Chapter 5 - BLOOD IN THE CONSERVATORYThe shot shattered the mirror.
Diego dragged Navy to the floor.
Glass rained across the carpet.
Another bullet struck the wall.
Thomas shouted.
Security returned fire.
For five seconds, Navy could hear nothing except gunshots and her own heartbeat.
Then emergency lights flashed red.
Diego shoved her behind the bed.
“Stay down.”
“Are you hit?”
“No.”
He sounded irritated that she asked.
Victor was gone.
The place where he had fallen was empty.
Navy stared.
“He escaped.”
“I know.”
Thomas crawled toward them.
Blood ran from his temple.
“Servants’ staircase.”
Diego grabbed his radio.
“Luca, Victor is moving east.”
Static.
Then Luca’s voice.
“Copy.”
Navy looked toward the broken doorway.
“Who shot at you?”
“Unknown.”
Thomas laughed weakly.
“That narrows the Ramos staff considerably.”
Diego ignored him.
He took Navy’s hand.
“We move.”
They escaped through the rear conservatory.
Snow struck the glass roof above dying winter plants.
Two Ramos guards led the way.
One followed behind.
Navy recognized all three.
Marco.
Elias.
And Stefan.
Stefan had driven Diego to the cathedral.
Victor’s words echoed.
The person closest to Diego is mine.
Navy watched the men.
Marco checked corners.
Elias covered the rear.
Stefan walked behind Diego.
Too close.
His right hand remained inside his coat.
Navy’s instincts tightened.
“Diego.”
He glanced back.
Stefan drew a gun.
Navy moved before she thought.
She slammed into Diego.
The gun fired.
Pain tore across her upper arm.
Diego hit the floor with her.
Marco shot Stefan twice.
The traitor collapsed against a marble planter.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then Diego saw blood spreading down Navy’s sleeve.
His face changed completely.
“Navy.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“Still fine.”
“You have a ridiculous definition of fine.”
He ripped open the sleeve.
The bullet had grazed her arm.
Painful.
Bloody.
Not life-threatening.
Diego pressed cloth against it.
His hands shook.
Navy noticed.
She had never seen them shake before.
“You’re scared.”
“No.”
“You are.”
He looked at her.
“Do not sound pleased.”
Despite everything, Navy almost smiled.
Luca arrived seconds later.
He stared at Stefan’s body.
“Son of a—”
“Later,” Diego snapped.
Thomas leaned against a pillar.
“We need to leave.”
Sirens sounded in the distance.
Victor had escaped.
Again.
But they had the ledger.
The drives.
And the photographs.
Back at Ramos House, Diego ordered every employee confined to designated areas until security could verify identities and financial records.
Benjamin was gone.
His apartment had been emptied.
Two passports disappeared from his safe.
The photographs proved meetings with Victor but not assassination orders.
The flash drives contained far more.
Bank transfers.
Payoffs.
Political bribes.
Recorded conversations.
Evidence connecting Victor to at least seven murders.
And buried in a folder labeled E.M. were medical payments to Saint Catherine’s.
Navy sat in Diego’s office while a private doctor bandaged her arm.
Thomas occupied the couch opposite.
Diego paced.
“You should be at a hospital.”
Navy sighed.
“The doctor said it’s superficial.”
“You were shot.”
“Grazed.”
Thomas muttered, “You two argue like you’ve been married twenty years.”
Both looked at him.
He raised his hands.
“Sorry.”
Navy’s anger returned.
“You do not get to make jokes.”
Thomas lowered his gaze.
Fair.
Diego dismissed the doctor.
Then turned to Thomas.
“Tell us everything.”
Thomas stared at the floor.
“I don’t know where to begin.”
Navy answered.
“Mateo.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
He had carried the secret for three years.
Now the room waited.
“Father convinced me Diego was going to attack the south docks.”
Diego remained silent.
Thomas continued.
“He said if you died, Ramos leadership would fracture.”
“You wanted my territory.”
“Yes.”
“Mateo changed cars.”
Thomas nodded.
“I learned afterward.”
Diego stepped closer.
“You watched my uncle die because you wanted a promotion.”
Thomas looked up.
“There is nothing I can say.”
“You could say where Victor is.”
“I don’t know.”
Diego’s voice turned colder.
“Try harder.”
Navy stood.
“Stop.”
Diego looked at her.
She did not defend Thomas.
But she knew what Diego looked like when revenge took control.
“Thomas deserves consequences.”
“He deserves a grave.”
“Maybe.”
Thomas flinched.
Navy continued.
