Chapter 5 - The Man Victor Trusted Most
Victor stared at the radio as if it had transformed into a snake.
Then he pressed the transmit button.
“Declan.”
Silence.
“You want to tell me what the hell you just said?”
Another pause.
Then Declan answered.
“I said you should stay away from the windows.”
“No.”
Victor’s voice became deadly calm.
“You said elevator.”
Nothing.
Mercer groaned beside us.
I pressed fabric against his shoulder.
Victor looked toward the shattered windows.
The sniper had stopped firing.
That meant the objective had never been to kill everyone.
One bullet hit Mercer.
The rest drove us down.
A warning.
Or an interruption.
Victor spoke into the radio again.
“Come upstairs.”
“I’m securing the perimeter.”
“Now.”
“Victor—”
“Now.”
No response.
Victor looked at me.
“He’s gone.”
“Yes.”
We both knew.
Declan would not come.
The elevator security system suddenly shut down.
Fire alarms activated.
Emergency doors closed throughout the building.
A voice came over the speaker.
EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY.
Victor laughed.
“Subtle.”
I checked Mercer.
“We need a hospital.”
“No public hospital,” Mercer whispered.
“You’ve been shot.”
“And federal agents would love the statement.”
Victor called a private medical team using an analog emergency line.
Then the office door opened.
I spun.
Harris entered with his weapon raised.
“Don’t shoot.”
Victor almost did anyway.
Harris saw Mercer.
“What happened?”
“Ask your task force.”
“What?”
“Sniper.”
Harris moved toward the window.
“Across Madison?”
“Yes.”
His face tightened.
“That building was under federal observation.”
Victor stared.
“And?”
“Our team was pulled thirty minutes ago.”
“By who?”
“My supervisor.”
“Name.”
“Deputy Director Malcolm Reed.”
Mercer laughed weakly.
Victor looked at him.
“You know him?”
Mercer nodded.
“Aegis.”
Harris turned.
“What?”
“Reed helped build federal access for Aegis.”
The conspiracy widened.
Harris crouched beside him.
“You have proof?”
“Carlo did.”
Victor’s patience snapped.
“My father has been dead for four years. Everyone keeps telling me what he knew. Where is the damn evidence?”
Mercer closed his eyes.
“Chapel.”
Victor looked at me.
Carlo’s old estate.
Outside the city.
Victor had not visited since his father’s funeral.
We moved Mercer into the private clinic hidden beneath one of Victor’s legitimate hospitality properties.
Harris came with us.
I didn’t trust him.
Victor trusted him even less.
But if a federal deputy director was involved, Harris had just become a target too.
At 2:20 P.M., Harris received confirmation.
Malcolm Reed had suspended him.
Effective immediately.
“Reason?” I asked.
“Compromised investigation.”
Victor smiled.
“Welcome to the criminal organization.”
Harris didn’t appreciate that.
By sunset, we drove north.
Carlo Rossi’s estate stood behind iron gates surrounded by autumn forest.
The main house was dark.
The chapel sat fifty yards away.
Small.
Stone.
Built by Victor’s grandfather.
Victor unlocked the door.
Dust covered everything.
At the altar, Victor stood still.
“My mother used to make me come here Sundays.”
“You?”
“Yes.”
“I’m trying to imagine that.”
“Careful.”
Harris checked the walls.
“Mercer said behind the chapel wall.”
Victor looked at a marble plaque.
CARLO AND ISABELLA ROSSI — FAMILY ABOVE ALL.
His mother was still alive.
Living in Florence most of the year.
Victor ran his hand along the wall.
A panel clicked.
Hidden compartment.
Inside was a metal case.
Victor opened it.
Files.
Hard drives.
Photographs.
And a letter addressed to him.
Victor stared at his father’s handwriting for a long moment.
Then opened it.
Victor,
If you are reading this, then I did not finish what I started.
I watched his face.
He continued reading silently.
Then handed the letter to me.
Carlo explained everything.
The laundering network.
Mercer.
Sullivan.
Robert Harris.
Michael Kane.
But the final pages revealed something no one had told us.
Carlo discovered a younger man inside his organization had rebuilt Mercer’s system with modern technology.
Aegis.
That man was Declan Shaw.
Victor sat down.
Harris cursed quietly.
Declan’s father, Patrick Shaw, died at Pier 19.
He had not been protecting Carlo.
He had been one of Sullivan’s men.
Victor stared at the letter.
“My entire life…”
I sat beside him.
“You didn’t know.”
“He grew up with me.”
“I know.”
“I paid for his mother’s house.”
“I know.”
“He stood beside my father’s casket.”
Victor’s voice broke slightly.
Only slightly.
That hurt more than shouting would have.
Harris examined the files.
“Declan has motive.”
“Revenge?” I asked.
Harris nodded.
“Carlo’s war with Sullivan got Patrick killed.”
“But Declan worked for Victor for fifteen years.”
“Long revenge.”
Victor looked at another document.
Then froze.
“What?”
He handed it to me.
Aegis corporate succession agreement.
If Mercer became incapacitated, controlling authority transferred through an anonymous trust.
Beneficiary:
DECLAN P. SHAW.
Mercer hadn’t lost Aegis.
It had been legally taken from him.
Declan controlled surveillance.
Data.
Contracts.
And federal access through Reed.
“He manufactured everything,” I said.
Victor nodded.
“The route attack.”
“Yes.”
“The drugs.”
“Yes.”
“Financial records.”
“Yes.”
“The elevator camera.”
“Yes.”
Harris turned.
“Why the fake romance?”
