Chapter 13 - THE PRICE OF SURVIVING
Marcus survived the dog attack.
Barely.
Briar’s mother survived the bullet.
Barely.
Damien told Briar that apparently everyone around her was stubborn.
She told him he was one to talk.
Three weeks passed.
Federal arrests spread across New York.
Judges resigned.
Police captains disappeared into interrogation rooms.
Marcus Vale was charged with murder, conspiracy, racketeering, kidnapping, and enough additional crimes to keep several prosecutors busy for years.
Corbin faced charges too.
Briar expected to feel free.
Instead, she felt tired.
Freedom, she learned, did not arrive like fireworks.
Sometimes it arrived as silence.
No threatening texts.
No footsteps outside the door.
No checking the window before sleep.
She moved into a tiny apartment in Brooklyn.
Her own lease.
Her own key.
Her own door.
Damien offered to buy the building.
She threatened to stab him with a fork.
He decided flowers were safer.
Caesar visited every day.
Officially, because he needed “behavioral follow-up.”
Unofficially, because Caesar had decided Briar belonged to him.
One afternoon, Damien leaned against her kitchen counter while Briar fed Caesar chicken.
“He’s getting fat.”
“He nearly died.”
“He is emotionally manipulating you.”
Briar gasped.
“You take that back.”
Caesar stared at Damien while chewing.
Damien pointed.
“Look at his face.”
“He has trauma.”
“He has three steaks waiting at home.”
“Trauma.”
Damien shook his head.
Briar smiled.
Then her smile faded.
“What happens to your organization?”
His face became serious.
“I’m dismantling certain parts.”
“Certain?”
“Legal businesses stay.”
“And the rest?”
“Gone.”
She stared at him.
“Just like that?”
“No.”
“Dangerous?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Damien looked at her.
“Because I spent my whole life becoming my father.”
Briar’s chest tightened.
“And?”
“I don’t like what he built.”
“That’s not the whole answer.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“I want to be someone you don’t have to fear.”
Briar looked away.
“You can’t change for me.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
His voice softened.
“I’m changing because I’m tired of being him.”
She looked up.
That mattered.
More than promises.
More than money.
More than flowers.
Damien reached into his coat.
Briar narrowed her eyes.
“If that is jewelry, I’m throwing it out the window.”
“It isn’t.”
He placed an envelope on the counter.
She opened it.
A deed.
Briar stared.
“What is this?”
“The clinic.”
“What?”
“Feldman wanted to retire.”
“You bought my clinic?”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“Then what?”
“I bought the building.”
“That sounds exactly like buying my clinic.”
“And transferred ownership to a nonprofit.”
She read the name.
THE GABRIEL LENNOX ANIMAL RESCUE FOUNDATION.
Her throat closed.
“Damien.”
“You said animals need reasons to stay.”
She looked at Caesar.
Then back at him.
“This gives a few of them one.”
Tears burned her eyes.
“You don’t get to make me cry in my own kitchen.”
“I can leave.”
“Don’t.”
The word came too quickly.
They both froze.
Damien’s expression softened.
Then someone knocked on the door.
Three hard knocks.
Briar’s blood turned cold.
May you like
Because only one person had ever knocked like that.
Corbin.
