Chapter 6 - Adrian Vale’s Brother
The attack lasted forty-three seconds.
It felt like an hour.
Cole dragged Lily under a reinforced desk.
Dominic fired toward the broken windows.
Adrian pulled me behind a concrete pillar.
Men in black entered through two doors.
They moved professionally.
Quiet.
Fast.
They were not there to scare anyone.
They were there to erase everyone.
Cole’s federal team stopped them.
Three attackers died.
Two surrendered.
One escaped.
None was Julian.
When it ended, Lily crawled into my arms.
“I want pancakes.”
I cried.
Not graceful tears.
Not cinematic tears.
I held my daughter and sobbed into her hair because she was alive enough to ask for pancakes.
Adrian sat against the wall across from us.
Blood stained his side.
I stared.
“You’re hurt.”
“Not badly.”
“You were shot.”
“Grazed.”
“That is still shot.”
Dominic pressed gauze against him.
“He needs a hospital.”
Adrian looked at Lily.
“Not St. Catherine’s.”
Nobody argued.
We moved again.
This time to a federal medical facility.
Before dawn, investigators opened the memory card.
What they found was worse than Adrian had suggested.
Julian Vale had spent years building a network.
Business owners.
Judges.
Police commanders.
A deputy mayor.
Customs agents.
Hospital executives.
He was preparing to remove Adrian and absorb his legitimate businesses while turning the criminal side over to outside crews.
Adrian had discovered pieces of it.
Then collected proof.
He had hidden the evidence because he did not know whom to trust.
I asked the question that had been eating me alive.
“Why Bun-Bun?”
Adrian sat in a medical chair with his side bandaged.
“Because nobody searched a child’s toy.”
“That is not a justification.”
“No.”
“You could have given it to police.”
“I did not know which police were compromised.”
“You could have hidden it anywhere.”
“They had searched my homes.”
“A bank vault.”
“Monitored.”
“A wall.”
“Obvious.”
“So you chose my child.”
His face tightened.
“I chose something nobody connected to me.”
“Except you requested Lily by name.”
“That request was after I suspected the hospital leak. I wanted the card moved.”
“Without telling me.”
“Yes.”
I stared at him.
“You don’t get to make decisions for people because you think you can protect them afterward.”
He said nothing.
“You used us.”
“Yes.”
That answer stole some of my anger.
He did not defend himself.
“I am sorry.”
I almost laughed.
“Do mafia bosses apologize?”
“Rarely.”
“That explains why you’re bad at it.”
A faint smile touched his mouth.
Then disappeared.
“I owe you more than an apology.”
“You owe Lily.”
“Yes.”
“She saved your life.”
“Yes.”
“And you almost got her killed.”
His eyes lowered.
“Yes.”
I sat across from him.
“What happens now?”
“We find Julian.”
Cole entered.
“We may not have to.”
She placed a phone on the table.
A message had arrived on Adrian’s encrypted account.
COME HOME.
Adrian stared at it.
“Julian.”
Cole nodded.
“Your family estate?”
“Yes.”
“Trap?”
“Obviously.”
Dominic said, “We don’t go.”
Adrian looked at him.
“We do.”
“No.”
“He wants the original card.”
“We already copied it.”
“He may not know.”
Cole crossed her arms.
“We can use that.”
I stood.
“I’m coming.”
Everyone said no.
I ignored them.
“Julian targeted me.”
“Elena.”
“He used Daniel.”
“Elena.”
“He kidnapped Lily.”
Adrian stood.
“No.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because you have done enough.”
“That is not your decision.”
“Your daughter needs you.”
“That is exactly why I’m coming.”
Cole understood first.
“He may talk differently with her there.”
Adrian glared.
Cole shrugged.
“He thinks Elena is weak.”
I looked at her.
“Thank you.”
“He is wrong.”
Better.
The Vale estate sat outside the city behind iron gates and acres of dark trees.
Federal teams surrounded the property discreetly.
Adrian entered through the front.
Dominic beside him.
I followed.
Julian waited in the library.
He looked nothing like the villain I had imagined.
No gun.
No dark suit.
No scar.
He wore a cream sweater and reading glasses.
He looked like a professor.
He smiled at Adrian.
“Brother.”
Adrian stopped.
“You poisoned me.”
Julian sighed.
“You always did skip pleasantries.”
“You kidnapped a child.”
