Chapter 7 - The Betrayal Inside the House
The next morning, they returned to Chicago.
Adrian had a plan.
It failed in seven minutes.
Someone inside the Bellini organization had betrayed them.
The safe route was compromised.
Their convoy was attacked.
Mara and Adrian escaped into an underground parking garage.
Adrian was furious.
"Someone knew exactly where we'd be."
Mara looked at him.
"There's someone close to you."
"Lucas."
"No."
Adrian stopped.
Mara shook her head.
"Lucas wants the empire. Victor wants the ledger. But someone else keeps predicting our movements."
"Who?"
Mara thought about the house.
The staff.
The guards.
The cameras.
Then she remembered.
The cook.
Mrs. Alvarez.
She had been working for the Bellinis for twenty years.
And she had been the only employee who knew where Mara's father used to work.
They returned to the penthouse.
Mrs. Alvarez was gone.
Her room had been emptied.
Mara found a photograph hidden beneath the mattress.
It showed Mrs. Alvarez with Thomas Bennett.
On the back:
She tried to warn me.
Mara stared.
"She wasn't the traitor."
Adrian looked at the photograph.
"Then someone forced her."
A phone rang.
Mara's.
Unknown number.
She answered.
A man's voice spoke.
"Your father was a brave man."
Mara froze.
"Where is Mrs. Alvarez?"
"Alive."
Adrian moved closer.
The voice continued.
"Bring me the ledger."
"Who are you?"
"You already know."
The call ended.
Mara looked at Adrian.
"Victor."
Adrian nodded.
Then the lights went out.
Mara heard footsteps.
Adrian pulled her behind him.
A gunshot.
Then another.
Adrian collapsed.
"Adrian!"
Mara caught him.
Blood spread across his shirt.
For one terrible second, she thought he was dead.
Then his hand moved.
"I'm okay."
"You're bleeding!"
"Vest."
Mara almost collapsed from relief.
Adrian grabbed her wrist.
"Run."
They escaped through a service tunnel.
But Mara stopped halfway.
"Wait."
"What?"
She stared at the wall.
There was an old maintenance panel.
Her father had taught her something years ago.
Buildings had secrets.
And old buildings had forgotten doors.
Mara pulled the panel open.
Behind it was a narrow passage.
It led directly into Victor Hale's private office.
Adrian stared at her.
"You found this how?"
"My father."
Inside the office was a wall of files.
And one photograph.
Victor.
Lucas.
Celeste.
And Adrian's father.
Mara looked closer.
The photograph had been taken twenty years ago.
There was another person in it.
A young woman.
Mara's mother.
Her breath stopped.
"Adrian..."
He looked.
His expression collapsed.
"That's impossible."
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Mara whispered:
"Why is my mother standing beside your father?"
