Chapter 5 - THE PROSECUTOR’S SISTER
Nora Bell pointed a gun at Callum before he finished saying hello.
“Charming family resemblance,” Callum said.
“Hands where I can see them.”
Sadie stared at the woman she had apparently shared a womb with.
Same gray eyes.
Same narrow chin.
Different everything else.
Nora wore authority like armor.
Sadie wore caution like skin.
“You’re my sister?” Sadie whispered.
Nora’s gun lowered.
Her face cracked.
“Sadie?”
The name sounded like a memory.
Nora crossed the room and stopped inches from her.
Then, unexpectedly, slapped her.
Callum’s men reached for weapons.
Sadie stared.
Nora burst into tears and hugged her.
Sadie stood rigid.
“You hit me.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“So naturally you assaulted me.”
“I panicked.”
Callum looked at Marco.
Marco whispered, “Definitely sisters.”
Nora pulled away.
Then noticed Sadie’s injuries.
Her expression hardened.
“Who did that?”
Callum almost smiled.
That reaction was familiar.
Sadie noticed too.
“It’s complicated.”
Nora looked at Callum.
“With him, it usually is.”
They explained Thomas.
The Ledger.
The keys.
The painting.
Nora listened without interruption.
Then she walked to the window.
“My adoptive father used to have nightmares about a fire.”
Sadie’s breath caught.
“Who adopted you?”
“Judge Samuel Bell.”
Callum swore.
Samuel Bell had presided over dozens of organized-crime cases.
He had also dismissed the investigation into Vittorio Russo’s death.
Nora turned.
“He’s Ash Circle.”
Nobody needed to ask.
She already knew.
“I discovered payments three months ago. Every investigation I brought near the Circle disappeared. Witnesses recanted. Evidence vanished.”
“Why didn’t they kill you?” Callum asked.
Nora smiled without humor.
“Because Samuel loves me.”
“That’s reassuring.”
“It shouldn’t be.”
Nora opened her bag.
Inside were dozens of photographs.
Judges.
Police commissioners.
CEOs.
Callum recognized half of them.
One photograph showed Samuel Bell shaking hands with a younger Vittorio Russo.
Beside them stood another man.
Callum’s consigliere.
Vincent Caruso.
The man who had raised Callum after his father died.
Callum stared at it.
Sadie watched his expression.
“You trust him.”
“With my life.”
May you like
Nora answered quietly.
“That might be the problem.”
