Chapter 7 - The Car Across the Street
Marcus checked the front security camera.
A black sedan sat across the street with its engine running.
The license plate was partially covered.
Two men were inside.
Damian’s bodyguards moved into position around the boutique.
No weapons were drawn.
No customers were harmed.
The doors remained locked.
Katelyn felt the baby shift again.
She closed her eyes and breathed slowly.
Panic would not protect her child.
Damian turned toward her.
“We’re leaving through the service corridor.”
“No.”
His eyes sharpened.
“Katie.”
“I’m not getting into one of your cars while your family decides whether my child is convenient.”
“You think I would hand you over?”
“I don’t know what you would do.”
The words hurt him.
She saw it.
But fear mattered more than his pain.
Samuel spoke quietly.
“Her distrust is reasonable.”
Damian turned on him.
“You don’t speak to me about trust.”
“No. I lost that right.”
Natalia moved toward the door.
“I want to leave.”
Marcus blocked her.
“You remain here until we know who is outside.”
“You can’t detain me.”
Damian looked at her.
“You can leave.”
Marcus stepped aside.
Natalia stared at the front doors.
Then at the sedan across the street.
Her confidence vanished.
“What if they think I’m Katelyn?”
Damian’s expression stayed cold.
“Then perhaps you should tell us who they are.”
Natalia’s lips trembled.
“I only met one man.”
“Name.”
“Elliot Crane.”
Marcus looked toward Samuel.
Samuel nodded.
“Family council security.”
Damian’s jaw tightened.
Elliot Crane had attended Blackwood dinners.
He had shaken Damian’s hand at Vincent’s funeral.
He had smiled beside Natalia at charity galas.
All while tracking Katelyn.
Katelyn stared at Natalia.
“You gave him my medical information.”
“He said he was protecting Damian.”
“You knew they wanted me gone.”
“I didn’t know they would hurt you.”
“You accepted five million dollars.”
Natalia shouted, “I loved him!”
The boutique fell silent.
Katelyn’s eyes stayed steady.
“No. You wanted to win.”
Natalia’s face twisted.
Damian stepped closer to the window.
The sedan began moving.
Marcus spoke into his earpiece.
“Do not engage. Track only.”
Katelyn looked at him.
“Why aren’t you stopping them?”
“Because we need to know where they go.”
Damian turned toward Samuel.
“Play the confession.”
Marcus inserted the drive into the boutique office computer.
Vincent Blackwood’s face appeared on the screen.
Older.
Weaker.
Still commanding.
“If you are watching this,” he began, “then the child survived.”
Katelyn’s breath stopped.
Vincent had recorded the message knowing she was pregnant.
Three years ago.
May you like
Which meant the child he referred to might not be the baby she was carrying now.
👉 Vincent’s confession suggested Katelyn had been pregnant once before—and Damian had never been told what happened to that baby.
