CHAPTER 9 — THE GIRL DAMIAN PROMISED TO PROTECT
Damian Russo had spent twenty years believing he had no regrets.
That was the lie he told himself.
Regret was for weak people.
People who looked back.
People who wondered what could have been different.
Damian never looked back.
Until he saw the video.
Until he saw himself.
Twenty years younger.
Standing beside a twelve-year-old girl.
A girl with scared eyes.
A girl who would later become Hazel Brooks.
And the words coming from his own mouth destroyed everything he believed.
“I promise you…”
“I’ll protect you.”
---
The warehouse was completely silent.
Even Michael stopped breathing for a moment.
Damian stared at the black screen.
Like if he looked long enough…
the truth would disappear.
It didn’t.
Hazel stood several feet away.
Her face was unreadable.
But Damian noticed one thing.
Her hands were shaking.
Only slightly.
Almost impossible to see.
But he saw it.
Because now he was finally paying attention.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
His voice was quiet.
Hazel looked at him.
“Would you have believed me?”
Damian opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Because he knew the answer.
No.
He wouldn’t have.
He would have accused her of manipulation.
A lie.
A trap.
Exactly like he had done every time someone brought him a truth he didn’t want.
---
Michael slowly stood.
“You really don’t remember.”
Damian turned toward him.
“You knew.”
Michael looked away.
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Since the beginning.”
The anger returned instantly.
Damian stepped forward.
“You watched me.”
Michael didn’t deny it.
“Yes.”
“You watched me hire her.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me treat her like she was nothing.”
Michael’s expression changed.
Not guilt.
Something worse.
Shame.
“I watched you forget.”
Damian grabbed his collar.
“Forget what?”
Michael looked directly at him.
“That you were once a better man.”
---
The words hit harder than any punch.
Because Damian wanted to deny them.
He wanted to say Michael was manipulating him.
But something inside him knew.
A small piece of him knew.
---
Twenty years earlier.
Before Damian became the man everyone feared.
Before the empire.
Before the blood.
He was different.
Younger.
Angrier.
But not completely empty.
He was trying to escape the same world he later controlled.
That was when he met Hannah Brooks.
Not Hazel.
Hannah.
A frightened twelve-year-old girl hiding inside an abandoned warehouse.
The same warehouse where her father was attacked.
The same night everything changed.
---
The memory returned in pieces.
A little girl sitting in the corner.
Holding a broken necklace.
Crying silently.
Damian walking toward her.
“You hurt?”
The girl didn’t answer.
She looked at his weapon.
Then at his face.
“Are you going to kill me too?”
The question stopped him.
Because she wasn’t afraid of death.
She was afraid of people.
Damian lowered the weapon.
“No.”
A pause.
“I’m not.”
The girl looked confused.
“Why?”
Damian didn’t know.
Maybe because she reminded him of himself.
Maybe because for one second…
he remembered he was human.
“Because nobody should be alone.”
---
Back in the warehouse.
Damian looked at Hazel.
“You were that girl.”
Hazel didn’t answer.
She didn’t need to.
He knew.
The small details suddenly became obvious.
The way she always stood near exits.
The way she noticed danger before anyone else.
The way she never asked him for anything.
Because she wasn’t there for money.
She was there because of a promise.
A promise he forgot.
---
“You hated me.”
Hazel looked surprised.
“What?”
“When I fired you.”
A pause.
“You didn’t hate me.”
Her eyes moved slightly.
Damian continued.
“You were disappointed.”
The silence answered for her.
And somehow that hurt more.
---
Suddenly, the warehouse lights flickered.
Garrett looked up.
“We need to leave.”
Nobody moved.
Then—
a bullet shattered the window.
Everyone dropped.
Hazel grabbed Damian and pulled him behind cover.
Again.
Always again.
Damian hated that he needed her.
He hated even more that she never hesitated.
---
“Where’s Elias?”
Damian asked.
Hazel checked the window.
“Gone.”
Michael looked at her.
“No.”
Everyone looked at him.
Michael’s face was pale.
“He didn’t come here for us.”
A pause.
“He came here to show Damian the memory.”
Damian frowned.
“Why?”
Michael looked at him.
“Because the next one will destroy you.”
---
They returned to the Apex Building before sunrise.
The city was quiet.
For once, Damian’s empire felt small.
He stood inside his office.
The same office where he fired Hazel.
The same office where he thought he understood everything.
Hazel stood near the door.
“I should leave.”
Damian looked up.
The words surprised him.
“Why?”
“Because you don’t trust me.”
A pause.
“You shouldn’t.”
Damian stood.
For once, he didn’t have an immediate answer.
Because she was right.
He didn’t trust easily.
But he also knew something else.
The person who lied to him…
was the same person who saved him.
The people who told him the truth…
were the ones trying to destroy him.
---
Hazel reached for the door.
“Wait.”
She stopped.
Damian looked at her.
“I was wrong.”
The words sounded strange coming from him.
Almost unnatural.
Hazel turned slightly.
“About what?”
He looked around the office.
At the empty chair outside.
At the desk where she used to sit.
“At thinking you were replaceable.”
For a moment…
Hazel almost smiled.
Almost.
Then she said:
“That was a very expensive mistake, Mr. Russo.”
Damian looked at her.
A small breath escaped him.
The closest thing to a laugh.
“You always have an answer.”
“No.”
A pause.
“I just usually have one after I should have.”
---
Then every screen in the office turned on.
Not by Damian.
Not by Garrett.
Someone else.
Elias.
A new video appeared.
A hospital room.
Twenty years earlier.
Damian watched.
Hazel watched.
And then they saw something impossible.
A woman lying in the hospital bed.
A woman both of them thought was dead.
Hazel stepped closer.
Her face lost all emotion.
Because she recognized her.
“My mother…”
Damian looked at the screen.
And the woman opened her eyes.
Then spoke one sentence.
A sentence that changed everything.
“Damian Russo…”
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A pause.
“You were never supposed to remember me.”
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