Page 67 of Damian’s Conquest

Damian disconnected the call, then looked at Cooper. “I’ll drop you off at HQ. Call Quinn and see who can take over for me for the next few hours.”

Cooper nodded and made the call, while Damian wanted to whip himself for not having told Naomi that he had an identical twin brother. The question had never come up. There was only so much he could cover in the less than forty-eight hours that they’d known each other. And since Benjamin had been accompanying a client to Los Angeles, there had been no occasion to introduce him to Naomi.

“Quinn said that Grayson is available right now. I’ll check out the next leads with him,” Cooper said and put his cell phone away. “You and Benjamin being mistaken for each other can’t be new, right?”

“It’s not. But right now it’s the worst thing that could have happened.” Naomi was probably pissed off, and he wouldn’t be surprised if she hurled heavy items at him the moment he entered her flat. At least he hoped she’d be home, but considering that it was almost eleven o’clock at night, where else would she go after leaving his flat?

“I’m sure you can fix it.”

Damian sighed. “I hope so.” He pulled up in front of Scanguards HQ. “I’ll check in later, once I’ve taken care of this, okay?”

“No problem. Good luck, bro,” Cooper said and hopped out of the car.

Damian drove off. There was no parking available on Naomi’s block, so he circled the block and parked in the alley behind it. He rushed to the entrance door and rang the doorbell. He waited, but nobody replied. He stepped back and looked up at the windows. There was light in Naomi’s flat, but she was clearly ignoring him. He pulled out his cell phone to call her and saw that he’d a missed call from her and a voicemail. He listened to the voicemail.

“Damian, I found something in Tracy’s flat. I think somebody is trying to frame the club. Call me as soon as you get this message.”

Stunned at the message, he realized now why she’d come to his flat in the first place. She needed to talk to him about the case, and he’d missed her call. He tapped her phone number and let it ring, but after the fourth ring, it went to voicemail. He didn’t bother leaving a message. Instead, he pulled out his lockpick and made quick work of the entrance door.

Moments later, he stood outside her apartment door and knocked. “Naomi, it’s me. We need to talk. Please let me in.”

First there was silence, then he heard the creaking of the old wooden floorboards.

“Naomi, please.”

“Get lost! I never want to see you again.”

“I’m sorry, Naomi, but the person you saw in my flat wasn’t me. It was my twin brother.”

“Bullshit. Leave, or I’ll call the police and have you arrested for trespassing.”

Yeah, that wasn’t gonna happen. He used his tools to pick the lock and let himself in. Naomi stood in the living room, glaring at him. She wore a nightgown, and held a tub of ice cream in her hand. Her eyes were puffy and red. Rather than looking furious, she looked heartbroken. His heart clenched in response.

“Naomi, I’m so sorry for this misunderstanding. I should have told you about my twin.” He pulled his cell out and navigated to the video call app, then tapped on Benjamin’s number. “I can prove it to you. I’m calling Benjamin now.”

“Probably some trick,” she choked out. “Why don’t you just leave? You’ve had your fun fucking the fat girl.”

“You’re not fat!” he shot back. “And I’m not done with you.”

Before he could say more, the video call connected. “Benjamin, I’m with Naomi. Can we please clear this up now?”

“Yeah, about time. Tiffany was about to run out on me.”

Damian looked at the display and saw that a pretty dark-haired woman stood next to his brother. “Hey, Tiffany, I’m Damian. And that idiot next to you is my brother.”

He looked up and walked closer to Naomi, then turned the phone so that she could see the screen.

“Naomi, meet my twin, Benjamin.”

Naomi stared into the screen, and he noticed her eyes widening.

“Hey, Naomi, sorry about earlier. I didn’t realize Damian hadn’t mentioned me before.” With a slightly louder voice he added, “As if my idiot brother forgot that I existed.”

Damian stepped next to Naomi so he could see the screen. “Yeah, well, a lot of things happened since the Halloween party. I was a little busy, okay?”

“All cleared up now?” Benjamin asked. “Naomi, can you please tell Tiffany that I wasn’t with you last night, and that you were with my brother?”

Finally, Naomi seemed to find her voice again. “I’m so sorry. I really didn’t know. I should have never barged into your bedroom. Sorry, Tiffany.”