Chapter 1 - The False Priest
"At being a priest," Clara whispered through the wooden screen.
Damian heard the soft rustle of her coat as she stood up.
"Wait," he said sharply, abandoning his hushed tone.
The sound of her footsteps paused.
"I am not a priest," Damian confessed, the truth slipping out before he could stop it.
He heard a sharp intake of breath from the other side of the lattice.
"Then who are you?" she asked, her voice trembling with sudden fear.
"Someone who can actually help you," Damian replied.
He pushed the confessional door open and stepped out into the dim light of the church.
But the opposite booth was already empty.
Clara Whitmore had run away.
Damian walked over to the side she had occupied and looked down at the wooden bench.
She had left something behind in her panic.
It was a small, silver flash drive resting on the polished wood.
Damian scooped it up and slid it into the pocket of his six-thousand-dollar suit.
He pulled out his phone and dialed his head of security.
"I need everything you can find on a Martin Hale and his son, Preston," Damian ordered.
"Right away, boss," his security chief replied.
Damian walked out of the church, his mind racing with possibilities.
He plugged the flash drive into his encrypted laptop as soon as he reached the back of his armored SUV.
The files were exactly what Clara had claimed they were.
They contained undeniable proof of Preston Hale tampering with legal documents to frame Walter Bennett.
But as Damian scrolled deeper into the hidden folders, his blood ran cold.
Preston was not just altering housing disputes.
He was using the nonprofit legal center to launder millions of dollars in untraceable cash.
And the account receiving the laundered money belonged to the Romanov syndicate.
Damian’s phone buzzed with an incoming text from his security chief.
"Boss, we found Clara Whitmore's address."
"But you have a problem."
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Damian stared at the screen, his jaw tightening.
"Two black vans just pulled up to her apartment building, and the men getting out are carrying suppressed weapons."
