Chapter 5 - The Price of Protecting Them
They left the penthouse before sunrise.
Victor refused to explain their destination until they were inside the armored SUV.
“Whistler.”
Bridget stared at him.
“You own a safe house in Whistler?”
“I own a house.”
“Of course you do.”
Pippa sat between them wrapped in a blanket, asleep against Victor’s arm.
Victor had not let her out of sight since the attack.
Bridget noticed.
She also noticed how naturally Pippa trusted him.
That terrified her in a different way.
“Victor.”
“Yes?”
“If this gets worse, I’m taking her away.”
“Where?”
“That’s my problem.”
“It becomes my problem when someone is trying to find you because of me.”
Bridget turned toward him.
“You don’t get to decide what happens to my daughter.”
“No.”
The immediate agreement disarmed her.
Victor looked down at Pippa.
“But I can make sure you have choices.”
The mountain house was beautiful, isolated, and guarded.
Snow covered the trees.
For Pippa, it became an adventure by breakfast.
For Bridget, it felt like an expensive prison.
For Victor, it became a command center.
Gabriel arrived with information that afternoon.
Adrian Mercer had stolen millions through shell companies before attempting to eliminate Victor.
But money was not the real problem.
Mercer possessed financial records connecting several legitimate Lacombe companies to older criminal operations built by Victor’s father.
If released selectively, they could destroy Victor’s legal businesses while protecting Mercer’s own role.
“He needs something from you,” Bridget said.
Victor stood at the kitchen island.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“Access codes.”
“So why me?”
Victor and Gabriel exchanged a look.
Bridget hated it.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Gabriel placed a tablet on the counter.
Security footage appeared.
The pharmacy.
Victor entering.
Then Mercer’s men arriving.
Bridget watched herself open the door.
“What am I looking at?”
“The audio.”
Gabriel increased the volume.
Most of it was rain and static.
Then Victor’s voice from the storage room.
“My CFO.”
Another sentence.
“He wanted to be CEO.”
Bridget frowned.
“That’s it?”
Victor shook his head.
“Mercer believes I gave you evidence.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Then tell him.”
“He won’t believe me.”
Bridget laughed without humor.
“This is absurd.”
Victor’s phone rang.
Gabriel answered.
His expression changed.
“For you.”
He handed it to Bridget.
Victor moved immediately.
“No.”
Bridget already had the phone.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then a familiar male voice.
The tall man from the pharmacy.
“Ms. Carone.”
Victor reached for the phone.
Bridget stepped away.
“What do you want?”
“Victor has something belonging to Mr. Mercer.”
“And?”
“We think you can convince him to return it.”
“You think wrong.”
The man chuckled.
“Your mother lives in Burnaby, correct?”
Everything inside Bridget went cold.
Victor saw her face.
“What?”
The caller continued.
“Apartment 304. Tuesday physiotherapy. Thursday grocery delivery.”
Bridget’s hand shook.
“If you touch her—”
“We haven’t.”
“Bridget, hang up.”
Victor’s voice sounded far away.
The caller said, “Midnight tomorrow. Victor will understand.”
The line died.
Bridget turned toward Victor.
“My mother.”
“Gabriel.”
Victor did not need to say more.
Gabriel was already moving.
Bridget grabbed Victor’s shirt.
“Get her out.”
“I will.”
“Now.”
“I will.”
“Promise me.”
Victor looked directly into her eyes.
“I promise.”
Six armed men reached Bridget’s mother within 20 minutes.
She was unharmed.
By evening she had been moved to a secure rehabilitation facility under another name.
Only then did Bridget stop shaking.
She stood alone on the back porch watching snow fall through the trees.
Victor joined her.
“You should hate me.”
She looked at him.
“That would certainly be convenient.”
“I brought this into your life.”
“No. Mercer did.”
“He came because of me.”
“And I chose to help you.”
“You didn’t know the price.”
Bridget’s eyes filled.
“Neither did you when you sent a driver for Luca.”
Victor became still.
She regretted it immediately.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
He looked toward the forest.
“You’re right.”
“That isn’t what I meant.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.”
Victor looked at her.
Bridget stepped closer.
“You have been punishing yourself for years because you survived something your nephew didn’t.”
His jaw tightened.
“You don’t know what I’ve done.”
“No. I don’t.”
She did not retreat.
“But I know what I’ve seen.”
“What have you seen?”
“A man who got stabbed and still worried about whether strangers were following him. A man who apologized to my daughter because he forgot to say goodbye. A man who nearly stopped breathing when someone grabbed her.”
Victor’s eyes dropped.
“That doesn’t make me good.”
“I didn’t say it did.”
She touched his hand.
“It makes you human.”
Victor stared at their joined hands.
Then at her.
For one suspended second, Bridget thought he might kiss her.
Instead, Pippa opened the door.
“Victor!”
They jumped apart.
Pippa held up a board game.
“Gabriel cheats.”
From inside came Gabriel’s offended voice.
“I absolutely do not.”
Pippa whispered loudly.
“He does.”
Victor laughed.
A real laugh.
Bridget smiled despite herself.
Later that night, Gabriel found Victor alone.
“You’re getting attached.”
Victor did not deny it.
“That makes them vulnerable.”
“I know.”
“And you.”
Victor looked toward the hallway where Bridget and Pippa slept.
“I know that too.”
His phone vibrated.
A message.
A photograph appeared.
Victor’s face changed.
It showed Bridget standing on the porch minutes earlier.
Taken from the trees outside the supposedly secure house.
Beneath it were 5 words.
YOU CAN’T PROTECT THEM BOTH.
May you like
Victor looked toward the dark forest.
Mercer had found them.
