Chapter 35
Ashia
Three Days Later
‘Strange Life’ - Steelfeather
“Merry Christmas, you filthy animals!” Alex yells as we all step towards the conference room.
Elizabeth skips beside us and giggles, clearly recognizing his line from the movie we all watched this morning.
Home Alone was always one of my favorites.
So, we had to play it while she opened her gifts.
It wasn’t much since we just got back from Italy yesterday, but Damien and Carter ran out to do some last-minute shopping once we realized what day it was.
Watching her light up when she opened those few gifts was very touching, and seeing her happy made it worthwhile.
Just like we thought, her and Victoria haven’t really had a normal Christmas, so we wanted to do the best we could with what we’ve got to work with.
That’s one reason they’re with us today.
Elizabeth put on her princess dress, then dressed her bunny in the matching one Victoria got for her, and her confidence soared.
She walked up to Damien, looked at him with those little-girl, puppy-dog eyes, and actually spoke, asking if she could come with us today.
Of course, Damien was not going to tell her no.
“You fuckers actually decorated this place?” Zeke blurts out, looking around at all of the lights and garland, and I snap around to hit his arm. “Ouch! What the hell?”
“Stop cursing in front of Elizabeth. She’s finally starting to talk, let’s not convince her to say ‘fuck’ every other word.”
“Fine.” He tilts his head and curls his lip with that brotherly attitude. “I’ll start with ‘shit.’”
Elizabeth giggles as she watches us bicker, and I groan in disapproval.
I have no idea why she likes him so much despite his continuous attempts to shoo her away, but if they’re going to be sticking around, he needs to try and restrain himself.
I get that Zeke doesn’t like kids, but it also kind of upsets me.
Is he going to be like this towards our daughter?
Will he push her away, too? That’s ridiculous to think.
She’s his niece. Of course he wouldn’t…but also, Elizabeth doesn’t have anything to do with her father’s crimes.
So, why is he so determined to push her away?
Damien grabs my hand, breaking me from my thoughts to keep leading me forward, but I glare at Zeke anyway, earning that devious smirk that gets on my last nerve.
“You can thank Serena for the lights. Apparently, she didn’t like that I tried to do it,” Alex continues, ignoring Zeke and I’s sibling antics.
“Well, no kidding. You’re supposed to be recovering,” Damien retorts.
“It’s been almost a month since I was shot.
I’m fine. Carter’s almost into the devices.
You guys should get in here.” He holds the door open for us all, and we slip inside, moving to our normal seats.
“I wasn’t sure if you still wanted to do the usual Christmas tradition, D, but Chris is supposed to pick up the catering at five o’clock, anyway. ”
“I think that’ll be perfect.” He looks down at me with wondrous eyes.
“Are you up for filling the Attic with everyone and their families again?” I’m not sure how Victoria will feel about it, but I think it’ll be good for Elizabeth.
Especially if some of the guys or his cousins bring their kids, she’ll have someone to play with.
Now that the Attic is safe enough to have them here, it feels even more complete.
I never would’ve thought that way a couple of months ago, but I just keep learning how crazy time really is.
“Of course.” I smile up at him and adjust my position in the chair, feeling another cramp coming on.
I started having these Braxton Hicks contractions since we got back yesterday morning.
They’re very off and on, and tend to go away if I move enough, but that hasn’t helped Damien’s worry.
Honestly, I thought I was going to start having them before the thirty-two-week mark, and looking back, I might’ve had glimpses of them, but now they’re noticeable.
Staying at home wasn’t an option, though—not for me, anyway.
I needed to see this. I want to see the light shine on Damien’s face the moment we know we have Avery. There’s no way I was missing that.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Damien asks me quietly.
“Yeah, baby. I’m fine.” I loop my arm around him and lay my head on his shoulder, watching the screen that’s split in two.
One side shows the encryption codes and hacking software shooting across the screen at lightning speed.
The other plays Home Alone 2 for Elizabeth as her and Victoria sit in the corner of the room while they color and glance at the movie every so often.
“Can you imagine this in a few years?” I whisper.
“Our little girl playing in the corner while Daddy tracks down bad guys?”
A soft growl rumbles in his chest.
