Chapter 3 - What Hannah Stole
Damian stood for the first time in daylight.
There was no audience to fool.
Only Carlo.
The bedroom doors were locked.
Damian crossed the room, ignoring the sharp protest from his ribs.
“What was in the safe?”
“Cash. passports. company seals.”
“And?”
Carlo hesitated.
“Your father's ledger.”
Damian stopped.
The ledger contained names.
Judges.
Politicians.
Union officials.
Police.
Men who had received money from the Russo organization over twenty years.
Enough information to ruin careers and start wars.
“Hannah knew the combination?”
“No.”
“Then how did she open it?”
“She didn't use the keypad.”
Carlo showed him footage.
Hannah crouched beside the safe.
Something thin entered the emergency lock.
Thirty seconds later, it opened.
Damian watched twice.
“She picked it.”
“Yes.”
“The maid picks safes.”
“Apparently.”
“Find her.”
Carlo had already traced Hannah’s employee badge leaving the estate.
A subway camera caught her in Queens.
She returned to the small apartment listed in her employment file.
Damian insisted on going.
Not in the wheelchair.
Carlo objected.
“If anyone sees you—”
“No one will.”
They used an unmarked SUV.
Hannah lived above a laundromat.
The hallway smelled of detergent and fried onions.
Damian knocked.
No answer.
He knocked again.
“Hannah.”
Movement inside.
The door opened three inches.
She saw him standing.
Her face went white.
“You can walk.”
“Excellent observation.”
She tried to close the door.
Damian stopped it with one hand.
“Where's my ledger?”
“I don't have it.”
“Move.”
“No.”
Carlo stepped forward.
Damian raised a hand.
Then he heard coughing inside.
A teenage boy sat on a sofa connected to an oxygen concentrator.
Hannah's younger brother.
Noah.
Hannah immediately became protective.
“Don't scare him.”
Damian looked at the boy.
Noah stared.
“You're Damian Russo.”
“Yes.”
“You're supposed to be paralyzed.”
Damian looked at Hannah.
“She talks too much.”
“I figured it out.”
Noah grinned weakly.
Damian almost liked him immediately.
Hannah blocked the doorway.
“The ledger is safe.”
“Why did you take it?”
“Because someone else was coming for it.”
That changed everything.
“Who?”
“I don't know his name.”
“Describe him.”
“Tall. Gray suit. Scar under his right ear.”
Carlo swore.
Damian looked over.
“Who?”
“Moretti’s accountant. Elias Crane.”
Hannah continued.
“I was cleaning the study yesterday. I heard Vivien talking on the phone.”
“What did she say?”
“She said your father’s ledger was in the upstairs safe and Crane would have one chance tonight.”
Damian stared at her.
“So you stole it first.”
“Yes.”
“Why not tell me?”
Hannah laughed quietly.
“You had already accused the entire world of betrayal.”
“I didn't accuse you.”
“You had Carlo search my background.”
Damian glanced at Carlo.
Traitor.
Carlo looked at the ceiling.
Hannah stepped aside.
“Come in.”
They entered.
Noah watched Damian walk.
“This is wild.”
“Noah.”
“What?”
“He is literally pretending to be paralyzed.”
Damian sat.
The boy grinned.
“You’re like Batman with tax fraud.”
Carlo turned away to hide laughter.
Damian decided he liked Noah less.
Hannah retrieved a canvas grocery bag.
Inside was the ledger.
Damian opened it.
Untouched.
“Why protect this?”
“I didn't.”
He looked up.
“I protected you.”
Silence.
Hannah seemed uncomfortable with her own words.
She continued.
“If Vivien stole it, she could destroy you.”
“You barely know me.”
“I know enough.”
“You know what I am?”
“Yes.”
“You aren't bothered?”
“I didn't say that.”
Damian closed the ledger.
“Then why?”
Hannah glanced toward Noah.
“Because I know what it feels like when powerful people decide somebody is too weak to matter.”
