Chapter 4 - The Crack in the Armor
Three months after the disappearance, Damian had turned his corporate headquarters into a command center. Maps of North America, Europe, and South America covered the glass walls of his private office.
He looked terrible. Dark circles shadowed his eyes, his hair was unkempt, and he had lost weight. He had cut all non-essential business ties, ignored multi-million dollar deals, and spent every waking hour reviewing surveillance footage from thousands of low-tier medical facilities across the continent.
Viktor entered the room nervously. "Boss... we found something."
Damian snapped his head up. "Speak."
"It’s not Mrs. Moreland’s location, but... it’s about Malcolm Reed. We tapped his secondary firm's encrypted servers. Three days before Mrs. Moreland disappeared, a payment of five hundred thousand dollars was moved through a shell corporation linked to a medical supply company in Burlington, Vermont."
Damian stood up, his eyes burning with renewed, terrifying focus. "Burlington."
"We're setting up a sweep team now—"
"No," Damian interrupted, his voice low and dangerous. "No teams. No weapons. No scenes. If she sees a tactical team, she’ll disappear again. I go alone."
"Boss, Julian Vance’s men have been trailing you," Viktor warned. "If you leave the city without a full security detail, you're walking into a target zone."
"I don't care," Damian snarled, grabbing his jacket. "Find me the exact coordinates of every off-grid property bought under that shell corporation in the last year."
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That night, as Damian boarded a private helicopter heading north, Sabrina Cole made a phone call.
"He found a lead," Sabrina whispered into her phone to Julian Vance. "He’s going to Vermont alone. If you want to take him down, this is your only chance."
