Chapter 5 - The Brother Who Came Back Wrong
Mara refused to believe it.
“Noah would never work for Vale.”
Caleb sat handcuffed in Roman’s security room.
His lip was split. His arrogance remained intact.
“You haven’t seen your brother in eight months.”
“I know him.”
“Do you?”
Mara stepped forward.
Roman caught her gently around the elbow.
Caleb laughed.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The great Roman Mercer touching someone like she matters.”
Roman’s expression hardened.
Caleb leaned back.
“Vale is going to love this.”
Ethan placed a photograph on the table.
Noah entering a Vale-owned building voluntarily.
Timestamp: eleven days earlier.
Mara stared.
“There has to be an explanation.”
Caleb shrugged.
“There is. Your brother made a deal.”
“For what?”
“You.”
Mara went still.
Caleb’s amusement faded.
“Noah stole enough evidence to destroy Vale. Vale threatened to kill you. Noah surrendered.”
Roman looked at Ethan.
“So he isn’t working for Vale.”
“Depends how you define working.”
Mara exhaled shakily.
“Where is he?”
Caleb refused to answer.
Roman leaned over the table.
“I can make the next hour unpleasant.”
Mara looked at him.
Roman noticed.
He straightened.
“Or Ethan can.”
“Roman.”
“Kidding.”
Ethan looked offended.
Caleb laughed.
The interrogation ended without a location.
Peter survived the collision and was placed under police guard.
At midnight, Mara stood alone in Roman’s kitchen trying unsuccessfully to make tea.
Roman entered.
“You’re doing that wrong.”
“It’s hot water.”
“You’ve somehow made it complicated.”
She turned.
He had changed into a black T-shirt and dark pants. Without the tuxedo and jacket, he looked less like a newspaper headline.
More dangerous.
More human.
She hated both observations.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Yes.”
“Why aren’t you married?”
Roman opened a cabinet.
“That’s your urgent question?”
“I’m waiting for tea.”
“Excellent time for biography.”
She smiled despite herself.
Roman noticed.
His gaze lingered.
Mara looked away first.
“So?”
“I was engaged once.”
“What happened?”
“She realized marrying me would mean spending her life wondering whether I would come home.”
“Smart woman.”
“Very.”
“Did you love her?”
“I thought I did.”
Mara raised an eyebrow.
“And now?”
Roman looked at her for one beat too long.
“Now I understand I didn’t.”
The kettle clicked.
Neither moved.
Then Roman’s phone rang.
Ethan.
Roman answered.
His face changed.
“We have Noah.”
Mara nearly dropped the mug.
Twenty minutes later, a black SUV entered the garage.
The rear door opened.
Noah Bennett stepped out.
Mara ran.
“Noah!”
Her brother caught her.
For several seconds, she could not breathe.
He was thinner.
Bruises marked his face.
But he was alive.
“You idiot,” she sobbed.
“I know.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“I know.”
She hit his chest, then hugged him harder.
“You absolute idiot.”
“I missed you too.”
Then Noah saw Roman.
His expression changed.
He moved Mara behind him.
“Get away from my sister.”
Roman did not move.
Mara wiped her face.
“He saved me.”
Noah stared at her.
“What?”
“Someone tried to shoot me.”
Noah’s face went white.
“When?”
“Last night.”
He turned toward Ethan.
“Vale?”
“We believe so.”
Noah swore.
Roman stepped closer.
“You surrendered to Vale.”
Noah’s eyes narrowed.
“Who told you?”
“Caleb.”
Noah laughed bitterly.
“Then Caleb is still lying.”
Mara frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Noah looked at her.
“I didn’t surrender to Vale.”
“Then where have you been?”
“Inside his organization.”
Roman understood first.
“You infiltrated it.”
Noah nodded.
“I needed the full ledger.”
“You could have come to me.”
“I didn’t know who your traitor was.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
“Do you now?”
Noah looked around.
“Where’s Ethan?”
Mara turned.
Ethan had been standing near the elevator seconds earlier.
Now he was gone.
Roman immediately reached for his phone.
No signal.
The lights went out.
Emergency lighting flooded the garage red.
Roman pushed Mara behind a concrete pillar.
Gunfire erupted.
Noah drew a pistol from his waistband.
Mara stared.
Her brother saw her expression.
“Long story.”
Men entered from the service ramp.
Roman’s guards returned fire.
“Safe room!” Roman shouted.
They moved.
A bullet struck the wall beside Mara.
Roman pulled her against him.
Noah covered them.
They reached the private elevator.
It did not open.
“System’s compromised,” Roman said.
Noah looked toward a maintenance stairwell.
“There.”
They ran.
Inside the stairwell, silence returned.
Roman checked his phone.
Still dead.
Noah stared at him.
“Only three people know how to disable your internal communications.”
Roman’s face became unreadable.
“You.”
“Correct.”
“Your chief engineer.”
“Correct.”
“And Ethan Shaw.”
Roman said nothing.
Mara remembered Ethan standing beside them from the beginning.
The cemetery.
The warehouse.
The encrypted files.
Every secret.
“No.”
Roman looked almost angry with himself.
Noah continued.
“Ethan has been Vale’s source for six years.”
Roman shook his head.
“He’s been with me since I was twenty.”
“That’s why you never suspected him.”
A sound came from below.
Footsteps.
Roman moved Mara upward.
Noah followed.
They reached the rooftop.
Cold wind struck them.
No escape.
Then the rooftop door opened behind them.
Ethan stepped through.
He was holding a gun.
Roman stared at the man he had trusted for almost two decades.
Ethan’s expression held something close to regret.
“I’m sorry.”
Roman stepped in front of Mara.
“No, you’re not.”
Ethan raised the weapon.
Noah raised his.
For several seconds nobody moved.
Then Ethan looked at Mara.
“You were never supposed to survive the ballroom.”
Roman’s voice became deadly quiet.
“You ordered the shooter?”
Ethan smiled sadly.
“No.”
He glanced toward the neighboring rooftop.
May you like
A red laser dot appeared on Roman’s chest.
“Silas did.”
