Chapter 4 - THE BETRAYAL INSIDE THE FAMILY
Damian knew Claire was gone before his guard finished explaining.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
That frightened everyone more than shouting would have.
“Track her phone.”
“Disabled.”
“Traffic cameras.”
“Working on it.”
Nicholas approached.
“She left because they had Caroline.”
Damian turned on him.
“I know why.”
He blamed himself anyway.
He should have anticipated it.
Claire would always choose family over safety.
It was one of the reasons he loved her.
And one of the reasons enemies could manipulate her.
His phone rang.
Estate security.
Damian answered.
Gunfire sounded through the speaker.
Then silence.
He immediately understood.
“The pier was a diversion.”
Nicholas looked at him.
“What?”
“Back home.”
They drove fast.
When Damian entered the mansion thirty minutes later, two guards were unconscious.
A third was dead.
The hidden basement had been emptied.
Every ledger was gone.
Then Damian noticed blood leading toward the library.
He followed it.
Nicholas was behind him.
The library door opened.
A gun fired.
Nicholas jerked backward.
Damian caught him.
Blood spread across his shirt.
“Nick!”
Another shot struck the wall.
Damian returned fire.
A masked attacker escaped through the garden doors.
Nicholas collapsed.
Damian pressed both hands against the wound.
“Stay awake.”
Nicholas struggled to breathe.
“Claire…”
“What about her?”
“They’re framing…”
His eyes closed.
Damian shouted for medical help.
Across the city, Claire heard the gunfire through a live audio feed.
Evelyn watched her reaction.
“Damian will think you betrayed him.”
“He won’t.”
“You sound confident.”
“I know him.”
Evelyn laughed.
“No, darling. You know the man Damian wants to become.”
Claire stared at her.
“I knew the boy his father created.”
Evelyn approached.
“Damian learned very young that love creates leverage. Arthur taught him that lesson repeatedly.”
“You’re wrong about him.”
“Am I?”
“Yes.”
“Then why has he never told you how he feels?”
Claire’s silence betrayed her.
Evelyn smiled.
“Because fear still owns him.”
Marcus entered.
“Nicholas survived.”
Evelyn’s expression sharpened.
“Unfortunate.”
Claire noticed something.
Marcus was nervous.
Not about Nicholas.
About Evelyn.
There was weakness between them.
She needed to use it.
“You’re going to kill Marcus next,” Claire said.
Marcus looked at her.
Evelyn remained still.
Claire continued.
“You can’t leave witnesses.”
“Stop talking.”
“You staged his injury. He kidnapped us. He knows everything.”
Marcus looked toward Evelyn.
Claire pressed harder.
“When this ends, Evelyn needs one villain. That will be you.”
“Shut up.”
Claire smiled.
Marcus’s hand moved toward his gun.
Not to draw it.
To reassure himself it was there.
Good.
Fear had entered the room.
Evelyn ordered Marcus outside.
Then she slapped Claire.
Caroline screamed.
Claire slowly turned her face back.
A red mark appeared on her cheek.
“You really are frightened,” Claire said.
Evelyn’s composure cracked.
“Your father said the same thing.”
That was the mistake.
Claire’s eyes narrowed.
“My father knew something about you.”
Evelyn said nothing.
“He wasn’t hiding only Arthur’s crimes.”
Silence.
Claire understood.
“You were part of them.”
Evelyn walked away.
Claire smiled despite the pain in her cheek.
She had found the wound.
Now she needed to keep pressing.
Meanwhile, Damian sat outside the operating room where doctors worked on Nicholas.
One of his men approached.
“We recovered security footage.”
“Show me.”
A tablet displayed Claire leaving the SUV.
Then another camera showed the black sedan.
Damian watched the license plate.
His man said, “Registered to Blackridge Consulting.”
Evelyn.
Damian’s expression changed.
His phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A photograph appeared.
Claire tied to a chair.
Caroline beside her.
Underneath were six words:
BRING THE ORIGINAL FILES. COME ALONE.
Damian stared at Claire’s face.
She looked frightened.
But something else caught his attention.
Her right hand.
Two fingers were extended against the chair.
Then three.
Then one.
Damian replayed the short video.
It was not random.
Claire used numbers constantly.
Accounts.
Codes.
Page references.
Damian suddenly remembered the ledger.
Page 231.
He opened the photographed copy on his tablet.
Page 231 contained one transaction.
A payment authorized twenty-two years earlier.
Recipient:
M. REED.
Damian stared.
Marcus Reed had been only seventeen then.
But Marcus had once told Damian his father had worked for Arthur Cross.
Damian enlarged the entry.
The payment description contained an address.
47 Harrow Street.
Damian stood.
His men looked at him.
“Where are we going?”
Damian picked up his coat.
“To find Claire.”
May you like
He checked his weapon.
“And after that, we’re going to discover which members of my family deserve to remain family.”
