Chapter 9 - A Betrayal Inside the Family
Alessandro did not deny it.
That was worse.
Dante lowered his gun slightly.
“Father?”
Alessandro stared at Robert.
“You don’t know what happened.”
Robert laughed bitterly.
“I was there.”
Josephine looked at Sarah.
Her mother’s face had gone pale.
“Is it true?”
Sarah whispered, “Michael discovered Alessandro was still funding Harbor.”
Dante looked at his father.
“You told me Victor corrupted it.”
“He did.”
“Did you order Michael killed?”
Alessandro’s silence became confession.
Josephine felt nauseated.
Alessandro finally spoke.
“I ordered Michael brought to me.”
Robert shouted, “You knew Victor’s men would kill him.”
“I miscalculated.”
“People died every time you miscalculated.”
Dante’s face had become unreadable.
Josephine recognized that expression.
The same calm he wore at the memorial.
The calm before something broke.
“Why fake your death?” Dante asked.
Alessandro answered, “To escape Victor.”
“No. Why leave me?”
“To keep you alive.”
Dante laughed once.
Josephine had heard that phrase too often.
Robert relaxed his grip on Sarah.
“I needed everyone to hear the truth before Alessandro rewrote history again.”
Josephine said, “Then put the gun down.”
Robert looked at her.
“I didn’t know how else to make him confess.”
“You pointed a gun at my mother.”
“I would never hurt her.”
Sarah said, “Robert.”
He slowly lowered it.
Dante’s men moved in.
But Josephine stopped them.
“No.”
Robert had made terrible choices.
But he had also saved her.
Reality refused easy villains.
Except Victor.
Victor remained easy.
They gathered around the servers.
Joseph opened the archive using his DNA.
Millions of files.
Evidence.
Enough to destroy Harbor permanently.
Dante contacted a federal prosecutor outside Chicago’s compromised network.
Sarah knew her.
Someone Victor had tried to remove years ago.
They arranged secure transfer.
For a brief moment, victory seemed possible.
Then alarms sounded.
Victor had returned.
Not alone.
Dozens of men surrounded the building.
He had realized the ledger was fake.
Dante checked security feeds.
“We’re trapped.”
Josephine looked toward the lake.
Boat access.
Sarah said, “There’s an old Harbor tunnel.”
“Where?”
“Under the server floor.”
They opened it.
A narrow passage led toward the waterfront.
But transferring the files would take eighteen minutes.
Someone had to remain.
Joseph volunteered.
Josephine refused.
Dante volunteered.
Alessandro stopped him.
“No.”
Dante looked at his father.
Alessandro smiled sadly.
“I already abandoned you once.”
“Don’t make this about redemption.”
“It isn’t.”
“Then what?”
“Choice.”
Alessandro sat at the console.
“For once, my choice.”
Dante stood frozen.
Then nodded.
They entered the tunnel.
Alessandro remained behind.
Victor’s men breached the upper level.
Gunfire echoed.
Josephine moved through darkness holding Joseph’s hand.
Sarah behind them.
Robert and Evelyn followed.
Dante last.
At the tunnel exit they found a speedboat.
Dante’s man started the engine.
The building behind them erupted with gunfire.
Then all its lights went out.
Dante stared back.
His phone vibrated.
Upload complete.
Alessandro had succeeded.
Federal servers now held Harbor.
A second message appeared.
From his father.
Live better than I did.
Then the building exploded.
Dante closed his eyes.
Josephine touched his shoulder.
No words.
Sometimes grief did not need them.
They escaped onto Lake Michigan.
By sunrise, federal raids began across Chicago.
Judges.
Officers.
Businesses.
Safe houses.
Harbor collapsed.
Victor Hale disappeared.
Again.
Three days later Josephine sat beside Joseph in a secure apartment.
He was recovering.
Dante had gone quiet after his father’s death.
Sarah slept in the next room.
Robert remained under investigation.
Not arrested yet.
Too many facts needed sorting.
Josephine looked at Joseph.
“What happens to us?”
He knew what she meant.
Not Victor.
Not Harbor.
Them.
“I don’t know.”
“Good.”
Joseph blinked.
“Good?”
“For once, don’t pretend you know.”
He smiled faintly.
“I can do that.”
“I love you.”
His eyes lifted.
“But I don’t trust you yet.”
“I know.”
“And love doesn’t automatically fix that.”
“I know.”
“You’ll have to tell me things even when you think the truth will hurt.”
“I will.”
“You say that now.”
“I’ll say it tomorrow too.”
Josephine took his hand.
“We start there.”
The television interrupted.
Breaking news.
A body had been recovered from the wreckage.
Investigators believed it was Victor Hale.
Joseph sat forward.
“No.”
Josephine looked at him.
“What?”
“Victor would never stay inside a building he knew could explode.”
Dante called seconds later.
“Turn off the TV.”
“Why?”
“The body isn’t Victor.”
Josephine already knew.
Dante continued.
“Victor emptied one account before the raid.”
“How much?”
“Eighty million.”
Joseph looked grim.
“Where did it go?”
Dante answered.
“A company registered to Josephine.”
She froze.
“I don’t own a company.”
“You do now.”
He sent the document.
MILLER HARBOR HOLDINGS.
Created four years earlier.
The signature at the bottom looked like Josephine’s.
But she had never signed it.
Joseph studied the incorporation date.
Their wedding day.
He whispered, “Victor planned this before we even knew.”
Josephine’s phone chimed.
An email.
From Victor Hale.
Subject:
YOUR HUSBAND STILL HASN’T TOLD YOU WHY HE MARRIED YOU.
Josephine slowly turned toward Joseph.
May you like
His face told her enough.
There was still another secret.
