Chapter 6 - The Night the Empire Turned Against Him
Emma should have run.
Instead she stepped outside.
Cole's men surrounded her immediately.
The mansion door slammed behind her.
One man pushed her toward the sedan.
Emma looked back once.
Adrian stood behind the glass.
Fury in his face.
She shook her head.
Don't.
If he attacked now, Lucas died.
Emma entered the car.
Cole sat across from her.
He looked exactly like he did on television.
Silver hair.
Perfect suit.
Reassuring voice.
The sort of man voters trusted.
“You look like David.”
“I keep hearing that.”
“He was stubborn too.”
“You killed him.”
“I corrected a problem.”
Emma's stomach twisted.
“And Elena?”
“Another problem.”
“You murdered a mother.”
“She chose a dangerous profession.”
“You're a prosecutor.”
“I am many things.”
The sedan moved.
Emma kept her breathing controlled.
“What do you want from me?”
“Access.”
“To the network's archive.”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“You live.”
“That's a terrible lie.”
Cole smiled.
“David also had difficulty pretending.”
They reached Pier Nine shortly before dawn.
An abandoned shipping office stood beside the river.
Emma was taken inside.
Computers waited.
Biometric scanners.
A steel case.
Cole gestured toward a chair.
“Sit.”
Emma did.
A technician took her fingerprints.
Retina scan.
Voice sample.
Each authentication unlocked another layer.
Emma understood something.
Cole wasn't just destroying evidence.
He was trying to recover control of the entire network.
“You lost access.”
“Antonio locked me out eleven years ago.”
“Before he died.”
“Yes.”
“And Dad's system kept you out.”
“Until tonight.”
Emma smiled faintly.
“So my father beat you for eight years.”
Cole's expression tightened.
“Temporary inconvenience.”
“Sounds like losing.”
The technician hid a smile.
Cole noticed.
“Leave us.”
The room emptied.
Cole leaned over Emma.
“You think Adrian Vale is coming.”
“I know he is.”
“Adrian's empire is currently tearing itself apart.”
“What did you do?”
“Made several phone calls.”
He showed her a tablet.
Vale businesses were being raided.
Accounts frozen.
Properties searched.
News alerts everywhere.
COORDINATED FEDERAL OPERATION TARGETS VALE ORGANIZATION.
Emma stared.
“You planned this.”
“For years.”
“Why tonight?”
“Because Adrian finally had something worth losing.”
Emma looked at him.
“Lucas?”
“You.”
That frightened her in a different way.
Cole continued.
“Adrian's weakness has always been loyalty. First Elena. Then Lucas. Now you.”
“He barely knows me.”
“So did Elena once.”
Emma's pulse jumped.
Cole smiled.
“Interesting.”
“Nothing is happening between Adrian and me.”
“I didn't say there was.”
She hated him.
The computer chimed.
ACCESS LEVEL 5 OF 6.
Cole's eyes brightened.
“One more.”
“What?”
“Blood confirmation.”
Emma frowned.
The technician returned holding a needle kit.
“Blood?”
Cole nodded.
“David designed it.”
Emma almost laughed.
Her father really had been paranoid.
Good.
The technician prepared her arm.
Emma noticed a tiny red light blinking beneath the table.
A camera?
No.
A transmitter.
She shifted her foot over it.
The technician drew blood.
The system processed the sample.
ACCESS LEVEL 6 OF 6.
Cole exhaled.
“Finally.”
A dashboard loaded.
Thousands of records.
Names.
Files.
Offshore accounts.
Evidence.
Cole sat.
“Transfer everything.”
The technician typed.
Nothing happened.
ERROR.
Cole frowned.
Again.
ERROR: SECOND AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.
Emma smiled.
Cole turned.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
The screen displayed:
VALE FAMILY AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.
Cole's face darkened.
Emma understood.
“You need Adrian.”
Cole stared at her.
“Or Lucas.”
Her smile vanished.
Cole picked up his phone.
Emma lunged.
He shoved her back.
“Don't.”
“You're not touching that child.”
“He is Antonio's direct heir.”
“So is Adrian.”
“Adrian will never cooperate.”
“You think Lucas will?”
Cole smiled.
“Children are easier to persuade.”
Emma threw the chair.
It struck the technician.
She ran.
An alarm sounded.
Emma reached the hallway.
A guard grabbed her.
She bit his hand.
He cursed.
Then gunfire erupted outside.
Cole shouted from behind.
“Take her!”
Emma dropped.
Windows shattered.
Men screamed.
A black SUV crashed through the warehouse gate.
Adrian stepped out before the vehicle stopped moving.
His coat was gone.
Black shirt.
Gun in hand.
Emma had never seen anyone look so furious.
Cole's guards returned fire.
Adrian's men spread out.
Emma crawled behind a concrete barrier.
“Emma!”
“Here!”
Adrian reached her.
He pulled her upright.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Did he touch you?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“Why?”
