Aria's POV
"No police," the distorted voice commands through Damien's phone. "No tricks. Just Aria and the USB drive. Pier 7. Fifty-eight minutes."
The call ends.
I'm already moving toward the door. "I have to go. I have to save him."
Damien blocks my path. "Stop. Think. This is a trap."
"I don't care!" I shove past him, but he catches my wrist.
"They'll kill you both the second they have that drive."
"Then what do you suggest? Let them murder my brother?" My voice cracks. "He's sixteen years old, Damien! He's all I have left!"
Something flickers in Damien's eyes. Pain, maybe. Or recognition.
"I know what it's like to lose family," he says quietly. "My mother died because I was too young and too powerless to save her. I won't let you make the same mistake I did."
"This is different—"
"No. It's not." He releases me and pulls out his phone. "Julian, I need a team at Pier 7 in forty minutes. Full tactical. Silent approach."
"You just heard them," I protest. "If you show up, they'll kill Marco!"
"I won't show up. You will. Alone. Exactly as they demanded." He meets my eyes. "But my team will be there, hidden, waiting. The second they have the drive and release Marco, we move."
"And if they don't release him?"
Damien's jaw tightens. "Then we take him back by force."
I want to argue. Want to scream that his plan won't work, that he's risking Marco's life. But the truth is, I have no better option.
"Fine," I whisper. "But I'm the one who makes the exchange."
"Obviously." He checks his watch. "We have fifty-five minutes. Use them wisely."
The drive to Pier 7 takes twenty minutes. Damien's driver drops me two blocks away.
"Walk from here," Damien instructs through the earpiece he insisted I wear. "My team is already in position. They can't see them, but we can see you."
I clutch the USB drive in my pocket and step out of the car.
The pier is abandoned at this hour—just empty warehouses and the smell of ocean rot. My footsteps echo on the wooden planks.
"Pier 7" is painted on a rusted sign above a warehouse at the end of the dock.
I'm ten steps from the entrance when someone grabs me from behind.
A hand clamps over my mouth. An arm wraps around my waist, lifting me off my feet.
"Damien!" I try to scream, but the sound is muffled.
"They've got her," Damien's voice crackles in my ear. "Team Two, move in—"
Someone rips the earpiece out. It falls to the ground and shatters under a boot.
"Hello, Aria." The voice is no longer distorted. It's familiar. Female.
The hand releases my mouth, and I spin around.
Victoria Lane stands before me, beautiful and cold as ice. I recognize her from the photos in the articles about Damien—his ex-fiancée.
"Surprised?" She smiles. "You shouldn't be. I told you we'd meet again."
"You took Marco?"
"I borrowed him. Temporarily." She holds out her hand. "The USB drive. Now."
"Where is my brother?"
"Safe. For now." Victoria's smile doesn't reach her eyes. "The drive, Aria. Before I lose my patience."
I pull it from my pocket but don't hand it over. "Show me Marco first. Prove he's alive."
Victoria nods to someone behind me. A man appears, dragging Marco forward. He's conscious but terrified, his mouth covered with tape.
"Marco!" I lunge toward him, but Victoria's men block me.
"The drive," Victoria repeats. "Then you both go free."
"You're lying."
"Perhaps. But it's the only chance your brother has." She steps closer. "Did Damien tell you what's on that drive? Did he explain that it contains evidence of every illegal transaction he's ever made? Every bribe, every payoff, every dirty secret?"
My blood runs cold. "What?"
"Your father didn't steal from Damien's charity. He stole proof of Damien's crimes. Banking records showing how Cross Industries is just a front for money laundering." Victoria's eyes gleam. "That USB drive can destroy Damien Cross completely. Send him to prison for life."
"You're lying. My father wouldn't—"
"Your father was an accountant. A good one. He found things Damien didn't want found." She holds out her hand again. "So you have a choice, Aria. Give me the drive and save your brother. Or keep it and watch him die to protect the man who killed your father."
Everything spins. Is she telling the truth? Did my father steal evidence, not money?
"Ten seconds," Victoria says. "Choose."
I look at Marco, his eyes pleading with me.
Then I look at the USB drive in my hand.
If what Victoria says is true, this could destroy Damien. Could give me the revenge I've wanted for three years.
But it would cost Marco his life.
"Five seconds."
My hand shakes.
"Time's up." Victoria nods, and her man presses a gun to Marco's head.
"Wait!" I thrust the USB drive toward her. "Take it! Just let him go!"
Victoria snatches it from my hand. She examines it, then smiles. "Smart girl."
"Now release my brother."
"Of course." She nods again.
The man releases Marco and shoves him toward me. He stumbles, and I catch him, ripping the tape from his mouth.
"Aria—" he gasps.
"It's okay. We're okay now."
"How touching." Victoria backs toward a black SUV waiting at the warehouse entrance. "Oh, one more thing. That USB drive you just gave me? It's fake."
My heart stops. "What?"
"Did you really think your father would leave evidence lying around in an obvious desk compartment? He was smarter than that." She holds up the drive. "This is a decoy. Which means the real one is still out there. Still hidden."
"Then why—"
"Because now Damien knows you chose to save your brother over destroying him. And that information?" She climbs into the SUV. "That's more valuable than any USB drive."
The vehicle speeds away, leaving Marco and me alone on the pier.
Footsteps pound behind us. Damien and his team emerge from the shadows, weapons drawn, but they're too late. Victoria is gone.
Damien's face is thunderous. "Are you hurt?"
"No. But the drive—"
"Was a fake. I know." He helps Marco to his feet. "I switched it before we left. Put a virus on it that will corrupt her entire system when she plugs it in."
"You knew this would happen?"
"I suspected Victoria was behind this." His jaw tightens. "I just didn't know how far she'd go."
Marco sways, and I catch him. "We need to get him to a hospital."
"The car's waiting." Damien starts to turn, then stops. "You chose to save him. Even when you thought the drive could destroy me."
"Of course I did. He's my brother."
"But I'm the man who killed your father."
The way he says it makes me look at him. Really look at him.
"Did you?" I ask. "Did you really kill him?"
Before Damien can answer, an explosion rocks the pier behind us.
The warehouse erupts in flames, the force throwing all three of us to the ground.
Through the smoke and fire, I see a figure walking toward us.
Not Victoria.
Someone else.
Someone I recognize from old family photos.
My father's business partner. The man who supposedly moved away five years ago.
Robert Chen.
He's holding a gun. And it's pointed at Damien.
"Hello, Damien," he says calmly. "We have unfinished business."
Then he looks at me, and his smile makes my blood freeze.
"Hello, Aria. Your father says hello."
The world stops spinning.
"My father is dead," I whisper.
"Is he?" Robert's smile widens. "Are you sure about that?"