Chapter 6 - The Betrayal That Began Eleven Years Ago
Roarke read the sentence twice.
He didn't react.
That was worse than anger.
Adeline watched his face become completely empty.
“Roarke?”
He handed the photograph to his security chief.
“Find Silvio.”
The answer came immediately.
“He left the estate forty minutes ago.”
“Destination?”
“Unknown.”
Roarke closed his eyes.
Forty minutes.
Silvio had known.
Perhaps he had known the moment they found the locker key.
Adeline unfolded the rest of her mother's letter.
Antonio Castellano had discovered that someone inside his organization was secretly selling shipping routes to rival groups.
He had suspected Matteo.
But the evidence had pointed elsewhere.
Toward Silvio.
At twenty-four, Silvio had been ambitious, indebted, and furious that Antonio treated Roarke as heir while Silvio remained merely the orphaned son of one of his soldiers.
Antonio had confronted him privately.
Before he could expose him, Antonio died.
Adeline’s mother had seen enough to understand that the explosion was not random.
Antonio had given her copies of financial records and instructed her to hide them.
But there was a second secret.
The stolen ledger from Roarke’s penthouse was not the evidence.
It was the map to the evidence.
Adeline looked up.
“What does that mean?”
Roarke took the letter.
“My father kept records in codes. The ledger probably identifies accounts and dates. Without whatever your mother hid, it proves little.”
“So Silvio needs both.”
“Yes.”
“And he thinks I have the second half.”
“Yes.”
Adeline felt sick.
“All these years…”
Roarke looked at her.
“Your mother protected my family.”
“She died buried in debt.”
The words struck him.
“She protected your father, and nobody helped her.”
“I didn't know.”
“That doesn't change what happened.”
“No.”
Roarke didn't defend himself.
That somehow made her angrier.
“My mother spent her last years working until she got sick. I quit school because of bills. Posy nearly stopped breathing because I couldn't always afford the best medication. Meanwhile your family—”
She stopped.
Roarke absorbed every word.
Then he said quietly, “You're right.”
Adeline stared.
“If my father trusted her with this, my family owed her protection. We failed.”
“We?”
“I inherited more than his name.”
“You weren't responsible.”
“No. But I'm responsible for what I do now.”
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
Roarke answered.
Silvio's voice came through.
“Hello, brother.”
Roarke's jaw tightened.
“You were never my brother.”
A quiet laugh.
“You don't mean that.”
“Where are you?”
“That's the wrong question.”
Roarke's eyes moved toward Adeline.
Silvio continued.
“You should ask what I took.”
Adeline's heart stopped.
She ran toward the hallway.
“Posy!”
The bedroom was empty.
A guard lay unconscious outside the service stairwell.
Adeline screamed her sister's name.
Nothing.
Roarke’s voice became lethal.
“If you touch her—”
“Then bring me the key.”
“We already opened the locker.”
Silence.
Silvio hadn't known.
Roarke understood his mistake immediately.
Then Silvio laughed.
“Thank you.”
The call ended.
Adeline turned on Roarke.
“You told him.”
“I know.”
“You told him we found it!”
“I know.”
“He has Posy!”
Roarke took her shoulders.
“I will get her back.”
“Don't promise me things you can't guarantee!”
“I can guarantee this.”
“How?”
“Because Silvio made one mistake.”
“What?”
“He took the only person on earth you would burn everything down to save.”
Adeline stared at him.
Roarke's eyes were cold.
“And now he has two people coming for him.”
The search lasted six hours.
At 9:17 p.m., a message arrived.
A photograph of Posy sitting in a chair.
Alive.
Terrified.
Beside her was a clock.
And coordinates.
Silvio wanted Adeline alone.
No Roarke.
No security.
Bring everything from the locker.
Adeline immediately stood.
“No.”
She looked at Roarke.
“I wasn't asking permission.”
“You're not going alone.”
“If he sees you—”
“He won't.”
“How can you know?”
“Because he taught me how to disappear into a room.”
Roarke moved closer.
“And I learned better than he did.”
At midnight, Adeline entered an abandoned shipping warehouse carrying her mother's envelope.
Posy sat beneath a hanging light.
“Addie!”
Adeline ran toward her.
A gunshot struck the concrete at her feet.
Silvio emerged from darkness.
“Not yet.”
Adeline stopped.
“Let her go.”
“Give me the letter.”
She held it up.
“You mean this?”
Silvio smiled.
Then Adeline dropped it into a metal barrel beside her.
And struck a match.
His smile vanished.
“You wouldn't.”
“You don't know me very well.”
She dropped the match.
Flames erupted.
Silvio lunged forward.
That was when Roarke stepped from the darkness behind him.
May you like
Gun raised.
“I do.”
