Chapter 54 It All Made Sense Now

Chapter 54 It All Made Sense Now
Damian's POV

The drive from the restaurant to McKay Enterprises was painfully quiet. Not because there wasn't anything to say. There was too much. Emily sat in the backseat beside Courtney, staring out the window while trying—and failing—to keep herself together. Courtney had her arm wrapped around her shoulders the entire ride. Neither woman spoke. Neither needed to. I drove. And for the first time in a very long time, I found myself gripping the steering wheel hard enough that my knuckles turned white.

Felicia Ardent had crossed a line. No. She had obliterated it. Threatening my family was one thing. Approaching my father was another. But if she had somehow played a role in what happened to Sean Carter. My jaw tightened. I wasn't sure there would be any coming back from that. The elevator ride to the executive floor was equally silent. When the doors opened, Bella and Portia were already waiting. The moment Bella spotted Emily's face, she stood.
"Oh God..."

Emily didn't even make it halfway into the office. She collapsed onto one of the sofas. Courtney immediately sat beside her. Pulling her close. Supporting her weight. Protecting her from falling apart completely. Portia quietly brought over a bottle of water while Bella knelt beside the coffee table.
"What happened?" Bella asked softly.
Emily rubbed both hands over her face. For a few moments she couldn't speak. Finally—
"My brother." The words cracked. "He was attacked."

The entire room went still. Bella blinked.
"What?"
Emily inhaled shakily.
"Dad and Sean had just finished practice." Her voice trembled. "They were leaving when a group of men approached them."
Courtney's arm tightened around her shoulders. Emily swallowed hard.
"Sean thought they were targeting Dad."
The room was silent enough to hear a pin drop.
"So he stepped in front of him."

My stomach sank. Because I already knew where this was going. Emily closed her eyes.
"They beat him."
Portia covered her mouth. Bella visibly paled. Emily's voice broke completely.
"He never even had a chance."
Nobody spoke. Nobody moved.
"He just kept trying to protect Dad." Tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Peter saw them when he was heading to his car." A sigh escaped Emily's lips.
"Peter got there first. Then he called an ambulance for Sean. God if he hadn't been there...."

Courtney looked up.
"He stayed with Sean at the hospital?"
Emily nodded again. "He saved his life."
The room fell silent. The only sound was Emily trying to breathe through her grief. Then—
My phone rang. Every head turned. I looked at the screen. Peter.

Immediately I answered and put the call on speaker.
"Talk to me."
The line was silent for a moment. Never a good sign. Then Peter exhaled.
"He made it through surgery."
Relief washed through the room instantly. Briefly. Then Peter continued.
"But there's swelling around the brain."
My stomach dropped.
"What are they doing?"
"They've placed him in a medically induced coma."

Silence. Heavy. Crushing. I closed my eyes briefly.
"Damn it."
Across the room, Emily had heard enough. She broke. Completely. A sob tore from her chest. Courtney immediately pulled her into a fierce embrace. Emily buried her face against her shoulder and cried. Hard. Uncontrollably. The sight made something dark settle inside me. Because Courtney's eyes met mine over Emily's shoulder. And the fury in them—
Christ. I had rarely seen her look like that. Not even after her own injuries. Not even after Felicia's previous attacks. This was different. Someone innocent had paid the price. Someone completely outside this war. And Courtney looked ready to burn the world down because of it.

I understood the feeling. I ended the call and slipped the phone back into my pocket. Peter would stay at the hospital. For now. Someone needed to be there for the Carter family. Bella slowly stood.
"There might be something."
My attention shifted. "What did you find?"
Bella glanced toward Portia. The sisters exchanged a look. One I immediately recognized. Hesitation. Uncertainty. Concern. That wasn't good.

Portia walked toward the conference table and placed several folders in front of me.
"These were in Dad's private storage boxes."
I opened the first. Financial records. Offshore accounts. Shell corporations. Transfers. Millions. My jaw tightened. Peter Ramsey had been hiding a lot more than anyone realized. Bella folded her arms.
"Most of it ties back to companies connected to Ardent Global."
Not surprising. But still useful. I flipped through page after page. Numbers. Transactions. Locations. Names. Enough information to bury multiple executives. Maybe entire boards. Then Bella pushed another box forward.
"This is the strange part."

I looked up. "What is?"
"The second box." She swallowed. "It wasn't financial."
I frowned. "What was it?"
Portia answered quietly. "Felicia."
That got everyone's attention. Even Emily looked up.
Bella nodded. "There are newspaper articles, photographs, school records, background reports."

I stared at her.
"Why would your father keep a file on Felicia Ardent?"
Bella laughed humorlessly. "We wondered the same thing, and then Portia began flipping through everything."
I opened the box. The amount of information inside was staggering. Decades worth. Every achievement. Every company acquisition. Every public appearance. Every known associate. Someone had spent years tracking her. Obsessively. Methodically. Like they were watching her grow up. My stomach twisted. Something about that wasn't right.

Then Bella spoke again. "There was one more thing."
I looked up. Immediately noticing the tension in both sisters. Portia looked uncomfortable. Bella looked worried. Neither was a reaction I liked.
"What?" I asked.
Portia reached into the box and withdrew a white file. Medical. Official. Stamped. The kind of document people usually hid. Not archived. My pulse slowed. Dangerously.
"What's in it?"
Neither answered immediately. Bella looked at her sister. Portia looked back. Finally Bella exhaled.
"We weren't sure if we should show anyone. We sort of thought he was sick or something. But...."

The room had become completely silent. Even Emily stopped crying. Everyone watching. Waiting. Bella slid the file toward me.
"Open it."
I did. The first page was old. Very old. A medical intake form. The second page contained genetic information. The third—
My eyes narrowed. I flipped back. Then forward again. Reading it twice. Three times. Making sure I wasn't misunderstanding what I was seeing. Because there was no way. Absolutely no way.
Slowly—

I looked up. Bella's expression told me everything. She already knew. She had seen it too. My voice came out lower than intended.
"You're sure this is authentic?"
Bella nodded.
"As far as we can tell."
Portia crossed her arms.
"Dad's signature is on the receipt at the back."
Nobody spoke. Nobody breathed. Courtney finally broke the silence.
"What is it?"

I looked toward her. Then toward Emily. Then back to the pages in my hands. The implications crashed through my head all at once. Peter Ramsey. Felicia Ardent. Decades of secrets. Years of surveillance. Obsession. Money. Protection. Cover-ups. Suddenly pieces started fitting together. Horrifying pieces. Bella swallowed. Then finally said the words none of us wanted to say out loud.
"We think..." Her voice faltered. Portia looked away. Bella forced herself to continue.
"We think Felicia Ardent is our half-sister."
The room exploded into silence. The kind of silence so complete it felt deafening. Courtney stared. Emily blinked. Portia closed her eyes. And I simply sat there, staring at the file in my hands as an entirely new possibility rewrote everything we thought we knew. Because if Bella was right—

Then this had never been about corporate espionage alone. It had never been about business. Or money. Or power. It was something far more dangerous. Something far more personal. And suddenly, Felicia Ardent's obsession with Peter Ramsey. With the McKay family. With all of us...
Made a terrifying amount of sense