Damian followed her gaze.
Noah looked away.
Hannah explained.
Their father had vanished after gambling away their savings.
Their mother worked until illness destroyed her health.
A hospital refused an experimental treatment because insurance would not cover it.
She died waiting for an appeal.
Now Noah needed surgery.
Hannah worked two jobs before joining Damian’s staff.
“I've watched people treat my brother like his medical chart is his personality.”
She looked directly at Damian.
“When everyone thought you couldn't walk, they stopped talking to you like you were still you.”
Damian thought of Vivien.
Bruno.
The nurses.
Then Hannah.
“You didn't.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because legs aren't character.”
The sentence landed harder than it should have.
Noah interrupted.
“Hannah.”
“What?”
“Tell him the other thing.”
She looked alarmed.
“What other thing?”
“The car.”
Damian's attention sharpened.
“What car?”
Noah sat straighter.
“Hannah saw one of the guys from your building before your accident.”
Hannah closed her eyes.
“Noah.”
Damian stood.
“Explain.”
She sighed.
“Two nights before the ambush, I finished late.”
“And?”
“I saw Bruno outside the service garage.”
“Doing what?”
“Talking to a man near your SUV.”
“Who?”
“I didn't know him.”
Carlo pulled up photographs.
Hannah scanned them.
She stopped at Lorenzo Moretti.
“That’s him.”
Damian felt everything align.
Vivien.
Bruno.
Moretti.
All connected.
“Why didn't you report it?”
“Bruno sees employees talking about him and employees disappear.”
Fair.
Damian walked toward the window.
Then Noah began coughing violently.
Hannah moved immediately.
“Noah.”
His face lost color.
Damian turned.
Hannah grabbed medication.
The inhaler wasn't enough.
“Noah, breathe.”
Damian called Carlo.
“Car.”
Hannah shook her head.
“He's fine.”
“No, he isn't.”
“It happens.”
“Not like this.”
Damian lifted Noah.
Hannah stared.
“I can carry him.”
“So can I.”
Twenty minutes later they entered a private hospital through a service entrance.
Noah stabilized.
A cardiologist reviewed his records.
Damian waited in the hall.
Hannah emerged.
“You didn't have to do this.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
She looked angry now.
“I don't want charity.”
“Good.”
“Then don't pay anything.”
“I already did.”
Her eyes widened.
“What?”
“The surgery.”
“Damian.”
“It’s scheduled for Thursday.”
“You can't—”
“I can.”
“Why?”
He stepped closer.
“Because you saved my ledger.”
“That doesn't equal my brother's life.”
“You also warned me about the men trying to kill me.”
“Still.”
Damian lowered his voice.
“Then consider it employee health insurance.”
“I’m a maid.”
“Excellent benefits.”
Against her will, Hannah laughed.
Then tears filled her eyes.
She turned away.
Damian did not touch her.
He waited.
Finally she whispered:
“Thank you.”
“You're welcome.”
When they returned to the penthouse that evening, Damian went back into the wheelchair before leaving the private garage.
The performance resumed.
Vivien arrived at nine.
She wore red.
She kissed his cheek.
Then glanced around the room.
“Where's Hannah?”
Damian looked at her.
“Why?”
“Oh, nothing.”
She smiled.
“I was going to apologize.”
A lie.
Damian smiled back.
“That would be kind.”
Vivien walked toward the desk.
Her eyes briefly shifted toward the wall safe.
There.
Confirmation.
Damian's phone buzzed.
Carlo.
One text.
BRUNO REQUESTED A MEETING TOMORROW. SAYS IT'S ABOUT SUCCESSION.
Damian stared at the message.
Vivien thought he was broken.
Bruno thought his throne was available.
Moretti thought the Russo empire was collapsing.
And Hannah Mercer knew the king could stand.
Damian looked toward Vivien.
May you like
Tomorrow, he decided, he would let the rats come closer.
Close enough that none could escape.
