Chapter 22 #2
Occasionally he asks careful questions, but he’s never judgmental, never pushes too hard when Damien visibly starts struggling. I appreciate that more than I can explain. By the end of it, the room feels heavy with silence.
Agent Anthony closes the folder slowly. “Okay,” he says finally. “This is enough to pursue an active federal investigation.”
Relief hits me so hard I nearly sag into the couch, but Damien still looks tense beside me.
“When are you expected to meet Monroe again?” the agent asks.
Damien swallows hard. “Saturday night.”
“What’s Saturday?”
“The Tigers play the Raiders. It’s a home game.”
Agent Anthony nods once. “When were you supposed to meet? After the game?”
“Yes.”
The agent leans back slightly in his chair, thinking. Then he says carefully, “Ideally, we’d like to intervene before additional sports manipulation occurs.”
Damien frowns. “What does that mean?”
“It means,” Agent Williams says, “we don’t want to orchestrate an unnecessary continuation of fraudulent league activity if we can establish criminal intent beforehand.”
I blink.
Damien blinks harder.
The agent sighs. “We’d prefer not to let another compromised game happen.”
“Oh.”
“That said,” the agent continues, “we need Monroe on record explicitly coercing you into manipulating gameplay outcomes.”
Damien’s face tightens.
“The strongest prosecutable case would involve direct verbal confirmation from Monroe that you were instructed to intentionally alter your athletic performance in exchange for threats, protection, or debt leverage.”
Translation: we need a recording of Sebastian saying it out loud.
The realization makes my stomach twist.
“You want to wire Damien,” I say flatly.
“Yes.”
Damien speaks before I can. “I’ll do it.”
I look at him sharply. “Damien?—”
“No.” He squeezes my hand tightly. “I’ll do anything if it gets him away from Grace.”
My chest aches. Even after everything, his first thought is still protecting my family.
Agent Anthony nods. “We’ll equip you with an audio device prior to contact.”
Damien nods once. No hesitation. No fear visible. But I can feel his hand shaking against mine.
I tighten my grip.
The agent continues, “We’ll need Monroe to verbally establish coercion related to game manipulation or threats against third parties. We also believe there’s enough groundwork here to reopen prior investigations tied to trafficking operations in Ashbury.”
Damien goes completely still beside me, and I glance at him. His face looks pale again.
“Hey,” I murmur quietly.
He nods once, but I can tell he’s spiraling a little because reopening those investigations means reopening his past publicly, too.
Agent Anthony seems to realize it at the same time.
His expression softens. “Mr. Harrow.”
Damien looks up slowly.
“You were a minor victim in those records.” The room goes very quiet. “You understand that?”
Damien swallows hard. “…Yeah.”
But he says it like somebody repeating information they still don’t fully believe.
The agent studies him for another long moment, then nods once. “We’ll move carefully.”
After another twenty minutes of logistics, Agent Anthony closes the folder again. “One more thing.”
Something in his tone makes my stomach tighten.
“You both need to return home.”
I stare at him. “No.”
Damien looks toward me. “Atlas?—”
“No.” I shake my head hard. “Absolutely fucking not.”
The agent stays calm. “If Monroe notices a sudden disappearance or behavioral shift, he may become cautious.”
“I don’t care.”
“Atlas,” Damien says quietly.
I turn toward him sharply. “You’re not staying home alone right now.”
“It’s the only way this works.”
“No.” My voice comes out harsher than I intended.
The thought of Damien alone while Sebastian still has access to him makes panic crawl violently through my chest.
Agent Anthony speaks carefully. “We’ll have surveillance on both residences.”
“That’s not enough.”
“It significantly lowers operational risk.”
“I don’t care about operational risk.”
Damien reaches for my hand. “Atlas.”
I look at him. He seems so calm right now, despite everything.
“I need this to end,” he says softly.
My chest tightens. “I know.”
“If Sebastian thinks something changed between us…” Damien exhales shakily. “Then Grace could become a target again.”
That shuts me up instantly.
Because he’s right.
And the horrifying part is that Damien is still willing to risk himself if it means my sister stays safe.
Agent Anthony stands. “I’ll bring the vehicle around,” he says quietly. “Take a few minutes to collect your things.”
Then he leaves the room.
The second the door shuts behind him, silence fills the hotel suite.
I turn toward Damien. “You shouldn’t have to do this.”
Damien gives me a tired little smile. “But I can. I will.”
That answer guts me. I move toward him until our bodies press together. Damien looks up at me.
Then I say the thing I desperately need him to understand before this gets harder. “I don’t love you because of what you sacrificed to keep us safe.”
Damien’s expression immediately shifts into something fragile and overwhelmed.
I cup his face gently. “I love you because you’re kind.”
His eyes start watering. “Atlas?—”
“I love you because you’re smart and funny and impossible.” My thumb brushes his cheek. “I love you because you still learned how to care for people even after how much you’ve been hurt.”
Damien’s cheeks flush pink.
“I love you because of who you are,” I whisper. “Not because of what you survive for other people.”
The tears finally spill over.
But this time he’s smiling, too.
Small.
Soft.
Beautiful.
Damien ducks his head slightly, like he doesn’t know what to do with that kind of love yet.
So he just nods once. “Thank you.”