CHAPTER 8 — THE WOMAN WHO HAD TO CHOOSE BETWEEN REVENGE AND MERCY
The photograph made no sense.
Damian Russo stared at it for almost a full minute.
Michael Voss.
The man who betrayed him.
The man who tried to destroy his organization.
The man who had murdered people without hesitation.
Was on his knees.
Crying.
And the woman holding a gun to him…
was Hazel.
But Hazel’s face was not filled with anger.
That was what bothered Damian.
She looked tired.
Like she had been carrying a decision too heavy for one person.
---
“Trace the location.”
Damian threw the phone onto the table.
Garrett immediately grabbed it.
“We’re trying.”
“Try harder.”
The old Damian was back.
The cold one.
The one everyone feared.
But Garrett noticed something different.
The anger was there.
The control was there.
But underneath it…
there was panic.
Not for his empire.
Not for his reputation.
For Hazel.
And Damian hated that.
Because caring about someone was a weakness he had spent his entire life eliminating.
---
The warehouse was abandoned.
The same type of place where secrets disappeared.
Hazel stood across from Michael.
Her gun was steady.
Michael sat on the floor.
His expensive suit was destroyed.
Blood covered his face.
For the first time since Damian knew him…
he looked human.
“You’re going to kill me?”
Michael asked.
Hazel said nothing.
“You should.”
Still nothing.
Michael laughed quietly.
“You know what’s funny?”
Hazel’s eyes remained on him.
“You’re the only person who still thinks I deserve a choice.”
A pause.
“Elias doesn’t.”
Hazel’s expression changed slightly.
“Where is he?”
Michael looked at her.
“You still don’t understand.”
“Answer me.”
“He was never trying to kill Damian.”
Silence.
Hazel lowered the gun slightly.
Michael continued.
“He wanted Damian alive.”
“Why?”
Michael looked toward the broken window.
“Because dead men become legends.”
A pause.
“Alive men can be destroyed.”
---
The warehouse door suddenly opened.
Hazel turned.
Too slow.
A man stepped inside.
Not Elias.
Someone else.
A younger man.
Black jacket.
Cold eyes.
Michael recognized him.
His face changed.
“No.”
The newcomer smiled.
“Still afraid of me, Michael?”
Hazel raised her weapon.
The man didn’t care.
“Relax.”
He looked at her.
“You’re not the target.”
A pause.
“Not yet.”
---
Three years earlier.
Hazel sat across from Damian for the first time.
She remembered that day.
The interview.
The questions.
The way Damian looked at every applicant like they were a potential enemy.
“Why should I hire you?”
Young Hazel looked at him.
“Because I’m good at my job.”
Damian glanced at her resume.
“It says you have no references.”
“Yes.”
“No previous employer?”
“No.”
“No online history.”
“No.”
He leaned back.
“You expect me to hire someone nobody can verify?”
Hazel looked at him.
“Yes.”
Damian almost smiled.
“Confident.”
“No.”
A pause.
“Prepared.”
That answer stayed with him.
Even though he didn’t know why.
---
Back in the warehouse.
Hazel looked at the newcomer.
“You’re working with Elias.”
The man smiled.
“Everyone works with Elias.”
“No.”
Hazel tightened her grip.
“Everyone fears Elias.”
The man’s smile disappeared.
Because she was right.
---
The man moved first.
Fast.
Too fast.
Hazel reacted.
The fight was not loud.
No dramatic movements.
Just controlled violence.
A few seconds.
A few calculated strikes.
The man slammed into the table.
Hazel reached for his weapon.
But he had expected it.
He grabbed her wrist.
“You’re slower.”
Hazel looked at him.
“No.”
A pause.
“I’m tired.”
She headbutted him.
He stumbled.
Hazel took the weapon.
The man smiled.
“Still you.”
---
Then a gunshot echoed.
Everyone froze.
Michael looked down.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Not from Hazel.
From somewhere else.
A sniper.
Hazel immediately moved.
She dragged Michael behind cover.
The newcomer disappeared through the back exit.
Michael looked shocked.
“You saved me.”
Hazel pressed her hand against his wound.
“Don’t make me regret it.”
Michael stared at her.
“Why?”
She didn’t answer.
Because she didn’t know.
Maybe because despite everything…
she wasn’t Elias.
---
Minutes later.
Damian arrived.
The warehouse was silent.
Too silent.
He walked inside.
Weapon ready.
Then he saw her.
Hazel.
Sitting on the floor.
Blood on her hands.
Michael beside her.
Alive.
Damian stopped.
The scene looked wrong.
Everything about it.
“You saved him.”
Hazel looked up.
No explanation.
No excuse.
“Yes.”
Damian stared at Michael.
Then at Hazel.
“Why?”
Hazel looked away.
“Because he wasn’t the one making the decisions.”
Damian’s jaw tightened.
“You’re protecting him?”
“No.”
She stood slowly.
“I’m protecting the truth.”
---
Damian stepped closer.
“You always do that.”
Hazel looked at him.
“Do what?”
“Decide what people deserve to know.”
The words hit.
Because they were true.
Hazel looked down.
“I was trying to protect you.”
Damian laughed once.
A bitter sound.
“And you thought lying to me was protection?”
Silence.
Hazel had no answer.
Because this time…
Damian was right.
---
The warehouse lights suddenly shut off.
Everyone froze.
A voice came through the speakers.
Elias.
“Damian.”
The sound of his voice made Hazel tense.
“You finally arrived.”
Damian looked around.
“Show yourself.”
A quiet laugh.
“No.”
A pause.
“But I’ll show you something else.”
A screen turned on.
An old video appeared.
A young Damian.
A young Hazel.
But Hazel was only twelve years old.
Standing beside Damian.
Damian froze.
Because he had never seen this footage before.
Hazel looked at the screen.
And whispered:
“That’s impossible.”
The video continued.
Young Damian was saying something.
Something that changed everything.
A sentence Hazel never expected him to say.
A sentence Damian himself did not remember.
The younger Damian looked at little Hazel and said:
“I promise you…”
“I’ll protect you.”
The screen went black.
Nobody moved.
Because the truth was finally appearing.
Damian Russo had not met Hazel three years ago.
He met her twenty years ago.
May you like
And somehow…
he forgot.
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