Chapter 4 - A Traitor at the Dinner Table
Adrian stared at the security monitor.
Charles Mercer smiled calmly into the camera.
The child beside him was perhaps seven.
Dark coat.
Pale face.
Terrified eyes.
Emma moved closer.
“Who is that boy?”
Nobody answered.
Charles pressed the intercom.
“I came to return something that belongs to your family.”
Adrian's security chief said, “We take him now.”
“No.”
“Boss—”
“He wouldn't come to my front gate without leverage.”
Charles looked directly into the camera.
“I know you're listening, Emma.”
She felt Adrian's eyes on her.
Charles continued.
“Your mother lied to you.”
Margaret stepped forward.
“Don't listen.”
Charles smiled.
“Adrian lied to you too.”
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“And Lucas?”
Charles glanced at the boy beside him.
“Lucas has been lied to most of all.”
Emma reached for the intercom.
Adrian caught her wrist.
“No.”
“He came for me.”
“He came for the key.”
“Then let's hear what he wants.”
Adrian studied her.
Emma expected him to order her away.
Instead he released her.
She pressed the button.
“Who is the child?”
Charles's smile widened.
“Hello, Emma.”
“Answer me.”
“Still impatient.”
“Still kidnapping women?”
Margaret flinched.
Charles ignored it.
“This boy is named Noah.”
“Who is he?”
“A witness.”
“To what?”
“To the night Elena Vale died.”
Adrian stepped forward.
Charles saw him on the camera.
“Ah. There you are.”
Adrian pressed the microphone.
“You have sixty seconds to release the boy.”
“And then?”
“You find out.”
Charles chuckled.
“That temper was always your weakness.”
Emma looked at Adrian.
Always?
“You knew him,” she whispered.
Adrian didn't answer.
Charles had heard.
“Of course he knew me.”
Emma turned on Adrian.
“You said you didn't.”
“I said I didn't know him when Lucas was born.”
“Technical distinction.”
Charles laughed through the speaker.
“Ask Adrian about Baltimore.”
Adrian's eyes stayed on the monitor.
“This isn't about Baltimore.”
“No. It's about fathers.”
Charles raised a folder.
“You have David's files. I have Antonio's confession.”
Adrian became completely still.
Charles continued.
“We exchange.”
“For the boy?”
“For the boy and the truth.”
Emma's mother whispered, “He's lying.”
“Probably,” Emma said.
But she wanted the confession.
So did Adrian.
They all knew it.
Charles was allowed into the outer security vestibule alone with Noah.
Adrian's men searched him.
No visible weapon.
No electronics except a phone they confiscated.
No explosives.
Emma watched from behind ballistic glass.
Charles looked older than she remembered from three months earlier.
Gray at his temples.
Expensive coat.
Calm smile.
The same man who had cooked Christmas dinner.
The same man who had taught Emma how to change a tire.
The same man who apparently arranged her father's death.
When the inner door opened, Noah immediately ran toward Rosa.
Charles didn't stop him.
Adrian stood ten feet away.
“Where did you get the boy?”
“His father worked for me.”
“Worked?”
“Past tense.”
Emma's stomach turned.
Charles looked at her.
“You look like David when you're angry.”
“Don't say his name.”
“He was my friend once.”
“You killed him.”
“No.”
“You ordered him stopped.”
“Yes.”
The room fell silent.
Margaret took one step forward.
“You admitted it.”
Charles barely glanced at her.
“I ordered men to stop David from leaving Philadelphia with information that would have started a war.”
“He died.”
“That was not the order.”
Emma wanted to strike him.
Adrian moved slightly between them.
Not possessive.
Protective.
Charles noticed.
“That happened quickly.”
Emma snapped, “Don't.”
“What? Mention the obvious?”
“There is nothing obvious.”
Lucas appeared at the stairs.
Charles smiled.
“Hello, Lucas.”
Adrian's voice cut through the room.
“Do not speak to my son.”
Lucas stopped.
Recognition crossed his face.
“Uncle Charles.”
Emma's blood went cold.
Adrian looked at Lucas.
“How many times did he meet you?”
Lucas held up three fingers.
Charles said, “Your security isn't as impressive as you think.”
Adrian's chief looked furious.
Charles opened his folder.
“Antonio Vale knew someone was targeting children connected to powerful families. David discovered who. Elena helped him copy the records.”
Emma said, “Why?”
“Because Elena wasn't just Adrian's wife.”
Charles placed a photograph on the table.
Elena wore a federal identification badge.
Adrian stared.
“Fake.”
“No.”
“You're saying she was federal?”
“She began that way.”
Adrian looked as if someone had struck him.
Charles continued.
“Then she fell in love with you. Complicated things.”
“Why would she work with David?”
“Because David discovered an operation inside law enforcement itself. Officers, prosecutors, private security firms. People making careers from the crimes they claimed to fight.”
Emma looked at her mother.
Margaret nodded slowly.
“That fits.”
Charles smiled.
“Of course it does.”
Emma turned back.
“Then why did you want the files destroyed?”