“But killing him tonight doesn’t find my father.”
Diego stared at her for a long moment.
Then he walked away.
Thomas whispered, “Thank you.”
Navy turned on him.
“That wasn’t for you.”
His face fell.
Good.
She needed him to understand.
“You sold me.”
“I know.”
“You knew Diego believed Father ordered Mateo’s death.”
“Yes.”
“You let him marry me for revenge against something you did.”
Thomas’s eyes filled.
“I was a coward.”
“Yes.”
“I thought Diego might spare you once he realized—”
“Realized what?”
“That you weren’t Father.”
Navy laughed bitterly.
“That was your plan?”
“No.”
Thomas pressed both hands against his face.
“There was no plan.”
That answer sounded truthful.
Which made it worse.
Navy walked toward the window.
For a moment, the room became silent.
Then Thomas spoke.
“There is something else about the scars.”
Navy stopped.
Diego turned.
Thomas stared at his sister.
“I know why Father started hurting you.”
She looked at him.
“He was always cruel.”
“Not like that.”
Navy’s stomach tightened.
“What happened?”
Thomas swallowed.
“When you were fourteen, you found Mother’s letters.”
Navy frowned.
“I never found letters.”
“You did.”
“No.”
Thomas looked confused.
“You confronted Father.”
“I don’t remember that.”
Diego’s eyes sharpened.
Thomas continued.
“You accused him of locking Mother away.”
Navy shook her head.
“I thought she was dead.”
“Afterward.”
A chill moved through her.
“What are you saying?”
Thomas looked sick.
“Dr. Kerr came that night.”
Diego immediately understood.
Navy did not.
“Why?”
Thomas’s voice broke.
“Father had him sedate you.”
Navy stared.
“For what?”
“I don’t know exactly.”
“Thomas.”
“I swear.”
He looked at her with tears in his eyes.
“You screamed for hours.”
Navy’s skin went cold.
A memory surfaced.
Not clear.
A white ceiling.
Leather beneath her wrists.
Her father’s voice saying, This is what happens when girls invent stories.
Then nothing.
Navy gripped the desk.
Diego moved beside her.
She pulled away instinctively.
“What did Kerr do?”
Thomas whispered, “Afterward you stopped asking about Mother.”
The truth landed.
Victor had not only beaten Navy.
He may have drugged or manipulated her memory.
Diego’s rage became almost frighteningly quiet.
“Where is Dr. Kerr?”
Thomas answered immediately.
“Private clinic in Westchester.”
Diego picked up his phone.
Navy stopped him.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“I go.”
“Absolutely not.”
“This happened to me.”
“You were shot tonight.”
“Grazed.”
“Navy.”
She stepped closer.
“You promised something.”
His jaw tightened.
“If something hurts me, it stops.”
“Yes.”
“Then stop deciding for me.”
Silence.
Luca glanced away, wisely pretending not to listen.
Diego looked at Navy for a long time.
Finally, “We go together.”
Dr. Kerr’s clinic was empty when they arrived the next morning.
His receptionist claimed he had left unexpectedly.
Security cameras showed him departing at 4:12 a.m.
But inside his office, Navy found something he had failed to destroy.
A locked cabinet.
The key was missing.
Diego broke it.
Inside sat dozens of patient files.
Navy’s name appeared on seven.
She opened the first.
Sedation.
Trauma management.
Behavioral correction.
Experimental memory suppression therapy.
Navy stared at the words.
Diego went completely still.
Thomas whispered, “Jesus.”
At the bottom of the page was Victor Martin’s signature.
But another name appeared beside it.
AUTHORIZING FAMILY REPRESENTATIVE: E. MARTIN.
Navy’s breath stopped.
Evelyn Martin.
Her mother.
“No.”
Diego took the page.
“It could be forged.”
Navy backed away.
“My mother signed it.”
“We don’t know that.”
Navy remembered Evelyn’s embrace.
Her tears.
Her story.
She had believed every word because she desperately wanted to.
Now doubt entered.
Thomas picked up another file.
His face changed.
“Navy.”
“What?”
He handed it to her.
A note from Dr. Kerr.
MRS. MARTIN REQUESTS CONTINUED TREATMENT. STATES PATIENT’S KNOWLEDGE PRESENTS DANGER TO FAMILY.
Navy read it twice.
Her mother had told her Victor alone destroyed their family.
But the documents suggested something worse.
Evelyn may not have been only a victim.
May you like
She may have helped Victor erase Navy’s memories.
And somewhere beneath years of sedation and fear was a secret important enough that both her parents had wanted their daughter to forget.
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