
And nearly impossible to maintain.
But it worked.
Victor believed his daughter was dead.
So did Damon.
Kate listened in horror.
“You let him mourn her.”
Thomas looked miserable.
“She made me promise.”
“For fourteen years?”
“She was afraid Victor would find her if Damon knew.”
Damon stood by the window.
He had not spoken for several minutes.
Finally, he turned.
“Does she know Victor died?”
Thomas nodded.
“Then why didn’t she come back?”
“Because Halden is still alive.”
The name settled over the room.
Richard Halden.
The man behind the money.
The man who had remained untouched while other powerful men fell.
Damon took out his phone.
“Matteo.”
His voice sounded unfamiliar.
“Find Sofia.”
A pause.
“Alive.”
Another pause.
“And Matteo?”
“Yes?”
“Find her before anyone else does.”
Two days later, Damon flew to Oregon.
Kate went with him.
He did not ask her to.
She simply appeared beside the private jet carrying a small overnight bag.
Damon stared.
“What are you doing?”
“Coming.”
“This could be dangerous.”
“So is dating you.”
“We have been on four dates.”
“Five if you count the disastrous sushi dinner.”
“That restaurant was excellent.”
“You reserved the entire second floor.”
“I apologized.”
“You apologized to the manager for not renting the third.”
Damon looked away.
Kate smiled.
Then her expression softened.
“You don’t have to do this alone.”
Something passed through his eyes.
He reached for her hand.
“Okay.”
They arrived in Portland before sunset.
Matteo’s team located the woman from the photograph in a quiet neighborhood outside the city.
She worked at a small community health clinic.
Her name was Sarah Miller.
She drove an aging blue Subaru.
And every afternoon, she picked up a boy named Noah from middle school.
Damon watched from across the street.
Kate stood beside him.
“Is that her?”
Sofia stepped out of the clinic carrying a canvas bag.
She laughed at something a coworker said.
Damon made a sound Kate had never heard before.
Not quite a sob.
Not quite a breath.
“Sofia.”
He started across the street.
Then stopped.
Kate looked at him.
“What?”
“What if she doesn’t want to see me?”
Kate’s heart broke.
This man could face senators, prosecutors, armed criminals, and entire boardrooms without blinking.
But the possibility of being rejected by his sister stopped him cold.
Kate gently touched his hand.
“Then you respect that.”
He nodded.
“And if she does?”
Kate smiled.
“Then you get your sister back.”
Damon crossed the street.
Sofia was unlocking her car.
She heard footsteps.
Turned.
And froze.
The canvas bag slipped from her hand.
A carton of milk struck the pavement.
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then Sofia whispered:
“Damon?”
His face crumpled.
“Sofia.”
She covered her mouth.
“Oh, God.”
He stopped a few feet away.
“I thought you were dead.”
Tears streamed down her face.
“I know.”
“I buried you.”
“I know.”
Damon’s voice broke.
“Why?”
Sofia looked toward the street.
Then back at her brother.
“Because they told me you were next.”
Damon shook his head.
“I would have protected you.”
She stepped closer.
“You were nineteen.”
“So?”
“You were still my little brother.”
He began crying.
Silently.
Without trying to stop.
Sofia crossed the remaining distance and wrapped her arms around him.
Damon held her as if she might disappear again.
Kate stood near the sidewalk, wiping her own eyes.
But then she noticed something.
Across the street, a silver sedan had stopped.
Its windows were dark.
The driver appeared to be watching.
Kate reached for her phone.
“Matteo.”
“What is it?”
“We may have company.”
The sedan’s engine started.
May you like
And as Sofia held her brother for the first time in fourteen years, the man inside the vehicle lifted a phone and spoke three words.
“He found her.”
