Chapter 5 - The Enemy Inside the House
Autumn and Dominic spent the next three days reconstructing their fathers' history.
Daniel Rivers and Michael Kaine had worked together.
Both discovered Kestrel’s secret project.
Both attempted to expose it.
Both died.
Voss survived.
The pattern seemed obvious.
Too obvious.
Autumn distrusted obvious answers.
Then Adrien Cross asked to speak with her.
Dominic had kept him alive.
Cross sat inside a guarded warehouse, exhausted and ashamed.
“My daughter got the transplant,” he told Autumn.
She blinked.
“When?”
“This morning.”
“Who paid?”
Cross's eyes filled.
“Kaine.”
Dominic had honored the obligation even after Cross betrayed him.
That complicated Autumn’s opinion of him.
Cross gave her something more important.
Rossi had never contacted him directly.
The instructions had come through Roman.
Autumn went still.
“Roman?”
Cross nodded.
“He told me Angelo Rossi wanted the system destroyed.”
“Did Roman know you accepted?”
“Yes.”
Autumn returned to the penthouse without telling Dominic.
She searched Roman's access history.
Nothing.
Too clean.
Nobody was that clean.
At midnight she found a deleted authorization record.
Roman had accessed Dominic's network three days before Cross installed the malware.
Her stomach tightened.
Roman had been beside Dominic for fourteen years.
If Roman was compromised, nobody was safe.
She turned.
Dominic stood behind her.
“You've been avoiding me.”
She closed the laptop.
“Busy.”
“Liar.”
Their eyes met.
The attraction between them had become increasingly difficult to ignore.
Dominic moved closer.
“You don't trust me.”
“I don't trust anyone.”
“You trusted me enough to sleep for six hours yesterday.”
“That was unconsciousness.”
A faint smile touched his mouth.
Autumn hated that she noticed.
Then Dominic saw her expression.
“What did you find?”
She told him.
His smile disappeared.
“Roman?”
“I need more evidence.”
“You have evidence.”
“I have suspicious logs. That's different.”
Dominic appreciated that distinction.
They set a trap.
Autumn created a fake file suggesting Blackbird’s master key had been moved to a secure server beneath Giovanni’s.
Only Dominic, Autumn and Roman knew.
Three hours later, someone broke into Giovanni's basement.
Dominic's men captured him.
The intruder carried instructions signed with Roman's encrypted authentication key.
Dominic went silent.
Roman was summoned.
He entered the penthouse and saw the evidence.
Then laughed.
“You think I did this?”
“Tell me I’m wrong,” Dominic said.
“You’re wrong.”
Roman removed his jacket.
Then his gun.
He placed it on the table.
“If I wanted you dead, Dom, you would have been dead ten years ago.”
Autumn watched him carefully.
Roman rolled up his sleeve.
A scar ran along his forearm.
Then he placed a flash drive on the table.
“I've been investigating Kestrel for twelve years.”
Dominic stared at him.
Roman explained that Michael Kaine had recruited him before his death.
His final instruction had been simple:
Protect Dominic.
Find Blackbird.
Trust nobody.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because your father told me the leak was inside the family.”
Dominic's expression hardened.
“What family?”
Roman looked toward Autumn.
“Not yours.”
Then toward Dominic.
“Yours.”
The room went silent.
Dominic had one living relative.
His uncle, Vincent Kaine.
The man who had raised him after his father's murder.
The man who had taught him how to run the empire.
The man Dominic trusted more than anyone except Roman.
Autumn opened the Kestrel ownership records again.
She followed an old encrypted signature.
Her screen populated.
VINCENT KAINE — EXECUTIVE AUTHORIZATION.
Dominic stared at it.
“No.”
Roman's voice softened.
“I'm sorry.”
Before anyone could speak again, every light in the penthouse went out.
Autumn heard glass break.
Dominic grabbed her.
Gunfire exploded from the hallway.
Roman overturned the table.
“DOWN!”
Men stormed the penthouse.
Dominic shielded Autumn with his body.
Roman fired twice.
Then the emergency lights flickered on.
A masked attacker stood ten feet away.
His weapon pointed directly at Autumn.
Dominic moved.
The gun fired.
Autumn screamed.
Dominic collapsed against her.
Blood spread across his shirt.
And through the smoke, a familiar voice came from the doorway.
May you like
“Take the girl alive.”
Vincent Kaine stepped into the room.
