The Lie Hidden in Roses Chapter 10

The Lie Hidden in Roses Chapter 10 Damon Cross’s Badge

He looked older than he did in the photographs.

Most of his hair had gone gray, and time had cut deeper lines into his face. But his eyes had not changed. They were still sharp, bright, and unnerving, the kind of eyes that made you feel hunted before you even knew what you were afraid of.

“Maren Vale,” he said. “It’s been a long time.”

His voice was almost kind, as if he had come for a family reunion instead of walking into an apartment designed to trap me.

“Uncle Damon.”

I straightened my back and raised my chin, refusing to let him see how badly my pulse was shaking through

“I used to hold you when you were a baby,” he said. “Hard to believe you’re standing here now, all grown up.

He stepped inside and shut the door behind him.

This time, he did not lock it.

Somehow, that did not make me feel safer.

I knew better than to bolt. Damon Cross had been trained in law enforcement, and even if age had taken something from him, I doubted I could beat him to the stairs. Besides, if he had brought me here, there was no reason to believe he had come alone. For all I knew, the entire building was already covered.

“Did you leave these for me?” I asked.

I held up the photographs and angled my phone’s flashlight directly into his face.

Damon glanced at the pictures, then gave a faint smile.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because you were getting too close to things that should have stayed buried.”

“My father’s death?”

His smile disappeared.

“Your father was a good officer,” he said. “But what happened to him was an accident.”

“Then why have you been following my mother and me?”

“To keep you alive.”

“to keep us alive?”

A cold laugh escaped me and echoed through the empty apartment.

“You sent someone to wear my boyfriend’s face, and you expect me to call that protection?”

For a few seconds, Damon said nothing.

Then he reached into his coat, pulled out an ID, and handed it to me.

I looked down.

Federal Security Bureau.

Damon Cross.

My breath caught in my throat.

“The operation your father was involved in was never just about drugs,” Damon said. “It reached much deeper than that. Cross-border infiltration, compromised officials, foreign assets embedded inside our own system. The mission collapsed, but the investigation never truly ended.

“Now, fifteen years later, those people are moving again. They know you are Captain Vale’s daughter, and they believe you can lead them to something your father hid before he died.”

“What did he hide?”

“A file,” Damon said. “A critical one. Before your father was killed, he concealed evidence that named every mole tied to that operation, along with the foreign network backing them. That evidence is somewhere close to you.”

A thin ringing started in my ears.

“I don’t know anything about a file.”

“No,” he said. “You don’t. But they do not believe that.”

Damon took the ID back and slipped it into his coat.

“That is why we have kept eyes on you from a distance all these years. And Rowan was not brought into your life by chance. He was working with us.”

It felt as if something closed around my heart and squeezed.

So

So Rowan had not simply walked into my life.

None of it had been random.

“Where is he now?” I asked.

Damon’s face darkened.

He was taken.”

The words struck harder than I wanted them to.

“Three days ago, Rowan followed a lead near the Frostline Border. Someone made him before he could get out. We lost contact with him after that. Not long afterward, the impostor appeared in front of you.”

“Who is he?”

“Most likely someone connected to the Black Meridian Cartel. Their objective is simple. They want you to find the evidence for them.”

“Is Rowan alive?”

“I don’t know.”

He answered immediately, without softening it, without trying to make it easier to hear.

“But I do know this. If you refuse to cooperate with them, Rowan has almost no chance of surviving

I closed my eyes and forced myself to breathe through the pressure tightening in my chest.

When I opened them again, the fear was still there, but it had turned into something harder and colder.

“They want the evidence,” I said. “Then I’ll make them believe I’m willing to help. I’ll draw them out.”

“No,” Damon said. “That is too dangerous.”

“Rowan was taken because of me. I’m not going to stand here and do nothing.”

Damon studied me for a long moment, his expression caught between concern and something that looked painfully close to recognition.

“You really are your father’s daughter.”

I gave him a humorless smile.

“Then help me, Uncle Damon.”

“What do you need?”

“Find out who the impostor is. I want his real name, his background, and whoever is giving him orders.”

“And after that?”

“Then I make him tell me where Rowan is.”