Not of Damian.

Of the truth.

Damian understood before I did.

His voice dropped.

"Victor."

Victor shook his head.

"Don't."

"What did you do?"

"I didn't kill Daniil."

"Then why falsify his death?"

Victor stepped forward.

"Because he came back."

Damian stared at him.

"When?"

"Five years ago."

My heart pounded.

Lila had been born four years ago.

Victor continued.

"He contacted me."

"Why you?"

"Because he remembered me."

Damian's face crumpled.

Victor's eyes shone with something complicated.

"He remembered all of us."

"Why didn't he contact me?"

"Because he was afraid you had become our father."

The words struck Damian harder than a fist could have.

He sat down heavily on the edge of the boat.

Victor's voice softened.

"He wanted nothing from the family."

"Then why contact you?"

"Because someone had found him."

"Who?"

Victor looked toward Dr.

Shaw.

She whispered, "Your father."

Damian's eyes widened.

"Our father died nine years ago."

Victor looked at him.

"No, Damian."

The rain continued falling.

Marcus gripped the dock railing.

Victor said it again.

"Our father is alive."

No one moved.

Damian slowly lifted his face.

Victor's voice was barely audible now.

"And he's the reason I poisoned you."

The revelation seemed too large for the night.

Damian stared at Victor.

"You expect me to believe you were saving me?"

"No."

Victor's eyes filled with exhausted anger.

"I was trying to weaken you before he came back."

"Why?"

"Because as long as you controlled the organization, he needed you dead."

Damian's expression changed.

"And if you controlled it?"

Victor nodded once.

"He would negotiate."

Marcus swore under his breath.

I could barely follow.

"You were poisoning your brother to protect him from your father?"

Victor laughed sadly.

"When you say it aloud, it sounds even worse."

"It is worse."

Victor looked at Damian.

"I planned to make you sick enough to step down."

"You said I was supposed to die three weeks ago."

Victor flinched.

"I was angry."

"With a gun in your hand."

"I know."

Victor lowered his gaze.

"I crossed lines I thought I could control."

Dr.

Shaw spoke quietly.

"The original plan was not fatal."

Damian looked at her.

"You don't get to reassure me."

She accepted that.

"No."

A distant engine sounded from the road.

Marcus looked uphill.

"Someone else is coming."

Victor's face changed instantly.

"Turn off the boathouse lights."

Marcus reached for the switch.

Darkness swallowed us.

Only the rain and gray water remained visible.

Victor hurried toward the boat.

"Get him out of here."

Damian stared at him.

"Who is coming?"

Victor looked toward the mansion.

Then back at his brother.

"Our father."

Damian seemed unable to breathe.

Victor stepped closer.

"He knows about Lila."

Every protective instinct in me ignited.

"How?"

Victor looked at the documents.

"Because those tests weren't ordered by Dr.

Shaw."

She stared at him.

"What?"

Victor's voice dropped.

"They were sent to her."

Dr.

Shaw went pale.

"By whom?"

Victor looked into the darkness beyond the trees.

A second pair of headlights appeared.

Then a third.

"By the man who has been searching for Daniil's daughter since the day she was born."

I pulled Lila against me.

Damian stood despite his weakness.

Something terrifying returned to his face, but this time it was not the expression of a criminal king defending his throne.

It was the expression of an uncle looking at the last child his lost brother had left behind.

"Marcus," he said.

"Take Emily and Lila across the bay."

Marcus nodded.

"What about you?"

Damian looked at Victor.

Then at the approaching lights.

"I am going to meet my father."

"No," I said.

He turned.

"You can barely stand."

"Then he'll underestimate me."

"You don't know what he wants."

Damian looked toward Lila.

"Yes, I do."

He reached into the boat and picked up Mr.

Rabbit.

He held it for one second.

Then he handed it back to her.

Lila hugged it.

Damian crouched with enormous difficulty so their eyes were level.

He did not know enough sign language to say what he wanted.

So he simply pointed at himself, then at her, then brought his hands together awkwardly.

Family.

Lila understood.

Her face brightened.

She touched his cheek.

Then she signed.

Come with us.

I translated.

Damian closed his eyes.

When he opened them, whatever decision he had intended to make was gone.

He stepped into the boat.

Victor stared at him.

"Damian."

"You too."

Victor blinked.

"What?"

"You caused this."

Damian sat heavily.

"You don't get to die dramatically and avoid explaining it."

Despite everything, Victor gave a startled laugh.

Marcus started the engine.

The sound roared across the water.

Victor looked once toward the mansion.

Then he climbed aboard.

Dr.

Shaw hesitated.

I looked at her.

"If you know what poison was used, you're coming."

She boarded.

Marcus pushed us away from the dock.

Behind us, dark figures reached the shoreline.

Someone shouted.

Damian looked back at Grayhaven House.

Lightning illuminated the mansion against the black sky.

His entire life was inside those walls.

His power.

His secrets.

His enemies.

His memories.

Then he looked at Lila sitting beside him in her wet blue princess dress.

She was holding her rabbit beneath her chin.

She reached across the seat and took his hand.

Damian slowly closed his fingers around hers.

The boat turned toward the far shore.

For several minutes, no one spoke.

Then Victor's phone buzzed.

He looked at the screen.

His face went white.

Damian noticed.

"What?"

Victor handed him the phone.

A message had appeared from an unknown number.

It contained a photograph.

The picture had been taken less than a minute earlier.

It showed our boat crossing the dark water.

Beneath the image were seven words.

BRING ME MY GRANDDAUGHTER, AND YOU LIVE.

Damian stared at the message.

Then another arrived.

This one contained an old photograph.

Three boys stood together beside a stern-looking man.

Damian.

Victor.

And between them, a smiling older boy I recognized immediately.

Daniel.

My Daniel.

Lila's father.

Damian looked at me.

But I was staring at the final line beneath the photograph.

VICTOR NEVER TOLD YOU HOW DANIIL REALLY DIED.

I slowly raised my eyes.

Victor was watching me.

And the terror in his face told me the message was true.

Click the NEXT button at the bottom of the page to read the next part.