The attack came at dawn.
Lena woke to the sharp ring of Damian's phone, piercing the quiet of the estate. She sat up just as he answered, his voice clipped and sharp.
"When?" A pause. "Damage?"
She didn't need to hear the other side of the conversation to know something had gone terribly wrong.
By the time Damian hung up, he was already moving, grabbing his watch and jacket with the efficiency of a man used to putting out fires.
"What happened?" she asked, climbing out of bed.
Damian didn't look at her as he fastened his watch. "One of our warehouses was hit."
Lena stilled. "Hit?"
He turned to her then, his expression unreadable. "Arson."
A chill ran through her.
"This was Vaughn." It wasn't a question.
Damian exhaled, his jaw tightening. "He's making his move."
Blackwood Holdings – Crisis Mode
The scent of smoke still lingered in the air as Lena and Damian arrived at the site. The warehouse one of Blackwood Holdings' key distribution centers was now a charred skeleton, firefighters still dousing the smoldering remains.
Carter Reynolds, Damian's head of security, approached them. "No casualties, but the entire shipment's gone. This wasn't random. It was a message."
Damian's expression remained unreadable, but Lena could see the tension in his shoulders.
"He's pushing you to retaliate," she murmured.
"He wants me off balance," Damian corrected. "He thinks if he forces me to react, I'll make a mistake."
Lena studied the destruction before them. Vaughn wasn't just testing Blackwood Holding she was testing Damian himself.
"What's the play?" she asked.
Damian's gaze met hers, something calculating behind those steel-gray eyes.
"We don't react," he said. "We control the narrative."
Lena's mind raced. Vaughn wanted them to lash out, to act recklessly. Instead, they needed to make this fire look like an inconvenience, not a setback.
"Then we hold the gala," she said.
Damian arched a brow. "You want to throw a party?"
"I want to show Vaughn that his little stunt didn't shake you," she countered. "The annual Blackwood Charity Gala is in three days. Instead of canceling, we make it grander than ever. We make it clear that we're still in control."
Damian studied her for a long moment before the corner of his mouth lifted slightly.
"You really are learning, aren't you?"
Lena lifted her chin. "I learn from the best."
For the first time that morning, the tension in his shoulders seemed to ease.
"Then let's give Vaughn a show he won't forget."