Chapter 204: Chapter 205: He’s Back
MARCUS’S POV - BLACKWOOD ENTERPRISES
Marcus had been reviewing security protocols for the upcoming week when his phone rang with Mei Chen’s number. He’d saved it months ago—standard procedure for anyone closely connected to people under his protection.
He answered immediately.
"Ms. Chen? This is Marcus. Is everything alright?"
The woman’s voice was steady but he could hear the effort that steadiness was costing her. "Marcus. I have been trying to call Aria but she is not picking up. I need to speak with her and with Damien. Right now. It’s urgent."
Marcus was already standing, already moving toward Damien’s office. "What’s happened, Ms. Chen?"
"Aria’s biological father....he has been watching Aria. Following her. He sent me a photograph of her leaving the hospital. He’s been surveilling her for three days without her knowledge." Mei’s voice cracked slightly on the last sentence. "He’s in New York, Marcus. And he knows her routine."
Marcus stopped walking and stood very still for exactly two seconds.....long enough to process the information, short enough that it didn’t register as hesitation.
"Stay inside your apartment, Ms. Chen. Lock your door. Don’t open it for anyone except Miss Aria or Boss or someone I personally send to you. Do you understand?"
"Yes. But please....please find Aria first. Make sure she’s safe."
"I’m on it right now. Stay on the line."
Marcus pushed open Damien’s office door without knocking....something he only did in genuine emergencies. Damien looked up from his desk with sharp eyes that immediately read Marcus’s expression.
"What?" Damien said, already rising from his chair.
"Miss Aria’s biological father. He’s been surveilling Miss Chen for three days. Has photographs of her leaving the hospital. Ms. Mei just received them." Marcus held up his phone so Damien could hear Mei’s breathing on the other end. "He’s in New York and he knows her routine."
The temperature in the office seemed to drop ten degrees.
Damien’s expression didn’t shift dramatically.....didn’t crumple with panic or explode with rage. It simply went very, very still in the way that Marcus had learned to recognize as far more dangerous than any outward display of emotion.
"Where is Aria right now?" Damien’s voice was completely controlled.
"Seb?" Marcus said into his earpiece, switching channels. "Location on Miss Chen. Right now."
Seb’s response came immediately: "Miss Chen is inside the hospital. Just finished her last consultation. Looks like she’s heading to her office to pack up."
Marcus relayed this to Damien, who was already pulling on his jacket.
"Tell Seb to stay within visual range of her at all times. Don’t let her out of his sight." Damien picked up his own phone. "Tell me about this man. Alexander....what’s his last name?"
"Ms. Chen?" Marcus spoke into his phone. "What is Aria’s father’s full name?"
Mei’s answer came quietly: "Alexander Wei. His full name is Alexander Wei."
Damien went still for a fraction of a second. "Alexander Wei," he repeated slowly. "As in Wei International Development? The real estate empire across Southeast Asia?"
Marcus watched his boss’s expression and saw the recognition there. "You know him Boss?"
"I know of him." Damien’s voice was controlled but his jaw had tightened noticeably. "Alexander Wei is worth approximately forty billion dollars. He operates primarily across Asia but has been expanding his reach into European and American markets for the past decade. He’s known for being brilliant, ruthless, and completely accustomed to getting exactly what he wants."
He looked at Marcus with eyes that were dangerously calm.
"Call Seb. Tell him to get Aria out of the hospital right now. Bring her to the car. We’re going to her mother’s apartment."
"Yes, sir." Marcus was already dialing. "Ms. Chen? We’re coming. We’ll have Miss Aria with us. Please stay inside."
"Thank you," Mei whispered. "Please hurry."
The drive to Metropolitan General took eleven minutes. Marcus spent most of it on his phone, coordinating with the security team, pulling whatever information he could find on Alexander Wei’s current whereabouts in New York.
Damien spent most of it thinking.
Alexander Wei. Of all the complications that could have emerged from Aria’s past, this was possibly the most significant. Not because of the threat he posed physically....Damien had dealt with physical threats before and would deal with them again....but because of the emotional complexity involved.
This was Aria’s father. Her biological father. A man she’d only learned about weeks ago when Mei had finally revealed the truth. A man whose absence had been a quiet, unspoken shape in Aria’s life for twenty-five years.
How Aria would react to the news that this man had been watching her....surveilling her without her knowledge, learning her routine, photographing her like a subject under investigation....was something Damien couldn’t fully predict.
She might be frightened. She might be furious. She might be hurt in a way that had nothing to do with fear and everything to do with the complicated grief of learning that a parent who claimed to want you had expressed that want through surveillance rather than honest contact.
Or she might feel something else entirely. Something more ambivalent, more complicated, something that Damien had no roadmap for navigating.
What he did know was this: Alexander Wei had been watching Aria without her consent. Had invaded her privacy, had treated her like an object to be observed rather than a person with agency. And regardless of his intentions, regardless of whether he was genuinely changed or still the controlling man Mei had fled from twenty-five years ago, that was unacceptable.
The car pulled up to the hospital entrance, where Seb was already waiting with Aria beside him.
Damien watched her through the window as she approached the car. She looked normal....professional, put-together, her medical bag over her shoulder, a slight frown on her face that suggested Seb had told her there was an emergency without giving details.
When she got into the car and saw Damien’s expression, her frown deepened immediately.
"What’s wrong?" she asked, her medical instincts clearly kicking in....assessing, analyzing, looking for information. "Damien, what happened? Is it my mother?"