“Call me that again, and I’ll take you into the office.” I roll my eyes playfully and sneer at him, knowing that if he’s not careful, I’ll take him up on his offer. He chuckles heartwarmingly, heating my own chest. “Hell yeah, I can. Except it’ll be ‘Bluey’ or some princess movie on the screen.”
I giggle softly.
“How do you know about ‘Bluey’?”
“I told you, I’m fully prepared for my princess.” He kisses the top of my head, then takes a deep breath. It’s soft, but swallowing, like he's trying to overwhelm his senses with me. “Tell me we’re close, Carter.” Damien looks over at him with pleading eyes.
“Just a few more seconds,” Carter says, but there’s a wariness in his tone. “D, we don’t know that these will have anything on them…”
“They have to. It’s all we’ve got left…”
I hold his hand in mine, grazing the back of it with my thumb.
He’s so tense, like he’s trying to balance the entire world on his shoulders.
In his mind, he is. For months—hell, even years—a monster has been working in the shadows while stealing camera flashes and news headlines.
Avery has subjected thousands to his wrath, unleashed demons into the streets, just for his own gain.
He's behind more deaths than lives saved, and we can’t stop Avery without proof or allowing him to become a martyr.
And Damien won’t feel completely safe again until we do.
Carter’s computer beeps, and then multiple windows pop onto the screen.
He starts rummaging through the files, finding multiple photos and video clips of their past operations.
We all stare intently on the off chance that he misses something vital.
One by one, the files show more and more evidence against Saconne and DeLuca, but with each one comes more disappointment.
There’s not a single image or mention of Avery in any of it.
A heavy fog starts to descend on the room, coming from Damien.
I squeeze his hand a little tighter and kiss his shoulder, praying that he knows nothing changes if this doesn’t work out.
He relaxes against me, breaking up some of the tension…
Until Carter comes across a file labeled ‘Viper.’
He pauses for a moment, almost like he’s afraid to check it.
We’re all so still, so quiet, that the room feels like a tomb.
The air grows stale, yearning for someone to scream into it, but we don’t.
We're stuck in this moment, taking in what it means. Everything we’ve been through the past several months comes down to this.
All of that pain…the agony…we endured it to make it to this day.
Out of the corner of my eyes, I notice Victoria’s eyes are glued to the screen, anticipating what is inside the digital folder.
She’s just as eager to bring her father down as the rest of us, having waited even longer.
She went through just as much as we did because of them.
She lived with the evil—was raised by it.
I know the desperation to end it all too well.
Damien’s grip on my hand tightens, and when he speaks again, he doesn’t look away this time.
“Do it,” he demands. Carter clicks on the file quickly, like it’ll blow up if he moves too slowly, and the screen lights up again with files upon files of information.
One after another, they flood the screen and bathe the room in a strobe effect.
Names, dates, times, wire transfers, and so much more—even archived texts and phone calls—detailing all that we’ve known for some time…
and every phone number and account holder name is none other than John fucking Avery.
“Holy fuck…” Damien whispers, springing happy tears to my eyes.
“Why would they keep all of this?” Alex asks in bewilderment and doesn’t tear his eyes away from the screen.
“Leverage,” Victoria answers with a relieved smile. “In case my father tried to betray them, they would need it to blackmail him.”
“D…it’s all fucking here, man,” Carter says wondrously, moving his fingers on the keyboard faster than I’ve ever seen him do before.
“Their emails, money transfers, meeting locations, everything! Some of the photos have embedded location tags, and there’s even footage of when they took Victoria!
It’s all here!” He’s so excited now that a large grin reaches his eyes.
He doesn’t even bother to look away when he speaks to Damien.
His eyes just move back and forth like ping-pong balls as he reads everything.
“You fixed all of our database connections, right?” Damien asks, still staring at the monitor in disbelief.
“Sure as hell did.”
“Get Adrien here, now,” Damien demands, and Zeke groans, making his first noise in several minutes.
“Do we have to bring him in?” he drones.
“Yes!” we all shout at him at the same time, and then the only noise through the room is Elizabeth’s laughter.
“Alright, damn.” He crosses his arms and falls back against his chair in a kid-like tantrum. “So, what’s the plan, D?”
“We’re exposing this asshole.”