Chapter 5: The Weight of a Debt and the Shape of a Trap
The room Damon gave her was different from the night before.
Larger.
A window that faced a courtyard instead of a wall.
A small desk.
A chair that was actually comfortable.
"You don't have to keep doing this," Nora said, standing in the doorway.
"I know." He set her bag down inside the room.
"Do you want coffee?"
She almost laughed.
"Yes."
They sat in a small kitchen two doors down the hall.
Mara had disappeared somewhere.
The building was quiet in the way that places with security tend to be — not empty, just controlled.
Damon put a cup in front of her and sat across the table.
"Tell me about Cameron," he said.
"Why?"
"Because he had someone watching your building within twelve hours of last night.
That's not a man who loses gracefully."
Nora wrapped her hands around the cup.
"He's a property developer.
Mid-level.
He has connections — city council, a few lawyers, a judge he golfs with." She paused.
"He's never been the most powerful person in any room.
But he's very good at finding the person who is and making himself useful to them."
"Useful how?"
"Information.
Introductions.
He knows things about people.
Keeps track." She looked at the table.
"I didn't understand what that meant when we first met.
I thought he was just well-connected."
"When did you understand?"
"When he used it on me." She said it flatly.
"He told me once that he had a conversation with my landlord — my old landlord, before I moved in with him.
He said it casually.
Like he was mentioning the weather.
But what he meant was: I know how to make your life difficult from a distance, and you'll never be able to prove it was me."
Damon was quiet for a moment.
"He'll come at you through something you care about," he said.
"That's the pattern."
"I know."
"Is there anything he can use?
Family, employment, anything public?"
Nora thought about it.
"My job.
I work at a legal aid office.
Small nonprofit.
Cameron donated to them two years ago — I didn't know until after.
He mentioned it once." She paused.
"He mentioned it once, which means he was making sure I knew he could mention it again."
Damon set his cup down.
"He donated to your employer."
"Enough to matter to their budget.
Not enough to be their biggest donor." She looked up.
"It was very carefully calculated."
"Of course it was." He wasn't surprised.
He was cataloguing.
A knock at the kitchen door.
Lev stepped in, tablet in hand.
"The car from this morning," Lev said.
"Plates are registered to a shell company.
Third layer in, it connects to a logistics firm Cameron's name appears in as a silent partner."
Nora stared at him.
"He had us followed from the apartment."
"From before the apartment," Lev said.
"The watcher at the building called it in when you arrived.
The car was already in position."
She set her coffee down.
Her hands were steady, which surprised her.
"He planned this," she said.
"He let me go back.
He wanted to see where I'd go."
"Yes," Damon said.
"Which means he knows I came here."
"He knows the street.
He doesn't know the building." Damon glanced at Lev.
"Yet."
Lev nodded and left.
Nora looked at Damon.
"I've put you in the middle of this."
"You sat on my lap in a nightclub," he said.
"We were in the middle of it by the second minute."
She almost smiled.
Almost.
"Cameron is going to find out who you are," she said.
"If he doesn't already know."
"He already knows," Damon said.
"He knew within an hour of leaving last night.
That's why he didn't push harder in the club — he went home and started calculating instead."
"And?"
"And now he's deciding whether I'm an obstacle or an opportunity." Damon picked up his cup again.
"Men like Cameron always try the second option first."
As if the building itself had been listening, Nora's new phone buzzed on the table.
Unknown number.
Different from Damon's.
She looked at it.
Then at Damon.
"Answer it," he said quietly.
She did.
Cameron's voice came through smooth and warm, like none of last night had happened.
"Nora, sweetheart.
I think we got off on the wrong foot.
I'd really love to sit down and talk — just the two of us.
Clear the air." A pause.
"Tell Mr.
Voss I said hello."
The line went d*ad.
Nora lowered the phone slowly.
He had her new number.
The number that was supposed to be untraceable.
The number that had been in existence for less than fourteen hours.
She looked at Damon.
His jaw was set.
His eyes had gone somewhere cold and precise.
"He has someone inside," Nora said.
Damon didn't answer.
May you like
But he picked up his own phone and said two words to whoever answered.
"Find them."
