Chapter 9 - The Betrayal Inside the Family
Ruby stared at Charles.
"Uncle?"
Charles looked ashamed.
The stranger beside him did not.
He was in his sixties, immaculately dressed, silver-haired, with the calm expression of a man accustomed to entering rooms where everyone else was afraid.
Patrick moved in front of Ruby.
"Sebastian."
The man smiled.
"Patrick."
Dante's eyes narrowed.
"Sebastian Vale."
Ruby knew the name.
Everyone did.
Senator Sebastian Vale.
Former governor.
Presidential adviser.
Public champion of anti-trafficking legislation.
A man who had attended Patrick Gallagher's funeral.
He had hugged Ruby that day.
Told her what an honorable man her father had been.
Ruby felt sick.
"You're on the ledger."
Vale looked at her.
"So you've finally seen it."
Charles stepped forward.
"Ruby, listen to me."
She recoiled.
"You brought him here."
"I didn't have a choice."
"There's always a choice."
Vale smiled faintly.
"Patrick raised you well."
Dante moved beside Ruby.
"Where is Lorenzo?"
Vale's smile faded.
"Unreliable."
"You were using him."
"We used each other."
Patrick looked at Charles.
"How long?"
Charles's eyes filled.
"Patrick—"
"How long?"
"Ten years."
Ruby closed her eyes.
Patrick seemed to age instantly.
"You were my brother."
"I am."
"No."
The single word echoed.
Charles's voice broke.
"They had evidence against me."
"For what?"
"I made one deal."
Patrick laughed bitterly.
"It always starts with one."
Charles continued desperately.
"Gallagher Shipping was collapsing after the recession. I authorized a route I wasn't supposed to authorize."
"What route?"
Charles looked at Ruby.
"Pier Nineteen."
Everything connected.
"You let Enzo use it."
Charles nodded.
"Once."
Vale said calmly, "It became considerably more than once."
Charles glared at him.
Ruby stared at her uncle.
"People were trafficked through our port."
Charles started crying.
"I didn't know at first."
"And afterward?"
He couldn't answer.
Ruby turned away.
Dante squeezed her shoulder.
Vale extended his hand.
"The card."
Ruby looked at him.
"No."
Vale sighed.
"This melodrama is unnecessary."
"You killed my father."
"Technically, Patrick remains alive."
"You forced him to fake his death."
"Patrick chose disappearance."
Patrick said, "After your men sabotaged my car."
Vale shrugged.
"Semantics."
Dante stepped forward.
Vale's guards emerged behind him.
Four.
Armed.
The tunnel was too narrow for a clean fight.
Ruby held the card tighter.
Vale looked at her.
"You are surrounded by men who have spent decades killing each other over secrets that mean nothing to you."
"They mean something to the victims."
"Very noble."
Ruby's anger burned.
"You stood beside me at my father's funeral."
"I attend many funerals."
Dante's expression became murderous.
Ruby touched his arm.
Not yet.
Vale smiled.
"Your husband has excellent instincts."
"He isn't my husband much longer."
Dante's face shifted.
Vale noticed.
Ruby hadn't meant to say it.
Not like that.
But she still didn't know what she wanted.
The marriage had started as strategy.
Whatever came afterward was real.
Maybe.
She needed time.
Vale chuckled.
"Domestic trouble. How unfortunate."
Ruby looked at him.
"What do you want?"
"The ledger."
"And then?"
"You return to your life."
"No one believes that."
"I don't require belief."
Patrick whispered, "Ruby, don't."
Vale raised his weapon.
"Give me the card."
Ruby looked down.
Then she smiled.
Vale frowned.
"What?"
"You all keep assuming the ledger is on this card."
His face changed.
Ruby held it up.
"This is the backup."
Dante looked at her.
He knew she was improvising.
Vale stepped closer.
"Where's the original?"
Ruby said nothing.
Vale pointed the gun at Patrick.
"Where?"
Ruby stared at Charles.
Her uncle looked destroyed.
"Charles knows."
Charles's eyes widened.
Vale turned toward him.
That second was enough.
Dante moved.
He grabbed Vale's wrist.
Marco fired.
Patrick tackled Ruby.
Gunfire exploded through the tunnel.
Charles screamed.
Lights shattered.
Darkness.
Ruby crawled along the wall.
Someone grabbed her ankle.
She kicked hard.
A man cursed.
Ruby found a fallen flashlight.
She swung it.
Hit bone.
The man dropped.
Dante shouted her name.
"Here!"
He reached her.
Blood ran down his sleeve.
"You're hit."
"Graze."
Marco dragged Charles toward them.
Patrick appeared.
"Move!"
They ran.
Behind them, Vale shouted.
"You cannot hide this forever!"
Patrick yelled back.
"We're done hiding!"
They emerged through a drainage exit near the river.
Dante's reinforcements arrived.
Police sirens sounded in the distance.
Ruby looked at him.
"You called police?"
"No."
Patrick smiled faintly.
"I did."
Dante stared.
Patrick shrugged.
"Some of us have been cooperating with federal investigators."
Ruby laughed in disbelief.
"Of course you have."
Charles collapsed against a wall.
He covered his face.
"I'm sorry."
Patrick stared at his brother.
Ruby expected anger.
Instead, Patrick looked devastated.
"You should be."
Federal vehicles arrived.
Agents surrounded the area.
A woman approached Patrick.
"Mr. Gallagher."
"Agent Sloan."
Ruby stared.
Her father had apparently been part of an active operation.
Sloan looked at Ruby.
"You have the evidence?"
Ruby held up the microSD card.
"Some."
"Where's the rest?"
Ruby frowned.
"The rest?"
Sloan looked at Patrick.
He looked confused.
"Ruby has the ledger."
Sloan shook her head.
"No."
Everyone went still.
"The financial ledger is only half of it."
Patrick's face changed.
"What are you talking about?"
"The witness archive."
Patrick stared.
"I never created one."
Sloan looked worried.
"Then someone else did."
Dante asked, "What archive?"
"Video testimony from victims, employees, informants."
Ruby's pulse quickened.
"Who has it?"
Sloan hesitated.
"Elena."
Ruby looked at Dante.
Elena was back at the mansion.
Sloan continued.
"We lost contact with her twenty minutes ago."
Dante grabbed his phone.
No signal.
Marco tried the estate line.
Nothing.
Ruby's stomach dropped.
They rushed to the cars.
Dante drove himself.
Ruby sat beside him.
No one spoke.
When they reached the mansion, the gates stood open.
Security lights were off.
Dante stopped the car.
"This is wrong."
They entered cautiously.
The grand hallway was empty.
Ruby's footsteps echoed.
"Sofia?"
No answer.
"Dante."
He saw it.
A trail of blood.
They followed it toward the study.
The door stood open.
Inside, papers covered the floor.
The marriage contract was gone.
Elena was gone.
On Dante's desk lay a white rose.
Beneath it was a note.
Ruby unfolded it.
Three words.
BRING YOUR HUSBAND.
She turned the note over.
A location.
Then another line.
COME ALONE, OR YOUR MOTHER DIES.
Ruby looked up.
Dante was reading her face.
"What does it say?"
She closed her hand around the note.
May you like
For the first time in her life, Ruby Gallagher decided to lie to protect him.
"Nothing."
