CHAPTER 2: The Lie Beneath the Lie

At Massachusetts General, Damien refused to leave Maren’s room.

Doctors moved around her quickly. Nurses checked the baby. Machines beeped beside the bed. Every small sound made Damien’s eyes harden.

Then it came.

Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

The baby’s heartbeat filled the room.

Maren closed her eyes and cried silently.

Damien stared at the monitor.

His child.

Alive.

For a moment, the most feared man in Chicago looked completely defenseless.

“You were told I was dead,” he said quietly.

Maren nodded. “Vincent told me. He gave me money. He said if I stayed, your enemies would kill me too.”

Damien’s expression became ice.

“Vincent never saved you.”

Maren opened her eyes.

“He hid you from me,” Damien said. “After the attack, I was in surgery for eleven days. When I woke up, he told me you had taken money and disappeared.”

Maren’s breath caught.

“He said I left you?”

Damien nodded once.

The truth settled between them like a blade.

Vincent had lied to both of them.

Damien’s phone buzzed. One of his men stepped into the room and handed him a tablet.

Security footage appeared.

Not from the broken hallway camera.

From a student’s livestream.

Chloe slipped her own watch into her clutch. Paige blocked the angle. Sloane filmed Maren. Then Chloe screamed.

Damien watched it without blinking.

The next file opened.

Vincent Hale, standing outside Briarwell Academy two days earlier, speaking with Chloe’s father.

Maren whispered, “Why would Vincent care about a schoolgirl?”

Damien’s voice dropped.

“Because Chloe’s father manages money for the families who helped Vincent betray me.”

He turned off the tablet.

“This was never just about you being humiliated.”

Maren placed both hands over her belly.

Damien leaned closer.

“They wanted to draw you out. Hurt you. Test whether I would come.”

“And you did,” she whispered.

His eyes softened.

“I should have come sooner.”

Maren looked away. “I thought I was protecting our baby.”

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Damien gently touched the gold chain at her neck, the last gift she had kept.

“You did,” he said. “Now let me protect both of you.”