Chapter 4 - The Price of Trust
By dawn, every television station in Bellgrave showed the Hayes estate surrounded by fire trucks.
Flames had destroyed much of the third floor.
Reporters stood beyond the gates announcing that Declan Hayes was missing and presumed dead.
Then Norah’s photograph appeared on screen.
She stopped breathing.
The image was from her employment file.
Underneath it read:
PERSON OF INTEREST SOUGHT IN CONNECTION WITH HAYES DISAPPEARANCE.
Norah looked at Declan.
“You said Victor might frame me.”
“I said he needed someone.”
“You forgot to mention he’d do it before breakfast.”
Declan’s jaw tightened.
The news anchor continued.
Authorities had discovered blood belonging to Declan inside the mansion.
A firearm registered to Norah’s ex-husband had supposedly been recovered nearby.
Norah went pale.
“That’s impossible.”
Declan looked toward her.
“What?”
“Colin owned a gun. But he took it when he left.”
“Then Victor found him.”
Her stomach dropped.
Norah stood abruptly.
“No.”
“Norah—”
“If Victor knows Colin, he knows everything.”
Declan reached for his phone.
“We’ll locate him.”
“I don’t care where Colin is. I care about my mother.”
Father Gabriel entered.
“She’s safe.”
Norah stared.
“What?”
“Declan had me make calls.”
She turned toward him.
“You did?”
Declan avoided her gaze.
“Your mother and brother were moved twenty minutes ago.”
“To where?”
“Somewhere Victor can’t reach.”
Norah stood frozen.
“Why?”
Declan looked almost annoyed.
“Because you saved my life.”
It was the first moment Norah saw beyond the feared reputation.
Not softness exactly.
Responsibility.
But that frightened her too.
She had spent years trusting men because of small acts of kindness.
She would not repeat that mistake.
“What happens now?”
“I prove Victor betrayed me.”
“How?”
“I have records.”
“At the estate?”
“No.”
Declan looked toward Father Gabriel.
“In a bank deposit box.”
Norah folded her arms.
“And you can just walk into a bank?”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“You can.”
Norah laughed.
“You’re joking.”
“I wish I were.”
By noon she had exchanged her maid dress for jeans, a sweater, and a baseball cap Father Gabriel found in the church donation closet.
Declan gave her a key and a number.
“Bellgrave Federal Trust. Box 714.”
“And what exactly is inside?”
“A ledger.”
“Paper?”
“Old-fashioned.”
“Why?”
“Digital records can be hacked.”
Norah raised an eyebrow.
“You run criminal businesses but distrust computers?”
“I contain multitudes.”
She almost laughed.
Almost.
At the bank, Norah kept her head down.
Every television behind the teller counter carried her photograph.
Her heartbeat was deafening.
The deposit box contained a black notebook and a flash drive.
She tucked them into her bag.
Then she heard a familiar voice.
“Norah?”
Her blood froze.
She turned.
Colin stood ten feet away.
Her ex-husband looked thinner.
Older.
But he wore the same careful smile that had once convinced her she was safe.
“Hi, sweetheart.”
Norah backed away.
“What are you doing here?”
“Looking for you.”
He stepped closer.
“You’ve caused a lot of trouble.”
The teller glanced toward them.
Norah lowered her voice.
“You gave Victor your gun.”
Colin’s smile disappeared.
“I owed people money.”
“You always owe people money.”
“He offered to erase it.”
“In exchange for framing me?”
“I didn’t know that part.”
Norah laughed bitterly.
“You never know the part that hurts me.”
Colin looked genuinely offended.
“I came to warn you.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor doesn’t need you alive anymore.”
Norah glanced toward the exit.
Two men in dark jackets entered.
Colin whispered, “Go.”
Norah stared.
“You brought them.”
“I didn’t know they followed me.”
She ran.
The first man shouted.
Norah shoved through the revolving door.
Pedestrians scattered.
She sprinted down the sidewalk.
A black car turned the corner.
The passenger door opened.
Declan.
“Get in!”
Norah jumped inside.
The car accelerated.
“You followed me?”
“I protected you.”
“You said you couldn’t come!”
“I lied.”
“That seems to be contagious in your world.”
Declan glanced at her.
“You have the ledger?”
Norah held it up.
“Yes.”
For the next two days, they moved between safe houses.
The ledger revealed years of Victor’s secret transactions.
Payments to corrupt officers.
Private security teams.
Smuggling routes Declan had supposedly shut down.
And one name appeared repeatedly.
Judge Marcus Wren.
Bellgrave’s most respected criminal court judge.
Declan stared at the page.
“That’s how Victor knew every police move.”
Norah sat beside him at a kitchen table in an abandoned farmhouse.
“So you can expose them.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because Victor owns the people I would expose them to.”
“Then give it to journalists.”
“They’ll need verification.”
“The flash drive?”
Declan inserted it into an offline laptop.
Files appeared.
Audio recordings.
Transaction histories.
Photographs.
Norah leaned forward.
“This could destroy him.”
“It could destroy half the city.”
“Good.”
Declan looked at her.
“You enjoy chaos?”
“I enjoy consequences.”
For the first time, he smiled fully.
It changed his face.
Norah hated that she noticed.
Three nights later, an encrypted message arrived.
From Victor.
HE HAS YOUR MOTHER.
Norah stopped breathing.
Declan immediately called his men.
No answer from the safe house where her mother had been moved.
Norah turned on him.
“You said she was safe.”
“She was.”
“You promised me.”
“I know.”
“You promised.”
Declan stood.
“I’m getting her back.”
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Victor wants you.”
“Then I’m useful.”
“That is precisely why you are staying here.”
Norah stepped close enough to jab a finger against his chest.
“You don’t decide what I do.”
“Tonight I do.”
“Try stopping me.”
They stared at each other.
Declan spoke softly.
“He will hurt you to hurt me.”
Norah’s anger faltered.
“To hurt you?”
Declan said nothing.
And suddenly the silence between them became something else.
Something neither was ready to name.
They found Victor’s location through the message metadata.
An abandoned hotel on Bellgrave’s riverfront.
Norah’s mother was tied to a chair in the old ballroom when they arrived.
Victor stood beside her.
Colin stood near the wall.
Norah whispered, “Mom.”
Her mother struggled against the restraints.
Victor smiled.
“This is touching.”
Declan entered first.
“You wanted me.”
“I wanted what belongs to me.”
“You mean my empire.”
“Our empire.”
Declan tossed the ledger onto the floor.
Victor’s expression changed.
“You found it.”
“I found everything.”
Victor pointed his gun toward Norah’s mother.
“Then give me the drive.”
Declan did.
Norah stared.
Victor took it.
“You really have changed.”
Declan’s eyes remained calm.
“Yes.”
Victor smiled.
“That makes this easier.”
He raised the gun toward Declan.
Colin moved.
“No.”
Victor looked at him.
“What?”
Colin swallowed.
“She wasn’t supposed to get hurt.”
Norah stared at her ex-husband.
Victor laughed.
“You think this is about your wife?”
“Ex-wife.”
Colin stepped between Victor and Norah.
“It stops here.”
Victor shot him.
Norah screamed.
Colin fell.
Everything erupted.
Declan fired.
Victor’s men moved.
Norah dropped beside Colin.
Her mother cried out.
Police sirens suddenly filled the distance.
Victor’s face changed.
“You called them?”
Declan smiled faintly.
“No.”
Norah looked toward the ballroom entrance.
May you like
Father Gabriel stood there holding a phone.
“I did.”
