Chapter 6 - The Betrayal Inside the House
Norah found Victor holding Gabriel against the library wall.
“You sold me out?”
Gabriel’s face was red with fury.
“No.”
“The gate opened with your code.”
“My code was cloned.”
Victor released him.
“Prove it.”
“I’ve taken bullets for you.”
“That isn’t proof.”
“No. It’s fifteen years of history.”
Norah stepped between them.
“Fighting each other is exactly what Mercer wants.”
Both men looked at her.
It was almost absurd.
Twenty-four hours earlier, she had been terrified to stand within ten feet of Victor.
Now she was mediating between two armed criminals.
Gabriel exhaled.
“Fineian left willingly.”
Norah turned.
“What?”
Security footage showed Fineian walking through the gate.
No weapon at his back.
No struggle.
He entered a sedan and disappeared.
Norah felt betrayed.
Then her phone vibrated.
A text from Fineian.
I’m sorry. I have to fix what I started.
Victor read it.
“He went to Mercer.”
“Why?”
“Guilt.”
They traced Fineian’s phone to the docks.
By the time they arrived, the device was lying smashed beside an empty container.
But another message waited.
Not electronically.
Painted across the container doors.
MIDNIGHT. PIER 19. BRING EVELYN’S DRIVE. COME ALONE, VICTOR.
Norah shook her head.
“No.”
Victor almost smiled.
“You’re becoming repetitive.”
“You’re not going alone.”
“He has your brother.”
“And he wants you dead.”
Victor looked across the black water.
“I know.”
At eleven thirty, Victor prepared to leave.
Norah blocked his bedroom door.
“No.”
“Move.”
“No.”
“Norah.”
“Victor.”
Something almost amused appeared in his eyes.
“You realize most people don’t do this.”
“Most people didn’t ruin your favorite suit.”
“It wasn’t my favorite.”
“I know.”
His amusement disappeared when she touched his chest.
“Please.”
That word stopped him.
Norah felt his heartbeat beneath her palm.
“You don’t have to die for what your father did.”
“This isn’t about him.”
“Then what is it about?”
“You.”
The answer came too quickly to be calculated.
Norah stared.
Victor looked almost irritated with himself.
“Mercer reached you because of my name. He threatened your brother using my organization. He dragged your mother’s past into your life because of my family.”
“That still doesn’t make me your responsibility.”
“No.”
His hand covered hers.
“It makes you something worse.”
“What?”
“Someone I care about.”
Silence.
Victor leaned his forehead against hers.
“I haven’t cared about anything enough to fear losing it in years.”
Norah’s eyes burned.
“Then don’t make me lose you.”
Their kiss was slower this time.
No adrenaline.
No audience.
No wine between them.
Victor held her as though he had forgotten how to hold anything gently and was relearning it with her.
When they separated, Norah whispered, “We go together.”
Victor sighed.
“You’re impossible.”
“You noticed.”
At Pier 19, Mercer was waiting.
So was Fineian.
And Samuel.
Norah recognized her unknown brother instantly.
He had her mother’s eyes.
Mercer stood between them.
He was nearly sixty, silver-haired, elegantly dressed.
“You look like Evelyn,” he told Norah.
“Don’t say her name.”
Mercer smiled.
Victor stepped forward.
“Let them go.”
“The drive.”
Victor raised it.
Mercer laughed.
“You think this is about evidence?”
“You spent fifteen years hunting it.”
“I spent fifteen years protecting what I built.”
Police sirens sounded far away.
Mercer frowned.
Victor smiled.
“I made copies.”
Mercer’s face changed.
“Every document is already with federal prosecutors.”
Norah looked at Victor.
He had never intended to trade the only evidence.
Mercer raised his gun.
Gabriel’s men appeared from the shadows.
Then something unexpected happened.
Samuel stepped beside Mercer.
He pointed his own weapon at Victor.
Norah’s breath caught.
Mercer smiled.
“Samuel knows who destroyed his family.”
Samuel looked directly at Norah.
“Our mother abandoned me.”
“She was protecting you.”
“She kept you.”
The words struck her.
Samuel’s pain was real.
Mercer had spent years feeding it.
Victor lowered his weapon.
“This isn’t your war.”
Samuel’s hand trembled.
“You’re Vittorio Russo’s son.”
“Yes.”
“He killed Daniel.”
“Yes.”
“He destroyed my mother.”
“Yes.”
Samuel swallowed.
“Why shouldn’t I kill you?”
Victor answered quietly.
“Because then Mercer gets exactly what my father got—another generation paying for his crimes.”
Samuel stared.
Mercer suddenly moved.
His gun swung toward Norah.
Fineian lunged.
The shot exploded.
Fineian fell.
Norah screamed.
Victor fired once.
Mercer’s weapon flew from his hand as the bullet struck his shoulder.
Gabriel’s men rushed forward.
Norah dropped beside Fineian.
Blood spread across his shirt.
“Finn.”
His eyes fluttered.
“Did something stupid again.”
“Shut up.”
She pressed both hands against the wound.
Samuel dropped beside them.
“Ambulance!”
Victor stood over Mercer.
For one terrible moment, Norah saw murder in his eyes.
Mercer smiled through the pain.
“Do it. Show her what you are.”
Victor raised the gun.
Norah whispered his name.
“Victor.”
He looked at her.
Then lowered it.
“No.”
Mercer’s smile disappeared.
Victor kicked the gun away.
“You don’t get to make me my father.”
Behind them, sirens grew louder.
May you like
Fineian squeezed Norah’s hand.
And for the first time, Samuel reached for his brother too.
