Chapter 7 - THE ONE PROMISE SHE MADE HIM KEEP
Z
Preston Caldwell disappeared forty-eight hours after his father was questioned.
This time Damon had nothing to do with it.
That was the problem.
Police believed Preston had fled.
Federal agents believed he might be heading toward Canada.
Matteo believed something else.
“He’s still in Philadelphia.”
Damon looked up from the kitchen table.
“Why?”
“His passport is untouched.”
“Private plane?”
“All Caldwell aircraft grounded.”
“Boat?”
“River units are watching.”
Kate entered wearing jeans and a gray sweater, her cast covered with signatures from Rachel, Evelyn, and Eleanor.
“What happened?”
Damon hated the way she had learned to read a room.
“Preston is missing.”
Kate stopped.
“Missing how?”
“He left his lawyer’s office yesterday.”
“And?”
“Nothing since.”
She looked at Matteo.
“You think he’s coming here.”
Matteo did not answer.
Kate understood anyway.
Damon stood.
“You and your family move tonight.”
“No.”
“This is not negotiable.”
“Yes, it is.”
“Kate.”
“You promised.”
“That was before an unstable man facing federal charges disappeared.”
“You said what happens next is my choice.”
“And I was wrong.”
Her eyes widened.
Matteo quietly left the room.
Coward, Damon thought.
Smart man, another part of him answered.
Kate folded her arms.
“You don’t get to become Preston just because you’re scared.”
Damon went absolutely still.
Kate regretted the words instantly.
But she did not take them back.
His voice came quietly.
“I am nothing like him.”
“I know.”
“Then don’t compare me to him.”
“I’m comparing the decision.”
“What decision?”
“Deciding you know what’s best for me because you’re stronger.”
Damon looked away.
The accusation found something vulnerable.
Kate softened.
“I know you want to protect me.”
“I want you alive.”
“So do I.”
“You don’t act like it.”
“I sat in a hospital for surgery. I moved my mother. I moved my sister. I gave interviews. I agreed to security.”
“You also walk outside alone.”
“Into Eleanor’s garden.”
“It has thirty-two acres.”
“You counted?”
“I own security maps.”
Kate almost laughed.
She stopped herself.
“Damon.”
He met her eyes.
“I will move if there is a specific threat.”
“There is.”
“From Preston?”
“We don’t know.”
“Then find out.”
As if summoned by the words, Damon’s phone rang.
Matteo.
“Car found,” he said.
“Where?”
“Old Blackwell warehouse on Delaware Avenue.”
Damon’s expression changed.
Kate saw it.
“What?”
He put the phone down.
“Stay here.”
“Damon.”
“Kate.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Specific threat, remember?”
He hesitated.
“Preston’s car is at one of my old warehouses.”
That was enough.
Kate nodded.
“I stay.”
Damon blinked.
“That easy?”
“I’m not stupid.”
He left twenty seconds later.
The warehouse had been unused for six years.
Damon entered with Matteo and four men.
They found Preston upstairs.
Alone.
Drunk.
Holding a gun.
Damon stopped ten feet away.
Preston laughed.
“There he is.”
“Put it down.”
“You ruined my life.”
“You did that.”
“Because of a maid.”
Damon’s face changed.
Preston saw it and smiled.
“That bothers you, doesn’t it?”
“Put the gun down.”
“She’s nobody.”
Damon took one step forward.
Matteo whispered, “Damon.”
Preston raised the weapon.
Not toward Damon.
Toward his own head.
Everyone froze.
“You know what they’ll say?” Preston asked. “They’ll say you did it.”
Damon understood immediately.
The location.
Blackwell property.
The accusations.
Preston wanted one final escape.
Not just death.
A frame.
“You don’t want to die,” Damon said.
“You don’t know what I want.”
“Yes, I do.”
Preston laughed.
“You think because your sad little maid looked at you like a hero—”
“She doesn’t.”
The answer confused him.
Damon continued.
“Kate does not think I’m a hero.”
Preston’s hand shook.
“She knows what I am.”
“And she still wants you?”
“This has nothing to do with wanting me.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.”
Damon took another step.
“Everything has to do with you not understanding that women are people even when they don’t want you.”
Preston’s face twisted.
“Shut up.”
“You broke her arm because she said no.”
“Shut up!”
“You terrorized other women because no embarrassed you.”
“Stop.”
“And now the entire country is saying no.”
Preston’s hand trembled violently.
Damon moved.
Fast.
Matteo moved faster.
The gun discharged.
The bullet struck metal.
Preston hit the floor.
Alive.
Screaming.
Within minutes, federal agents were called.
Not Blackwell doctors.
Not Blackwell cars.
Federal agents.
Damon kept the promise.
When he returned to Eleanor’s house after midnight, Kate was awake.
She saw the blood on his cuff.
Not his blood.
Her face tightened.
“He’s alive?”
“Yes.”
“You swear?”
“Yes.”
She breathed out.
Damon sat opposite her.
“I wanted to kill him.”
Kate said nothing.
“When he called you nobody.”
Silence.
“I wanted to.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Damon looked exhausted.
“Because you would have known.”
“That’s all?”
“No.”
He looked at his hands.
“Because I would have known.”
Kate sat beside him.
Not touching.
Just close.
After several minutes, she whispered, “That’s the difference.”
“Between what?”
“Consequences and revenge.”
Damon looked at her.
She leaned her head against his shoulder.
Carefully.
“Thank you for keeping the promise.”
May you like
For once, Damon Blackwell had no answer.
He only sat there until sunrise.
