Chapter 7 - The Traitor at the Table
Suspicion poisoned everything.
Thomas suspected Isabella.
Isabella suspected Thomas.
Larkin trusted almost nobody.
Penelope trusted numbers.
So she returned to the beginning.
The gala.
Seating arrangements.
Invoices.
Security schedules.
Every person at the table had received a personalized place card.
Penelope found the printing invoice.
Then she found something strange.
Nine cards had been ordered.
Only eight guests had been scheduled.
The ninth name had been removed from the digital invoice after printing.
Penelope recovered it from an archived backup.
Daniel Mercer.
Larkin stared at the name.
"Who is he?"
Thomas answered.
"My predecessor."
The room chilled.
Daniel Mercer had supposedly died two years before Larkin inherited the organization.
Another dead man.
Penelope was getting tired of dead men refusing to stay dead.
Mercer had served Nathaniel for twenty years.
And according to the files, he had never died.
He had changed identities.
Penelope searched employee photographs.
Then she found him.
Samuel Grant.
Larkin's head of security.
The same man responsible for the cameras that had mysteriously failed during the gala.
Larkin's expression became lethal.
"Bring him to me."
But Grant was already gone.
So was Evelyn.
The safe house had been breached.
This time there was no ransom request.
Only an address.
Nathaniel wanted his son.
The final confrontation happened at the Steves family's abandoned Hudson estate.
Larkin wanted Penelope left behind.
Penelope informed him exactly what he could do with that suggestion.
They arrived together.
Nathaniel waited in the old dining room.
Evelyn sat nearby, frightened but alive.
Grant stood behind her.
"Family reunion," Nathaniel said.
Larkin raised his weapon.
Nathaniel smiled.
"If I die, so does she."
Larkin stopped.
Penelope watched Grant.
Not Nathaniel.
Grant's right hand trembled.
Tiny movement.
Almost invisible.
Fear.
She understood.
Nathaniel didn't trust him either.
"Samuel," Penelope said.
His eyes flicked toward her.
"You know what Nathaniel does to people who know too much."
"Shut up."
"You've served him for decades."
"Penelope," Nathaniel warned.
"And yet you're standing behind the hostage."
Grant's jaw tightened.
"Why?"
She continued.
"Because when this is finished, you're the evidence."
Nathaniel turned.
That fraction of a second was enough.
Evelyn dropped.
Grant fired.
The bullet struck Nathaniel in the shoulder.
Larkin moved.
Chaos exploded.
When it ended, Nathaniel was alive, wounded, and surrounded by men who no longer belonged to him.
Grant surrendered.
Evelyn was safe.
Larkin stood over his father.
Nathaniel laughed despite the blood soaking his shirt.
"You won't kill me."
Larkin's weapon remained pointed at him.
"No."
Nathaniel smiled.
Then Larkin lowered it.
"Death would make you a legend."
Police sirens approached in the distance.
Nathaniel's smile disappeared.
Penelope had spent the previous night preparing evidence.
Not syndicate rumors.
Not street accusations.
Bank records.
Fraud.
Murder conspiracy.
Witness statements.
Enough legitimate evidence to ensure Nathaniel would spend years fighting cases he could not intimidate into disappearing.
"You called the police?" Nathaniel asked incredulously.
Penelope adjusted her glasses.
"The IRS too."
Thomas actually laughed.
Nathaniel looked at his son.
"You let a secretary destroy me?"
Larkin looked toward Penelope.
Pride softened his expression.
"No."
He turned back to his father.
"I underestimated her too."
May you like
Then he smiled.
"Once."