“Because I was deciding how angry to be.”
She almost laughed.
Even now.
Then she saw blood on his sleeve.
“You're hit.”
“Not mine.”
That was not reassuring.
Cole retreated toward the river exit.
Emma grabbed Adrian's arm.
“He needs Lucas.”
Adrian stopped.
“What?”
“David's archive requires Vale blood.”
Adrian understood instantly.
“We go home.”
“No. Cole won't go himself.”
Adrian called Rosa.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
His face changed.
They raced back.
The mansion gates were open.
One guard lay unconscious.
Another had been tied.
Inside, furniture was overturned.
“Lucas!”
Adrian ran upstairs.
Emma followed.
Lucas's bedroom was empty.
Rosa was on the floor.
Alive.
She grabbed Adrian's wrist.
“They took him.”
Adrian's face became something Emma never wanted directed at her.
“Who?”
“Vincent.”
Silence.
Vincent had survived.
And betrayed them again.
Emma whispered, “Where?”
Rosa handed Adrian a phone.
A message waited.
OLD VALE SHIPYARD. COME ALONE.
Adrian turned.
Emma blocked him.
“No.”
“He has my son.”
“And he wants you emotional.”
“He has my son.”
“I know.”
“You don't know what that means.”
Emma stared at him.
“I hid behind flour sacks with that child while men hunted us. I listened to him ask me to make a ridiculous promise because someone taught him he needed promises to feel safe.”
Adrian went quiet.
“I know exactly what it means.”
For a second the mafia boss disappeared.
Only the father remained.
“Then help me bring him home.”
They formed a plan.
Charles, astonishingly, volunteered.
“You trust me?” he asked.
“No,” Adrian said.
“Good.”
Margaret came too.
“Absolutely not,” Emma said.
Her mother replied, “I spent eight years running from the night David died. I'm done.”
At the old Vale shipyard, they found Lucas tied to a chair but unharmed.
Vincent stood beside him.
Cole stood behind Vincent.
Twenty armed men surrounded the building.
Cole smiled.
“Family reunion.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“Let him go.”
“Authorization first.”
Emma held up David's brass key.
“You need me too.”
Cole's eyes narrowed.
“Yes.”
“Then Lucas walks out.”
“No.”
Emma smiled.
“Then you never get the archive.”
Cole raised his weapon.
Adrian moved in front of her.
Emma pushed around him.
“My father built the system. I know what happens if I die.”
She didn't.
Cole didn't know that.
She continued.
“The archive wipes.”
Cole hesitated.
That was enough.
Charles moved.
A shot exploded.
Lights went out.
Adrian ran for Lucas.
Emma heard shouting.
Then Lucas cried, “Dad!”
She reached him.
Cut the restraints.
“Run!”
Lucas grabbed her hand.
They moved toward the exit.
Vincent appeared.
Emma stopped.
He had a gun.
Lucas hid behind her.
Vincent looked broken.
“I never wanted him hurt.”
“Move.”
“I loved Elena.”
“Then move.”
“I tried to save her.”
“Move!”
Vincent lowered his gun.
For one second Emma thought he would let them pass.
Then Cole emerged behind him.
Shot Vincent in the back.
Lucas screamed.
Emma covered the child's eyes.
Adrian fired.
Cole disappeared behind machinery.
Vincent collapsed.
Adrian reached him.
“Why?”
Vincent coughed blood.
“Cole had my daughter.”
Adrian froze.
“What daughter?”
“Twenty years ago. He said she was dead.”
Vincent looked toward Cole's escape route.
“She isn't.”
Charles knelt beside him.
“Where?”
Vincent whispered an address.
Then his eyes closed.
Alive or dead, Emma couldn't tell.
Police sirens approached.
Real police this time—units Charles claimed were outside Cole's influence.
Cole escaped through the river tunnel.
But his empire didn't.
The archive had already begun transmitting copies.
To journalists.
Federal judges.
Internal affairs.
Inspectors general.
Every person David had designated years ago.
Cole's network was exposed.
Emma found the command on the terminal.
AUTOMATIC DISTRIBUTION ACTIVATED.
Her father had planned for this.
Adrian carried Lucas outside.
Dawn rose over the river.
For the first time since Bellini's, Emma believed they might survive.
Then Lucas tugged her sleeve.
“Miss Emma?”
“Yes?”
“Does the promise still count?”
She laughed shakily.
“Lucas, I think we need to discuss contract law.”
He smiled.
Adrian looked at her.
Something passed between them.
Warm.
Dangerous in an entirely different way.
Then Charles's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Emma watched him.
Charles slowly lowered the phone.
“Cole didn't run.”
Adrian frowned.
“Where is he?”
Charles looked at Emma.
“He went to the cemetery.”
Her heart stopped.
“To whose grave?”
Charles answered:
May you like
“David Carter's.”
And beneath her father's grave, the ground had just been opened.
