Chapter 123 Chapter 123
Damien’s POV
I followed Hailey as she stormed through the house, her anger radiating off her in waves. She was moving fast, determined, and I knew trying to stop her would only make things worse.
We reached Barbara’s room, and Hailey didn’t bother knocking. She just pushed the door open and walked in.
Barbara stood near her bed, surrounded by half-packed suitcases and bags. She looked up when we entered, her expression shifting from calm to defensive.
“Hailey….”Barbara started.
“Why are you suddenly leaving?” Hailey demanded, her voice shaking with emotion. “You promised to be here for me. For your grandchild. And now you’re just packing up and going without even talking to me about it?”
“I’m sorry,” Barbara said, her voice quiet but firm. “I know I promised. But I can’t stay here anymore.”
“Can’t or won’t?” Hailey challenged.
“Both,” Barbara admitted. She set down the shirt she’d been folding and moved closer to Hailey. “Baby, I love you. And I love that grandchild growing inside you. But this place, this life it’s not safe. I can’t keep living in constant fear, wondering if today is the day we get attacked again.”
“So you’re just abandoning me,” Hailey said, tears starting to stream down her face.
“I’m not abandoning you,” Barbara said, reaching for her daughter’s hand. “I’ll regularly check up on you. Call you every day if you want. But I need to leave before something worse happens.”
I stood near the door, feeling like an intruder in this private moment, but also needing to understand what was driving Barbara’s decision.
“Barbara,” I said, drawing her attention. “If this is about security, I can increase your protection. Add more guards specifically for you. Whatever you need to feel safe.”
Barbara looked at me with something like pity in her eyes. “It’s not just about security, Damien. Though that’s part of it.”
She reached into her bag and pulled out her phone, scrolling through something before holding it up for me to see.
It was a photograph. Anthony Morelli, unmistakable with his distinctive features, standing next to the district chief of police. Both men were smiling, shaking hands, clearly at some kind of official event and my blood ran cold.
“Where did you get this?” I demanded.
“It’s public,” Barbara said.
I stared at the photo, feeling the ground shift beneath me. Anthony Morelli. With the district chief. Not just any officer, but the man who oversaw the entire district’s law enforcement.
“Your influence may be slipping,” Barbara said quietly. “The Morellis keep gaining ground. They’re embedding themselves deeper into legitimate institutions, making alliances with people who should be neutral. And meanwhile, you’re here, hiding in a safehouse, reacting to their moves instead of making your own.”
The words stung because they were true.
“Moreover,” Barbara continued, her voice softening, “Benita needs help recovering. Real help. Professional help, away from all the trauma and reminders. And honestly, so does Hailey. But Hailey is blinded by love, by her commitment to you and this baby. She won’t leave even though she should.”
“Mom…” Hailey started to protest.
“It’s true,” Barbara said firmly. “You’re so focused on making this work with Damien, on being the perfect partner, on protecting this baby in an impossible situation, that you can’t see how much danger you’re actually in.”
She turned back to me. “We’re leaving tomorrow morning. Benita and I. We’ve already made arrangements.”
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“Somewhere quite,” Barbara said.
“And Hailey?” I asked, looking at my girlfriend’s tear-stained face.
“Hailey can come with us,” Barbara said, and I heard both hope and resignation in her voice. “That’s what I wanted to discuss with you. Whether you’d let her go. Whether you’d release her from this… arrangement.”
“I’m not keeping her prisoner,” I said, my voice harder than I intended. “Hailey can leave anytime she wants. She always could.”
“Could she?” Barbara challenged. “With your baby growing inside her?”
“That’s not fair… I started.
“None of this is fair,” Barbara interrupted. “But it’s reality. And the reality is that something big is coming. I can feel it. Call it mother’s instinct, call it paranoia, call it whatever you want. But I know in my bones that we’re headed toward something catastrophic. And I don’t want to be here when it happens.”
She looked at Hailey with such love and fear that it made my chest ache.
“You always doubt me, Barbara,” I said, my voice harder than I intended. “From the moment Hailey got involved with me, you’ve questioned everything I do.”
Barbara’s eyes flashed with anger. “I would have no reasons to doubt you if you hadn’t entangled yourself with my husband and gotten him killed.”
The words hung in the air like a bomb that had just detonated.
I stared at her, completely confused. “What are you talking about?”
“You didn’t know him,” Barbara said, her voice shaking. “But your world killed him. The same world you’re dragging my daughter into.”
“Barbara, I don’t understand…” I started.
“My husband once worked for the Morellis,” Barbara said, the words coming out like a confession she’d been holding onto for years. “As their financial accountant. He kept their books, tracked their money laundering, documented all their shady schemes.”
I felt like the ground was shifting beneath me. Heiley’s father had worked for the Morellis?
“He was gathering evidence,” Barbara continued, tears streaming down her face now. “Taking tabs on everything illegal they were doing. He was going to expose them, bring them down from the inside.”
“And?” I prompted, though I already knew this story didn’t have a happy ending.
“On one of his investigations, he went to Elena’s jewelry shop,” Barbara said, and I felt my blood run cold. “Your wife’s shop. He was tracking a piece of stolen property the Morellis were trying to fence. And that same night, an accident took his life.”
I stared at her, my mind racing. Heiley’s father had been at Elena’s shop the night she died? Or around that time?
“When?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
“Yes,” Barbara said. “The same time your wife died. Thomas went to that shop and never came home. They found his body two days later.”