CHAPTER 4 — THE MAN WHO KNEW HAZEL BEFORE DAMIAN DID
The voice coming through the emergency speakers belonged to a dead man.
At least…
that was what Damian Russo believed.
Michael Voss.
His trusted financial director.
His friend.
The man who had sat beside him during funerals.
The man who knew where Damian kept his secrets.
Now he was standing somewhere inside the Apex Building with a gun in his hand.
And he wasn’t alone.
---
“Michael.”
Damian’s voice was calm.
Too calm.
Garrett knew that tone.
It was the same voice Damian used before destroying someone.
“You really thought you could hide forever?”
The speakers crackled.
Then Michael laughed.
Not loudly.
Not nervously.
Like this was a conversation between old friends.
“Hide?”
A pause.
“Damian, you never even looked.”
The lights flickered.
Hazel moved silently through the dark hallway.
No wasted steps.
No unnecessary movement.
Her gun remained low beside her leg.
She knew this building.
Not because she worked there.
Because she had studied it.
Every camera.
Every blind spot.
Every emergency exit.
Michael knew the same things.
That made him dangerous.
---
Garrett leaned closer to Damian.
“We need to move you.”
Damian didn’t move.
“No.”
Garrett looked at him.
“No?”
Damian stared toward the hallway.
“He wants me to run.”
A small pause.
“He wants me scared.”
Garrett frowned.
“And?”
Damian picked up his own weapon from beneath the desk.
“I’m not giving him that.”
---
Ten floors below.
Hazel reached the security room.
The door was open.
That bothered her.
Michael was too careful.
He didn’t leave doors open by accident.
She stepped inside.
The monitors showed every corner of the building.
Except one.
The hallway outside Damian’s office.
Hazel stared.
A trap.
She realized it instantly.
Too late.
A voice came from behind her.
“You always were good at that.”
Hazel froze.
Michael stood near the doorway.
No panic.
No anger.
Just a disappointed look.
“You noticed the missing camera.”
Hazel slowly turned.
“Because you wanted me to.”
Michael smiled.
“Still sharp.”
Hazel raised her gun.
Michael looked at it.
Then back at her.
“You really are going to shoot me?”
Hazel didn’t answer.
“You know what your problem always was?”
He stepped forward.
“You care too much.”
---
Years earlier.
Before Chicago.
Before Damian Russo.
Before Hazel Brooks existed.
There was Hannah.
A different woman.
A different life.
Hannah Brooks was twenty-six years old.
Young.
Talented.
Reckless.
She believed she could fix everything.
That belief almost killed her.
Michael remembered.
Because he was there.
“You were never supposed to become his assistant.”
Hazel’s expression hardened.
“I was never supposed to become anything.”
Michael smiled.
“That’s where you’re wrong.”
He reached into his jacket.
Hazel’s finger tightened on the trigger.
But he didn’t pull a weapon.
He pulled a photograph.
And placed it on the table.
Hazel looked down.
Her face changed.
Only slightly.
But Michael saw it.
A picture of a young girl.
A hospital room.
A man standing beside her.
Damian Russo.
---
“You know what Damian never understood?”
Michael said.
“He thinks everyone around him chooses him because he is powerful.”
Hazel stared at the photo.
“He doesn’t know people choose him because of what he does.”
Michael stepped closer.
“He saved your life.”
Silence.
Hazel looked away.
“Don’t pretend you understand.”
“Oh, I understand perfectly.”
Michael smiled.
“Because I was there.”
---
Back inside Damian’s office.
Another explosion shook the building.
The floor moved beneath them.
Garrett grabbed the desk.
“Michael planted charges.”
Damian looked toward the hallway.
Hazel.
She was out there.
Again.
Protecting him.
Again.
The realization made something inside him uncomfortable.
For years, Damian believed loyalty was earned through fear.
Through money.
Through power.
But Hazel never feared him.
She never wanted anything from him.
And still…
she stayed.
---
A shadow appeared outside the office.
Damian raised his weapon.
“Hazel?”
No answer.
The figure stepped closer.
Not Hazel.
A man wearing security uniform.
One of Damian’s own men.
The guard raised his weapon.
Garrett reacted instantly.
But he was too slow.
The gun fired.
Damian felt a sharp impact.
Then silence.
He looked down.
Blood.
Not his.
Garrett collapsed against the wall.
“Garrett!”
Damian caught him before he hit the floor.
The guard smiled.
“Your people were never loyal.”
Then another voice came from the hallway.
Cold.
Controlled.
“Actually…”
Everyone stopped.
Hazel stepped out of the darkness.
The fake security guard turned.
Hazel looked at him.
Almost disappointed.
“You made one mistake.”
The man smiled.
“What?”
Hazel raised her weapon.
“You forgot I know everyone who works in this building.”
A single shot.
The man dropped.
---
Damian stared at her.
Not because of what she did.
Because of how she looked afterward.
Not proud.
Not satisfied.
Just tired.
Like she had done this too many times.
Hazel rushed to Garrett.
She pressed her hand against his wound.
“Stay awake.”
Garrett laughed weakly.
“You always this bossy?”
“Yes.”
A pause.
“Apparently.”
Even Damian almost smiled.
Almost.
Then Hazel looked at him.
And the moment disappeared.
“Michael has something bigger planned.”
Damian stood.
“Where is he?”
Hazel looked toward the security room.
Her face became serious.
“He wants you alive.”
Damian frowned.
“Why?”
Hazel hesitated.
A mistake.
A tiny one.
But Damian noticed.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Hazel looked at him.
And for the first time…
she looked afraid.
“Because killing you was never the plan.”
A pause.
“The plan was making you destroy yourself.”
---
The building suddenly went silent.
Every screen in the office turned on.
Michael appeared on all of them.
Smiling.
Behind him…
was a person Damian never expected to see.
Someone who should have been buried years ago.
Someone Hazel had spent her entire life protecting.
Damian stared at the screen.
His face lost all color.
Because the dead man standing beside Michael…
May you like
was Hazel’s father.
And he was alive.
Related Stories