I thought about it.
Why photograph Victor and me?
Why leak those images?
Then I understood.
“Me.”
Victor looked at me.
“Declan needed me compromised.”
“Why?”
“Because I can prove the financial evidence is fake.”
Harris nodded.
“If you’re portrayed as Victor’s lover, your testimony looks biased.”
Exactly.
The elevator wasn’t just surveillance.
It was narrative.
Victor stared.
“So he made the secretary look like the boss’s girlfriend.”
“Yes.”
“And now?”
“Now he’ll make me look like an accomplice.”
My phone vibrated.
No signal should exist inside the stone chapel.
Yet the screen lit.
A message.
A video attachment.
I opened it.
My apartment.
Live feed.
Someone inside.
Then the camera moved.
My younger brother, Ryan, sat tied to a chair.
I stopped breathing.
Victor saw.
His expression changed instantly.
Ryan was thirty-one.
Teacher.
No connection to Rossi Enterprises.
No criminal associations.
Nothing.
A man stepped into frame.
Declan.
He smiled at the camera.
“Elena.”
Victor grabbed the phone.
Declan continued.
“I’m sorry it came to this.”
“Touch him and I kill you,” Victor said, though Declan couldn’t hear.
Declan smiled as if he could.
“You have something I want.”
Camera shifted.
Ryan struggled.
“Carlo’s files,” Declan said. “Bring them to Aegis headquarters at midnight.”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
Declan continued.
“Come alone, Elena.”
Victor laughed coldly.
“Absolutely not.”
“If Victor comes inside, Ryan dies.”
The video froze.
Then one final message.
MIDNIGHT.
I looked at Victor.
“I’m going.”
“No.”
“Victor.”
“No.”
“That’s my brother.”
“And Declan wants you.”
“I know.”
“Then we find another way.”
Harris spoke.
“Aegis headquarters is secure.”
Victor looked at him.
“You’ve been inside?”
“Yes.”
“How many entrances?”
“Three.”
“Roof?”
“Helipad.”
Victor started planning.
I knew that expression.
“Victor.”
He ignored me.
“Harris, federal tactical layout?”
“Possibly.”
“Get it.”
“Victor.”
He turned.
“I’m going inside.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“He said alone.”
“He also said pretend you love me.”
I stared.
Victor stepped closer.
“Declan thinks he understands our relationship.”
“What relationship?”
His eyes held mine.
For a second the chapel became very quiet.
Then Victor said, “Exactly.”
He smiled slightly.
“He thinks you’re my weakness.”
“Am I?”
Victor didn’t answer.
That was answer enough.
At 11:58 P.M., I walked into Aegis headquarters carrying Carlo Rossi’s metal case.
Alone.
At least that was what Declan believed.
The lobby lights were dim.
Security gates opened automatically.
Elevator doors waited.
Brass interior.
Mirrored walls.
Same design as the Continental.
Same red camera light.
I stepped inside.
The doors closed.
Declan’s voice came through the speaker.
“Welcome back, Elena.”
I looked toward the camera.
“Where’s Ryan?”
“Safe.”
“Show me.”
Screen activated.
Ryan alive.
Still tied.
“Now the files.”
“When he walks out.”
Declan laughed.
“You’ve been around Victor too long.”
“Occupational hazard.”
The elevator rose.
Twenty floors.
Thirty.
Forty.
Then stopped.
Doors opened.
Declan stood outside.
Alone.
He wore a dark suit.
No weapon visible.
“Come.”
I followed him into a massive security-control center.
Hundreds of camera feeds covered the walls.
Hotels.
Warehouses.
Offices.
Government buildings.
Private homes.
One screen showed Victor.
Standing outside Aegis headquarters.
Declan smiled.
“I told him not to come.”
“He never listens.”
“No.”
Declan looked almost sad.
“He was like a brother.”
“Brothers don’t frame each other.”
“You don’t know the Rossis.”
“I know Victor.”
Declan’s expression changed.
“That’s the problem.”
He took the case.
Opened it.
Empty.
His face darkened.
I smiled.
“Accountants make copies.”
Alarms erupted.
Victor’s teams breached the building.
Declan grabbed my arm.
Then the screens changed.
Every screen.
A new feed appeared.
Victor.
Not outside.
Inside.
Declan stared.
“How?”
I looked toward the elevator camera.
“Security systems are useful.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You hacked Aegis?”
“No.”
Robert Harris stepped from behind the control-room wall.
Declan’s face drained.
Robert smiled.
“You inherited my access.”
For the first time, Declan looked afraid.
Then he pressed a button.
A red countdown appeared on every screen.
10:00.
09:59.
09:58.
Harris stared.
“What did you do?”
Declan smiled.
“Everything uploads in ten minutes.”
“To where?”
“Every newsroom, federal server, prosecutor, bank.”
My stomach dropped.
Fabricated evidence.
All of it.
Once released simultaneously, the damage would become impossible to contain.
Victor entered the control room.
He saw Declan holding my arm.
His expression became murderous.
“Let her go.”
Declan laughed.
“There he is.”
Victor stepped forward.
“Let her go.”
“You always did choose the wrong family.”
Victor’s eyes never left mine.
Declan whispered into my ear.
“Tell him the best part.”
I frowned.
“What?”
Declan smiled.
“Ask him what happened to your father the night he died.”
Victor froze.
I looked at him.
Declan laughed.
“Oh, Elena.”
My heart began pounding.
“Victor was there.”
I stared at Victor.
He didn’t deny it.
May you like
And suddenly the man I trusted most looked like the last person on earth I knew.
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