Chapter 306

Chapter 306
The room was quiet except for the soft ticking of the clock on Lucas’ wall. Damian sat forward in the leather chair, elbows on his knees, palms pressed together. Serene sat beside Sia on the couch, her hand gently rubbing the little girl’s back.
Sia swung her legs nervously. She wasn’t afraid—just unsure. Damian’s presence filled the room; his aura was heavy, tired, but burning with something barely contained.
“Sia,” Serene coaxed softly, “baby, tell him what you told me last night.”
Sia swallowed. Her bright eyes flicked up at Damian, studying him like she was still trying to decide if he was safe.
“I… I have dreams,” she began quietly.
Damian leaned in.
“What kind of dreams?” His voice was deep but gentle.
Sia held her fingers together. “Dreams about… wolves.”
Serene stiffened. Damian’s jaw clenched.
Sia continued, voice barely above a whisper. “Big wolves. Running. Fighting. And—and I hear my name. Not Anna. Not the names my adopted parents gave me. My real one. Sia.” She looked up again. “It’s like someone is calling me… someone who sounds sad.”
Damian’s heartbeat thudded once, painfully.
She went on, words tumbling out now. “I told my first adopted parents when I was seven. After that they—they acted different. Scared. They didn’t want me near the other kids. And sometimes they would whisper on the phone.”
Serene touched her shoulder. “This part, tell him exactly how you told me.”
Sia nodded. “I heard them say your name.”
Damian’s eyes widened. “My name?”
She nodded again. “Damian.”
“And another name… De Luca.”
The air left Damian’s lungs like a punch.
He stood so fast the chair legs scraped the floor. Lucas froze at his desk. Serene instinctively shifted, pulling Sia a little closer as Damian paced once, twice, the rage building under his skin like a storm.
“De Luca,” he repeated, voice low and dark. “De Luca was involved?”
Sia blinked. “I—don’t know. They said it on the phone. They sounded scared. And angry. And… they said something about ‘moving her again.’ That was before they transferred me to the next house.”
Damian stopped walking.
His hands curled into fists, knuckles white.
“That bastard,” he breathed. “He knew.”
Serene watched him carefully. “Damian—”
“He knew all this time!” Damian roared, slamming his hand against Lucas’ desk.
Lucas flinched. Even Sia jumped.
Damian turned, eyes burning with something primal—rage mixed with heartbreak, mixed with the bitter taste of betrayal.
“I spared his life,” he spat. “After everything he did—after he forced Seraphine on me, after he tried to chain my future with his family—I still let him walk away.” His voice dropped into a dangerous growl. “And all along he had a hand in my daughter being moved from home to home like cargo?”
Serene stood slowly. “Damian, breathe.”
“No,” he snapped, then softened instantly when he saw Sia’s frightened eyes. He crouched in front of her, voice gentler. “I’m not angry at you, sweetheart. Never at you.”
Sia nodded, but her fingers twisted together again.
Damian inhaled, trying—barely—to calm himself. Then he straightened and turned to Lucas.
“Lucas.”
“Yes, sir.” Lucas stood.
“Trace De Luca.”
Lucas blinked. “Sir?”
Damian’s voice was ice.
“Trace every movement, contact, transaction, and associate. If he farted in the last five years, I want to know. I want his location in real time. I want everything. He was behind this—either through Mark, that bastard who sold my daughter like a commodity… or he’s always known where she was.”
Lucas nodded instantly and turned toward his screens.
Damian reached for his phone.
Serene’s eyes widened. “Damian—what are you doing now?”
“Calling in every resource I have,” he said sharply. “Sometimes it’s a mistake to show mercy.”
He dialed. His voice dropped dangerously low.
“Find De Luca. Today.”
He hung up and exhaled, but nothing about him relaxed.
Sia stared at him quietly from the couch. She didn’t know him yet—didn’t know the past, the betrayals, the bloodlines, the war that had been built around her existence. But she watched him with wide eyes… and something like recognition flickered there.
Like part of her had always known she’d see him one day.
Damian finally turned back toward her. Slowly. Carefully. As if approaching a dream that could vanish if he moved too fast.
“Sia,” he said softly, voice cracking.
Her fingers stilled.
“I’m going to fix this,” he whispered. “No one will move you again. No one will take you again.”
And Sia—for the first time—believed him.