CHAPTER 12 — THE SECRET HAZEL NEVER WANTED DAMIAN TO KNOW
There were moments in life when people wished they could go back.
Not to change what happened.
But to stop themselves from learning the truth.
This was one of those moments for Damian Russo.
Because the truth he had spent twenty years chasing…
was finally standing in front of him.
And it was uglier than any lie.
---
The phone remained silent after Elias hung up.
Nobody moved.
Hazel stood frozen.
The sentence repeated inside her head.
Damian Russo is the reason your father died.
She had heard worse things.
She had faced worse people.
But those words were different.
Because a part of her believed them.
And that terrified her.
---
Damian looked at her.
Not because he was afraid.
Because he knew.
Hazel was hiding something.
Again.
“Tell me he’s lying.”
His voice was quiet.
Hazel didn’t answer.
That was enough.
Damian’s expression changed.
“Hazel.”
Still nothing.
“Tell me.”
She closed her eyes for a moment.
Then whispered:
“He’s not completely lying.”
The room became colder.
Garrett looked between them.
“What does that mean?”
Hazel looked down.
“It means…”
A pause.
“I never told you everything.”
---
Damian laughed once.
Not because it was funny.
Because he was exhausted.
“Of course.”
He walked away.
“Another secret.”
Hazel watched him.
“I was trying to protect you.”
Damian turned.
“There it is again.”
A bitter smile.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
His eyes hardened.
“You protect me by lying.”
Hazel had no answer.
Because this time…
she knew he was right.
---
Twenty years earlier.
The night everything changed.
Damian remembered pieces.
Not everything.
A warehouse.
Gunfire.
Victor.
Blood.
But there was another moment.
One he forgot.
One Hazel remembered.
---
Young Damian stood outside the warehouse.
Rain soaked his clothes.
Victor Brooks was dying inside.
But he was not alone.
Hazel’s father looked at Damian.
Not with hatred.
With disappointment.
“Don’t let them turn you into this.”
Damian was angry.
“You betrayed me.”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
His voice was weak.
“They betrayed you.”
Then he looked toward the darkness.
“Michael.”
A shadow moved.
Young Michael Voss stepped forward.
A gun in his hand.
Damian froze.
“What are you doing?”
Michael smiled.
“Cleaning up a mistake.”
The gun fired.
Victor fell.
Damian rushed forward.
But he was too late.
Then Michael turned.
Not toward Damian.
Toward Hazel.
The little girl watching from behind a broken wall.
He raised the gun.
Damian moved.
Without thinking.
He stepped between them.
The bullet hit him.
Not badly.
But enough.
Enough to create a memory.
Enough for Hazel to remember.
---
Back in the present.
Damian stared at Hazel.
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“You saw everything.”
“Yes.”
“And you never told me.”
Hazel looked away.
“I tried.”
“When?”
“After I became your assistant.”
Damian frowned.
“What stopped you?”
Hazel’s voice became quieter.
“You.”
That answer hurt more.
---
Hazel walked toward the window.
“You were already becoming someone else.”
Damian said nothing.
“You didn’t listen to anyone.”
A pause.
“You believed anger more than facts.”
She looked at him.
“And I was afraid if I told you the truth…”
“What?”
Hazel swallowed.
“You would destroy yourself.”
---
Damian wanted to argue.
He wanted to say she was wrong.
But he remembered.
How many times had he acted first?
How many people had he punished because he thought he already knew the truth?
Too many.
---
Garrett looked at the files again.
“There’s something else.”
Nobody responded.
He pulled out a document.
“This was hidden inside Michael’s old financial records.”
Damian walked over.
The paper was old.
A contract.
A payment agreement.
A signature.
Damian looked at it.
Then froze.
Because the signature belonged to him.
“What is this?”
Garrett answered carefully.
“A deal.”
Damian stared.
“I never signed this.”
Hazel looked at the document.
Her face changed.
Because she recognized it.
“Elias.”
Damian looked at her.
“What?”
She pointed at the bottom.
A small symbol.
A mark.
“One of his signatures.”
Garrett frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Hazel whispered:
“It means this was made after he changed your memories.”
---
Nobody spoke.
Because that meant one terrifying possibility.
Damian had not just forgotten the past.
Someone had manipulated his actions.
Used him.
Controlled him.
---
Suddenly, every security screen in the room turned on.
Michael appeared.
But this time…
he wasn’t smiling.
He looked afraid.
Behind him was Elias.
Holding a gun.
Michael looked directly at Damian.
“Listen to me.”
Damian stepped closer.
Michael continued:
“Everything Elias told you…”
A pause.
“Everything he showed you…”
His eyes moved toward Hazel.
“Was designed to make you hate each other.”
Hazel stared.
Michael swallowed.
“Because the one thing Elias never controlled…”
was the truth.”
A loud sound.
The screen shook.
Elias grabbed Michael from behind.
“Enough.”
Michael struggled.
“Damian!”
The feed cut.
---
Damian immediately turned.
“We find them.”
Hazel stopped him.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“Why?”
Because Hazel knew something.
Something worse.
“He wants you angry.”
A pause.
“He wants you to come after him.”
Damian stepped closer.
“And what’s wrong with that?”
Hazel looked directly into his eyes.
“Because that’s exactly what you did twenty years ago.”
Silence.
---
For the first time…
Damian saw it.
The pattern.
The anger.
The revenge.
The obsession.
The same trap.
Again.
Hazel lowered her voice.
“Elias doesn’t need to kill you.”
A pause.
“He already knows how to destroy you.”
Damian looked at her.
“How?”
Hazel answered:
“By making you become the man you were trying to escape.”
---
Then the elevator alarm sounded.
Everyone turned.
Someone was coming up.
Not security.
Not an employee.
The system showed one name.
VICTOR BROOKS
Damian froze.
Hazel stopped breathing.
Because the man they believed was hidden…
was walking into the Apex Building.
May you like
Alive.
And he was coming straight for Damian Russo.
