Chapter 4: The Brother Damon Never Mentioned
The door handle stopped moving.
For a few seconds, nobody spoke.
Not me.
Not Damon.
Not the person standing outside my apartment.
The entire world seemed to hold its breath.
I pressed the phone tighter against my ear.
“Damon,” I whispered.
My voice barely existed.
“Tell me who that is.””
On the other end, I heard his breathing.
Fast.
Controlled.
The same way it sounded when he was facing a crisis at Vale Enterprises.
Except this time, he wasn’t sitting behind a desk.
This time, I was the crisis.
“Evelyn, I need you to do exactly what I say.””
A cold feeling settled in my chest.
“Why?””
“Because I don’t have time to explain.””
“That’s your answer to everything.””
The knock came again.
Harder.
The man outside spoke calmly.
“Evelyn, I know you’re there.””
I froze.
He knew my name.
Not my fake name.
Not the name I had used when renting this apartment.
My real name.
Damon’s voice dropped.
“Go to the bedroom.””
I didn’t move.
“Who is he?””
“Evelyn.””
“Who?””
A long silence.
Then Damon said the words that changed everything.
“His name is Adrian Vale.””
My stomach twisted.
Vale.
Another Vale.
I had spent three years married to Damon and thought I knew every chapter of his life.
I knew about his father.
I knew about the company.
I knew about his mother’s death.
I knew the family history that magazines printed in glossy articles.
The Vale family had been Chicago royalty for generations.
But there was no Adrian.
No brother.
No second son.
“No,” I whispered.
Damon’s voice tightened.
“I know what you’re thinking.””
“You don’t have a brother.””
“Yes, I do.””
My fingers went numb.
“Then why didn’t I know?””
Silence.
That silence answered more than words could.
A laugh escaped me.
Not because anything was funny.
Because the truth was becoming impossible to ignore.
“You kept an entire person hidden from me?””
“Evelyn—”
“No.””
The man outside knocked again.
“Evelyn, open the door.””
Damon heard him.
“Get away from it.””
“Who is he?””
“Someone dangerous.””
I looked at the door.
My heart was racing.
“Dangerous how?””
Damon didn’t answer.
That scared me more.
“Damon.””
His voice softened.
“I should have told you.””
“Yes.””
“I should have told you before we got married.””
“Yes.””
“I thought I could keep you away from this.””
I swallowed.
“From what?””
Another silence.
Then:
“The part of my family that nobody survives.””
The words sent a chill through me.
Before I could respond, the lights in my apartment flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then everything went dark.
I gasped.
“Damon?””
“Evelyn, listen to me.””
I heard movement outside my door.
Not footsteps.
Something worse.
Someone testing the lock.
“He knows where you are,” Damon said.
“How?””
“I don’t know.””
“You don’t know?””
“I swear to God, I don’t.””
That was the first time I heard fear in his voice.
Real fear.
Not frustration.
Not anger.
Fear.
And somehow, that scared me more than Adrian being outside.
Because Damon Vale was a man who faced billion-dollar lawsuits without blinking.
A man who walked into hostile meetings alone.
A man who never admitted weakness.
But now he sounded afraid.
For me.
“Evelyn,” he said.
I moved toward the bedroom slowly.
“Yes?””
“If anything happens—”
“Don’t.””
I stopped.
Because I knew that tone.
It was the tone of someone preparing to say goodbye.
“Don’t talk like that.””
“I need you to hear me.””
“No.””
“Evelyn.””
The desperation in his voice broke through my anger.
“I’m sorry.””
My eyes burned.
“I’m sorry I hurt you.””
The room was completely dark.
Only the faint glow from my phone illuminated my hands.
“I’m sorry I made you believe you were nothing to me.””
I closed my eyes.
“Damon—”
“I never stopped loving you.””
The sentence hit harder than I expected.
Because some part of me had waited days to hear it.
But another part of me hated that it came now.
When I was afraid.
When I was alone.
When another secret from his world was standing outside my door.
“You don’t get to say that now.””
“I know.””
“You don’t get to tell me you love me after telling me you never did.””
“I know.””
His voice became quieter.
“But it was a lie.””
I looked down at my stomach.
The baby.
Our baby.
“Why?””
“Because Adrian found out.””
My blood ran cold.
“Found out what?””
The answer took too long.
“About you.””
My hand covered my mouth.
“No.””
“Evelyn—”
“No.””
The pieces started falling together.
The mysterious phone call.
Clara’s warning.
The missing brother.
The fear in Damon’s voice.
“Adrian knows about the baby.””
The silence was confirmation.
I felt the room spin.
“How?””
“I don’t know.””
“You’re lying.””
“I’m not.””
“You know everything, Damon.””
A sharp sound came from the living room.
Something breaking.
My heart jumped.
“Damon.””
“Where are you?””
“Bedroom.””
“Lock the door.””
I did.
My hands shook as I turned the lock.
“Evelyn, there’s something you need to understand.””
I pressed myself against the wall.
“What?””
“Adrian believes my father left something behind.””
“What does that have to do with me?””
“He believes you have it.””
“I don’t.””
“I know.””
The confidence in his voice surprised me.
“You know?””
“Yes.””
“How?””
“Because I know you.””
The answer hurt.
Because it sounded like the Damon I loved.
The Damon who remembered everything.
The Damon who had disappeared the moment he said those four words.
“I know you would never take anything from my family.””
A tear slipped down my cheek.
“Then why does he think I did?””
Before Damon could answer, my bedroom window made a sharp cracking sound.
I turned.
My blood froze.
The glass was breaking.
Someone was outside.
On the fire escape.
Impossible.
I lived on the fourth floor.
“Damon.””
My voice trembled.
“Someone is at my window.””
“What?””
I heard movement on his side.
“Evelyn, get away from the glass.””
I backed up.
Slowly.
The window cracked again.
Then a hand appeared.
I couldn’t breathe.
A figure stepped into view.
A man.
Tall.
Dark hair.
The same sharp features as Damon.
But colder.
Much colder.
He looked directly at me.
Even through the glass, I could see his smile.
Then my phone fell from my hand when he mouthed one sentence.
“I know where Damon hid the truth.””
The bedroom door handle moved.
At the same time, Damon’s voice came through the phone.
“Evelyn?””
I couldn’t answer.
Because Adrian Vale was standing between me and the only escape.
And the worst part wasn’t that he had found me.
It was that he looked at me like he had been waiting four years for this moment.
The window shattered.
And Adrian stepped inside.
“Hello, Evelyn.””
His eyes moved slowly toward my stomach.
Then he smiled.
“Or should I say…”
May you like
A pause.
“Hello, little Vale.””
