Chapter 7 - The Brother They Used as Bait
Rosie read the note twice.
Then tore it in half.
Dante took the pieces.
“You aren't going alone.”
“They have Noah.”
“Which is exactly why.”
“You don't understand.”
“I understand perfectly.”
“No, you don't.”
Rosie turned toward him.
“My entire life has been people with money deciding what happens to me. Vale destroyed my career because he thought I was powerless. Whoever took Noah thinks the same thing.”
Dante waited.
Rosie's voice lowered.
“I need them to keep believing it.”
That changed his expression.
“You have a plan.”
“I have an idea.”
It wasn't a good plan.
But good plans required time.
They had none.
Pier 17 belonged to an abandoned freight terminal.
Rosie arrived carrying the ledger.
Alone, apparently.
Titan remained hidden inside Dante's SUV three hundred yards away.
Dante hated every second.
Rosie entered the warehouse.
Gregory Vale waited inside.
He was in his late fifties.
Silver hair.
Expensive coat.
Same calm smile Rosie remembered from the clinic.
“Rosalind.”
“Where's Noah?”
“Safe.”
“Show me.”
Vale gestured.
Noah appeared on an elevated office platform.
His hands were free.
A man stood behind him.
Adrian.
Rosie's stomach dropped.
There was the traitor.
Dante's most trusted security man.
Adrian looked ashamed.
But he didn't look away.
“I'm sorry, Rosie.”
“You took him?”
“I didn't hurt him.”
Noah shouted, “He locked me in a van!”
Adrian winced.
“Technically accurate.”
Vale held out his hand.
“The ledger.”
Rosie didn't move.
“You destroyed my career.”
“You destroyed your career.”
“I refused to lie.”
“Exactly.”
Vale smiled.
“Honesty is expensive.”
Rosie thought of her mother.
Elena.
Samuel.
Titan.
“How did my mother die?”
Vale's smile faded.
“Cancer.”
“You threatened Noah with the truth.”
“Not about her death.”
Rosie waited.
Vale approached.
“Your mother caused the explosion that damaged your hearing.”
Rosie's chest tightened.
“She was trying to destroy Voss's records.”
“No.”
“She set the fire.”
“No.”
“You were there because she couldn't find a babysitter.”
Rosie remembered heat.
Noise.
Arms carrying her.
Her mother's tears.
“She nearly killed you.”
Vale's voice softened falsely.
“She spent the rest of her life knowing that.”
Rosie stared at him.
Then she did something Vale didn't expect.
She shrugged.
“Okay.”
His expression changed.
“You don't believe me.”
“I believe she made mistakes.”
“She lied to you.”
“So have you.”
“I can prove it.”
“I don't need you to.”
That unsettled him.
Vale had expected the revelation to break her.
Instead Rosie held out the ledger.
“You want this?”
“Yes.”
“Then let Noah walk.”
Vale gestured.
Adrian brought Noah downstairs.
“Rosie—”
“Go.”
“No.”
“Now.”
Noah looked furious.
“I'm not leaving you.”
“Please.”
That word worked.
He moved toward the exit.
Adrian followed.
Vale raised a hand.
“No. Adrian stays.”
Adrian stopped.
Noah walked alone.
Outside, Dante waited.
Once Noah was clear, Rosie handed Vale the ledger.
He smiled.
“Your mother should have been this sensible.”
Rosie smiled back.
“You think that's the only copy?”
Vale's expression disappeared.
Rosie continued.
“My mother hid evidence for twenty-one years. You really think I walked in here carrying the only copy?”
Vale opened the ledger.
Photocopies.
Every page marked.
COPY 3.
His eyes hardened.
“Where's the original?”
“Somewhere you'll never find it.”
Vale stepped toward her.
A growl rolled through the warehouse.
Everyone froze.
Titan emerged from the darkness.
Not charging.
Not attacking.
Walking.
Slowly.
Purposefully.
Vale went pale.
“Get that animal away from me.”
Rosie noticed.
Fear.
Not of dogs.
Of this dog.
Titan remembered him.
“Titan,” Rosie said softly.
The dog stopped beside her.
Vale backed away.
“You see?” Rosie said. “He remembers you.”
Adrian lowered his eyes.
Vale snapped, “Do something.”
Adrian didn't move.
“Adrian!”
“No.”
Vale stared at him.
Adrian removed an earpiece and dropped it.
“I took the boy because you said you'd kill him otherwise.”
Rosie watched.
Adrian turned toward her.
“I knew Dante would follow.”
Vale reached inside his coat.
Dante's voice came from the darkness.
“Don't.”
Vale froze.
Dante stepped into view.
Marco appeared behind him.
No weapons visible.
No theatrics.
Just witnesses.
And phones recording.
Dante looked at Adrian.
“You betrayed me.”
Adrian swallowed.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“My father was Samuel Keene's brother.”
Dante stared.
“I've been trying to prove what happened for three years.”
“You could have told me.”
“I didn't know whether you were like Matteo.”
Dante absorbed that.
Vale began moving toward a side door.
Titan growled.
Vale stopped.
Rosie held Titan's collar.
“No.”
Titan looked at her.
“No more.”
He relaxed.
Sirens sounded outside.
Vale's face changed.
Rosie smiled.
“Copies.”
Police entered minutes later.
Vale was arrested.
For the first time Rosie thought it might be over.
She was wrong.
As officers searched the warehouse, Noah approached holding a small recorder he'd found beneath Vale's desk.
“Rosie.”
“What?”
“There was already something playing on this.”
He pressed a button.
A woman's voice filled the warehouse.
Rosie recognized it immediately.
Her mother.
“If Rosalind ever finds this, she needs to know Gregory Vale wasn't the person I was most afraid of.”
Rosie stopped breathing.
The recording continued.
“The man who ordered everything was…”
Static swallowed the next words.
Then another voice spoke clearly.
May you like
A man's voice.
And Dante went completely white.