“Because my name is in them.”
At least he didn't pretend.
“Doing what?”
Charles leaned against the table.
“Things I regret.”
“That's convenient.”
“No. Convenient would be lying.”
Emma wanted to hate him simply.
He wasn't allowing it.
“Did you kill Elena?”
Adrian asked.
Charles looked at him.
“No.”
“Who did?”
“I came tonight to tell you.”
“Tell me.”
Charles shook his head.
“Key first.”
Adrian smiled without humor.
“No.”
Charles sighed.
“Then we wait.”
“I'm not giving you anything.”
“You will.”
“Why?”
“Because the person who killed Elena is sitting in this house.”
The statement hit the room like a bomb.
Adrian's men exchanged looks.
Rosa crossed herself.
Emma looked around.
“Who?”
Charles smiled.
“Dinner first.”
Adrian stared at him in disbelief.
“You expect to eat?”
“I haven't eaten since lunch.”
“You're insane.”
“Possibly.”
Emma understood what he was doing.
He wanted everyone in one place.
He wanted tension.
He wanted whoever the traitor was to feel trapped.
So Adrian did something unexpected.
He agreed.
Twenty minutes later, they sat around the long dining table.
Adrian.
Emma.
Margaret.
Rosa.
Charles.
Adrian's security chief, Vincent.
Two senior men.
Noah and Lucas ate in the kitchen under guard.
The scene was surreal.
Charles ate roast chicken as if attending a family reunion.
Emma couldn't swallow anything.
Adrian watched everyone.
Finally Charles placed his fork down.
“Elena contacted me two days before she died.”
Adrian's expression remained cold.
“She hated you.”
“She had reason.”
“What did she say?”
“That she'd identified the person controlling the child-leverage network.”
“Who?”
“She never said the name.”
“Then you're useless.”
“She gave me a phrase.”
Emma leaned forward.
“What phrase?”
Charles looked at Adrian.
“Blood sits closest to power.”
Adrian frowned.
“My family?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Charles looked around the table.
“One of the people here.”
Vincent stood.
“This is ridiculous.”
Charles smiled.
“Sit down, Vincent.”
Vincent's hand moved toward his jacket.
Adrian said softly, “Sit.”
Vincent obeyed.
Emma watched him.
Forty-three.
Former Marine.
According to what she'd gathered, Adrian's closest friend.
Head of security.
The man responsible for Lucas's protection.
The man who insisted Charles could never have approached the boy.
Emma thought of the school.
“He got to Lucas three times,” she said.
Vincent looked at her.
“I know.”
“You said no unauthorized person had approached him.”
“I was wrong.”
“Or you allowed it.”
Adrian's eyes shifted to Vincent.
Charles said nothing.
He didn't need to.
Vincent stood again.
“I've protected that boy since he was born.”
Adrian's voice was quiet.
“And Elena?”
Vincent stopped.
Emma noticed the smallest change.
Adrian did too.
“Sit down,” he said.
Vincent didn't.
Adrian rose.
“Vincent.”
“I loved her too.”
Adrian's face changed.
Vincent's eyes filled with something almost desperate.
“Not like that.”
“Then explain.”
“She found things she wasn't supposed to find.”
Charles whispered, “There.”
Vincent looked at him with hatred.
“You did this.”
“No. You did.”
Vincent pulled a gun.
Everything happened at once.
Adrian shoved Emma down.
A shot exploded.
The chandelier shattered.
Guards drew weapons.
Vincent backed toward the door with his gun aimed at Charles.
“Tell him the whole truth!”
Charles did not move.
Vincent's hands shook.
“Tell Adrian who gave the order!”
Adrian stared at him.
“Who?”
Vincent laughed brokenly.
“You really don't know.”
“Know what?”
“Elena wasn't killed because she found the network.”
Adrian took one step closer.
“Then why?”
Vincent's eyes moved toward Emma.
“Because she found out who Emma was.”
Emma felt ice move through her veins.
“What does that mean?”
Vincent's weapon lowered slightly.
Adrian said, “Who is Emma?”
Vincent opened his mouth.
A gunshot cracked from outside the window.
Vincent dropped.
Blood spread across his shirt.
Everyone moved.
Adrian's men rushed toward the garden.
Emma crawled to Vincent.
He was alive.
Barely.
She pressed her hands against the wound.
“Who am I?”
Vincent coughed.
“Ask…”
“Ask who?”
His eyes moved toward Rosa.
Then upstairs.
“Antonio…”
“Antonio is dead.”
Vincent shook his head weakly.
“No.”
Emma froze.
“What?”
Adrian knelt beside him.
Vincent struggled for breath.
“Your father… isn't…”
The lights died.
A security alarm began screaming.
Then a voice came through the mansion speakers.
Old.
Rough.
Impossible.
“Adrian.”
Adrian slowly stood.
Rosa whispered a prayer.
Because every person in the room recognized the voice of Antonio Vale.
The mafia king who had been buried eleven years earlier.
May you like
And the voice said:
“Son, open the basement door.”
