Chapter 5 - The Crescent Moon
Damian’s hand began to shake. The terrifying mafia boss, a man who had faced down rival cartels without blinking, felt his entire universe violently tilt on its axis.
He slowly lowered his silk handkerchief. With agonizing precision, his trembling fingers reached out and gently brushed against the platinum crescent moon resting on the little girl's chest. Even covered in grime, the unmistakable engraving of the climbing ivy was absolute proof.
"Where..." Damian choked out, his deep voice barely a whisper, completely stripped of its lethal authority. "Where did you get this?"
The little girl swallowed her bite of cake. She looked down at the locket, then back up at Damian with her enormous, expressive eyes.
"My mommy put it on me," the little girl whispered innocently, wiping her dirty nose with the back of her hand. "She said it would keep me safe when the bad lady came to take me away to the dark basement."
The words hit Damian with the kinetic force of a freight train.
His daughter hadn't burned in the fire. His wife had known someone was coming for them. She had hidden the locket on the child before the flames engulfed the estate.
Damian’s eyes violently snapped upward, scanning the dirty face of the child. Beneath the mud, beneath the matted brown wavy hair, he saw the exact shape of his late wife’s eyes. He saw the familiar curve of his own jawline. He was looking directly at his own flesh and blood.
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He was looking at his daughter, Mia.
👉 Damian realized his child had been alive this entire time, but the identity of the "bad lady" was about to trigger an apocalyptic rage.
