Over the past week, I had begun to process everything that had happened. All of the questions I had been searching for were answered. I finally had the closure I had looked for throughout the years. Now that Richard was dead and the truth was revealed, I no longer had to hide who I was. I could finally be me again. The only thing that was missing was Damian. I was desperate to know if anyone had found him, but Tyler only said he was waiting on news. I didn’t know if that meant he was still looking into it or he was trying to shield me from the truth.
Tyler’s cell buzzed, bringing me out of my thoughts. He grabbed it off the side table and looked at the screen before turning to me.
“I need to step out for a minute. Want me to put him down?”
I nodded, my arm growing tired.
I gave Charlie a kiss on the forehead and allowed Tyler to place him in his crib beside me.
“I’ll be right back,” Tyler said as he headed toward the door. Just as he was about to walk outside, he glanced over his shoulder. “I love you, Mrs. Burnham.”
I smiled. “And I love you. Now hurry back. I miss you already.” I closed my eyes and enjoyed the momentary break from visitors.
What seemed like seconds later, the door opened once more and Tyler walked in, a man who was about six-foot with dark scraggly hair and medium build following. I met his eyes through his glasses and gasped, wishing I could get out of my hospital bed and run. But I was still sore, and probably couldn’t make it more than a few steps without needing to take a break.
“Damian?” I said in bewilderment, almost not believing my eyes. For years after I was forced to leave North Carolina, I had dreamt of the day we would be reunited. He was my best friend, my first love. It had been nearly two decades. We had both grown and matured, but I saw the same little boy who used to look at the stars with me.
“Hey, Fi,” he said, gently wrapping his arms around me.
“How did you know I’d be–”
“I told him,” Tyler interrupted and we both turned to him. “The night you were…” He trailed off, taking a deep breath. “Well, Eli found the iPad Richard had at the scene. Maxwell was able to run a trace on where the camera feed was coming from and, although it was being bounced off a dozen different satellites, he finally isolated it and we found him.”
Damian looked down on me and grabbed my hand in his. “I’m so sorry, Fi. You have to understand. I didn’t want anything to do with what that sick bastard was planning, but I didn’t have a choice. He threatened to kill everyone close to me, including you. After I saw what he did to my parents and how they set Charlie up, I just couldn’t take that risk. I never meant for all of those people to get hurt, but I just couldn’t let anything happen to you.”
“How did you know Charlie?”
“Through a mutual acquaintance. I had confided in a friend about you and how I couldn’t shake the feeling you were still alive, but even after using my access at the FBI to locate you, I was coming up empty. He put me in touch with Charlie, saying he could usually see between the lines and find things that aren’t there. In no time at all, he found you. I was thrilled, but Charlie warned me it could be disastrous if I approached you because someone could put the pieces together. I didn’t know what he was talking about, but he made me promise to be patient while he tried to figure things out. Then he was locked up and I couldn’t shake the feeling it had something to do with what I had asked him to look into, so I kept my distance, not wanting anything to happen to you.”
I nodded. “But it all caught up to you, didn’t it?”
“I wasn’t tracked down because I asked Charlie to help.”
“It was your father,” I muttered, recalling Richard’s confession.
“I suppose this guy wanted to make sure my dad didn’t stray too far from the plan and he used me as a guarantee. I don’t know how he figured it out, but he knew about my…computer skills.”
“You mean hacking?” I raised my eyebrows.
He shrugged. “More or less. One day, as I was leaving work and heading to the gym, my car was pushed off the road and into a ditch. The next thing I remember was waking up in a cold cement room, chained to the wall. Two days later, my father joined me. I hadn’t seen him in years and, at first, I didn’t believe it was him. He didn’t look like the man I remembered him to be. Hell, I thought he was dead. When I heard his voice, I knew it was him, despite how he had changed his appearance for whatever deep cover job he was on. He told me everything… How he had been blackmailed into killing your father. How he planned the embassy attack to do just that, never expecting him to make it out of the fire. How he planted evidence to cover up all the deals so no one caught on. How relieved he was when his superiors signed off on the results of his investigation that your dad was responsible. How things started spinning out of control once Charlie began to ask questions. How he followed him one night, saw him with your mother, and grew concerned all over again that someone would figure it all out. How he had Charlie locked up and did nothing when Richard planned to kill your mother.
“He told me he jumped at the opportunity the CIA gave him to go under deep cover. He was scared for us, and for himself. This gave him an out and he took it, disappearing from my life and leaving me with a thousand questions…and a thousand more when he showed up that day in that cold cement room. He said he had tried to make amends, had told Richard he was done and was going to turn himself in. Apparently, that didn’t go over too well.” He swallowed hard, closing his eyes. “Two days later, my father was gone, and I knew he was…”
“Damian, I’m–”
“This guy kept me down there for what seemed like an eternity,” he interrupted. “I was under constant surveillance. He had me use what I knew to look into anything and everything, to use my skills to plant evidence, incriminating certain people in crimes I’m certain he committed. Sick of being there, I tried to send a message to someone one day about where I was and what was going on. Hell, I had all these computers in front of me. I was done living in fear.”
“Who did you try to send a message to?”
“My mother.”
I nodded, briefly closing my eyes.
“It’s my fault she’s gone,” he admitted, a quiver in his voice. “I was stupid and didn’t think about the repercussions. I was valuable to this guy. He needed me, but that didn’t mean he was willing for me to get away with what I had done. So, the following day, he placed a newspaper on the floor in front of me. The headline announced my mother’s and her new husband’s death. From that day forward, I did everything asked of me, not wanting this guy to get to anyone else I cared about, including you.”
“It’s okay,” Tyler said, giving Damian a sympathetic look. “No one here could have done anything to stop this. You did what you had to in order to survive.”
He nodded, squeezing my hand. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”
“And I’m glad you never stopped trying to find me.”
“Never,” he said. “Like I told you all those years ago, it would take a hell of a lot more than just new orders to tear us apart.”
He wrapped his arms around me and I relished in his embrace for the first time in nearly two decades. I met Tyler’s eyes, a satisfied smile on his face. Everything had come full circle. All my prayers had finally been answered. That was the moment I learned to never give up hope. I had shielded myself for years, remembering how alone I felt when I was younger, wishing upon a star and praying to whomever would listen. I thought all those prayers and wishes had gone unanswered, but that wasn’t the case at all. They were just waiting until I needed them to be answered.