Chapter 207: Chapter 208: Investigating Alexandra
DAMIEN’S POV
Damien looked at the two women....Aria kneeling beside her mother’s chair, speaking in soft, soothing tones, trying to calm the visible trembling in Mei’s small frame. The older woman looked genuinely frightened in a way that made it clear this wasn’t just caution or reasonable concern. This was the kind of fear that came from experience, from knowing exactly what someone was capable of.
He stood quietly. "I’ll be right outside," he said to Aria. "Call me if you need anything."
She nodded without looking away from her mother, and Damien stepped out of the apartment, closing the door softly behind him.
Marcus appeared beside him within seconds, as if he’d been waiting just out of sight. Which he probably had been.
"Boss," Marcus said quietly, pulling out his tablet. "We found intel on Alexander Wei."
"Tell me."
"He arrived in New York four days ago on a private jet registered to Wei International Development. Flight manifested him as the only passenger, but our sources at the airport confirmed he came with some people."
Damien’s eyes narrowed. "Some people?"
"Yes, sir. He came with some high-skill, off-the-records men. Based on their movements and formation patterns, I’m guessing they’re his personal security detail. Professional grade....former military or intelligence, probably. And boss...." Marcus hesitated. "....they’ve been keeping tabs on Miss Aria since they arrived."
The temperature seemed to drop ten degrees in the hallway.
"Miss Aria?" Damien’s voice was dangerously quiet.
Marcus saw the look in his boss’s face and quickly corrected himself, his own expression tightening with recognition of the error. "I mean to say that they have been keeping tabs on Madam."
Damien nodded slowly, his jaw tight. He looked down, touched his lips thoughtfully....a gesture Marcus had learned to recognize as Damien processing information and making calculations.
"Well," Damien said after a moment, his voice carrying that particular quality of cold calm that was far more dangerous than any outburst. "Alexander Wei forgot something important."
"What’s that, boss?"
"He’s in my territory now." Damien’s eyes were ice. "He came here to keep tabs on my woman. In my city. Where I have resources he can’t match."
Marcus felt the air around them become noticeably colder as Damien’s expression shifted into something harder, more predatory.
Then Damien smiled....that cold smile that Marcus had seen maybe three times in all the years he’d worked for him. The smile that meant someone had made a very serious mistake and was about to pay for it.
"Father or not," Damien said quietly, "how dare he."
He turned to Marcus with absolute focus. "I need you to keep tabs on them. Alexander and his entire security detail. I want them watched every second of the day. Where they’re staying, where they go, who they meet with, what they eat for breakfast. Everything."
"Already arranging it, boss. I’ll have a full surveillance team operational within two hours."
"Good. And tell Seb..." Damien’s voice hardened further. "....make sure he doesn’t slack off. I want Aria followed at all times. If possible, I want her followed even inside the hospital. Every corridor, every room she enters, every conversation she has. If Alexander Wei’s people are watching her, I want to know about it the second it happens."
"Yes, boss. I’ll pass the message to him immediately."
Damien was quiet for a moment, staring at nothing, his mind clearly working through multiple scenarios simultaneously.
"Run a complete background check on Alexander Wei," he said finally. "Everything. His business dealings, his personal history, his relationships, his enemies. I want to know what he’s been doing for the past twenty-five years. I want to know why he’s only coming after Aria now after waiting for twenty-four years. She’s twenty-four years old. He’s known she existed since she was born. So what changed? What made him decide that now was the time to make contact?"
"I’ll put our best people on it," Marcus said, making notes on his tablet. "Should have a preliminary report by morning, full dossier within forty-eight hours."
"Make it twenty-four. I want answers before they meet."
"Understood."
"They’ll be meeting in a few days," Damien continued, his voice clinical now, planning rather than reacting. "Aria will choose the location. When she does, I want that place secured before we arrive. Sweep for surveillance equipment, position our own security at every entrance and exit, have contingency plans for multiple threat scenarios."
"Consider it done, boss." Marcus hesitated. "Should we also run interference? Make it difficult for Alexander’s people to continue their surveillance?"
"No." Damien’s response was immediate and definitive. "Let them watch. Let them think they have information we don’t know about. But make sure we’re watching them watching her. I want to know everything they know, and I want them completely unaware that we’re ten steps ahead of them."
Marcus nodded, understanding the strategy. "Information asymmetry."
"Exactly. Alexander Wei is used to being the most powerful person in any room. Used to having the best intelligence, the most resources, the advantage in every negotiation." Damien’s smile returned, cold and sharp. "He’s about to learn that in New York, when it comes to Aria, I’m the one with all the advantages."
"I’ll coordinate with the full security team. Is there anything else?"
"Yes. Find out everything you can about his relationship with Mei Chen twenty-five years ago. I want to know exactly what made her run. Not just what she told us....which I’m sure is true....but the full story. Police reports, hospital records, restraining orders, anything that might be in official records anywhere. If he was as controlling as Mei suggests, there might be documentation."
"On it." Marcus made more notes. "Should I also look into any other children he might have had? Other relationships?"
Damien considered this. "Yes. Good thinking. If Aria has half-siblings she doesn’t know about, that’s information she deserves to have before walking into this meeting."
"I’ll have answers soon, boss."
Damien nodded, then glanced back at the apartment door. "Keep this between us for now. Don’t brief the full security team on why we’re watching Alexander Wei. Just tell them he’s a potential business threat. I don’t want rumors spreading about Aria’s father being in New York."
"Understood. Anything else?"
"That’s all for now. Update me every four hours, even if there’s nothing new to report. I want to stay informed in real-time."
Marcus nodded and headed for the elevator, already on his phone coordinating the surveillance operation.