“That was Evelyn’s decision.”
“Your employee.”
“Contractor.”
I hated him instantly.
Julian noticed me.
“Elena.”
“Do not say my name.”
He smiled.
“You are remarkably inconvenient.”
“Good.”
He looked toward Adrian.
“She has spirit.”
Adrian’s expression did not move.
“Why?”
Julian poured himself a drink.
“Because you were going to destroy everything.”
“Everything criminal.”
“Everything profitable.”
“You sold protected witnesses.”
“I sold information.”
“People died.”
“People always die.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“You sound like Father.”
Julian’s smile disappeared.
That hit him.
“Do not compare me to him.”
“You became worse.”
Julian’s hand tightened around the glass.
“You ruled through fear.”
“I kept certain lines.”
“Children? Women? Civilians?”
“Yes.”
“How noble.”
Adrian’s voice dropped.
“You crossed them.”
Julian looked at me.
“Unfortunately.”
I wanted to hit him.
Instead I asked, “Why Daniel?”
“Useful.”
“He was desperate.”
“Exactly.”
“You threatened his daughter.”
“I motivated him.”
Adrian moved.
Dominic caught his arm.
Julian smiled again.
“There he is.”
Then he looked at me.
“Where is the card?”
“Safe.”
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
“Then your daughter’s father dies.”
My stomach dropped.
“Daniel is in federal custody.”
Julian smiled.
“No.”
I turned to Cole through the hidden earpiece.
Silence.
Julian placed a phone on the table.
Live video.
Daniel.
Bound to a chair.
Blood on his face.
My knees weakened.
“How?”
Julian leaned closer.
“You keep assuming I have only one person inside each institution.”
Adrian whispered, “Where is he?”
Julian smiled.
“Trade.”
“The card for Daniel?”
“Yes.”
I stared at the screen.
Daniel looked barely conscious.
Then he lifted his head.
“Elena.”
The audio was live.
“Don’t.”
Julian frowned.
Daniel continued.
“Don’t give him anything.”
A man hit him.
I flinched.
Lily’s father.
A man who had failed us.
A man who had also taken a knife trying to save her.
I looked at Adrian.
He understood.
“Make the trade.”
Dominic stared at him.
“What?”
“Give him the card.”
Julian smiled.
“At last.”
Adrian pulled the original memory card from his pocket.
My heart stopped.
I thought it was with the FBI.
He had another copy.
Of course he did.
Julian held out his hand.
Adrian tossed it.
Julian inserted it into a laptop.
Files appeared.
His face changed.
Real data.
Real evidence.
He smiled.
Then Adrian said, “You forgot something.”
Julian looked up.
“What?”
“You built your network around people who could be bought.”
“Yes.”
“That means they can be bought twice.”
The library doors opened.
Three of Julian’s own men entered.
They pointed their weapons at him.
His face went white.
Then Cole’s federal team flooded the estate.
Julian stared at Adrian.
“You bribed them?”
“No.”
Dominic smiled.
“They hate you.”
Julian backed toward the fireplace.
“You think this ends with an arrest?”
Cole stepped forward.
“It starts there.”
Julian reached inside his sweater.
Everyone raised weapons.
He froze.
Slowly, he withdrew a second phone.
Then smiled.
“If I don’t enter a code in thirty seconds, Daniel dies.”
My blood stopped.
“Where is he?”
“Twenty-nine.”
“Julian.”
“Twenty-eight.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“Give me the location.”
“Twenty-seven.”
I looked at the phone.
A timer.
Twenty-six.
Then Lily’s voice came through my earpiece from the federal van outside.
“Mama?”
I froze.
“Mama, I know that room.”
Everyone looked at me.
“What room?”
“The room Daddy is in.”
“How?”
“The train place.”
My heart hammered.
Daniel was still at Pier Seventeen.
Twenty seconds.
Cole shouted into her radio.
“Pier team move!”
Julian smiled.
“Too far.”
Adrian grabbed him.
“Code.”
“Fifteen.”
“Code!”
Julian laughed.
Then a new voice came through the radio.
“Target located.”
Cole froze.
“Repeat.”
“Daniel located.”
The timer showed eight.
“Device on chair.”
“Can you disarm?”
“Negative.”
Six.
Daniel looked directly into the camera.
“Elena.”
Five.
“Tell Lily—”
May you like
Four.
The video went black.
