Chapter 6 - The Traitor Inside the Estate
Vincent tackled Sophia.
The bullet struck stone.
His men returned fire.
Marco was alive; the first shot had grazed his shoulder.
They escaped through the underground garage.
Back at the estate, a doctor treated Marco.
Sophia waited.
Then Marco told her the truth.
Daniel had called him because someone was following him.
Marco arrived at the construction site.
Daniel gave him the blue file.
Then men appeared.
Mercer’s men.
Marco fought one while Daniel ran upward through the unfinished structure.
“I heard him shout,” Marco said.
His voice broke.
“Then I heard metal.”
Sophia closed her eyes.
“When I reached him, he had fallen.”
“Was he alive?”
“For maybe thirty seconds.”
“What did he say?”
Marco looked at Vincent.
“Protect my girls.”
Sophia cried.
“He also said one name.”
“Whose?”
“Adrian.”
Vincent paced away.
Marco continued.
“I thought Daniel meant Adrian killed him. But now I'm not sure.”
“Why?”
“Because Adrian was standing beside me when Daniel fell.”
Silence.
Sophia looked up.
“What?”
“He couldn't have removed the support pins. He was with me.”
“Then who did?”
Marco shook his head.
“That’s what I've never been able to answer.”
Vincent examined security footage from the registry attack.
One attacker appeared repeatedly.
A woman.
Sophia recognized her.
“The woman from Mia’s room.”
Vincent froze the image.
Marco whispered, “No.”
“You know her?”
Vincent did.
“Camilla Mercer.”
The commissioner’s daughter.
And Adrian Voss’s former fiancée.
The conspiracy was not collapsing.
It was reassembling.
That evening federal agents secretly contacted Vincent.
They had received Daniel’s files.
Mercer would soon know.
Vincent prepared to move Sophia and Mia.
Mia refused to leave without her crayons.
Vincent personally packed them.
“You missed purple,” she informed him.
He returned for purple.
Sophia watched from the doorway.
This feared man, who could command hundreds of employees with one sentence, was being supervised by a three-year-old packing crayons.
“You're smiling,” he said.
“No.”
“You are.”
“Pack the crayons, Vinny.”
He looked offended.
Mia laughed.
For a few seconds, Sophia remembered what normal might feel like.
Then the estate alarms sounded.
The gates locked automatically.
Vincent touched his earpiece.
“Report.”
Nothing.
He tried again.
Silence.
Marco checked his phone.
“Network’s dead.”
The power shut off.
Sophia grabbed Mia.
Vincent immediately moved in front of them.
Emergency lights came on.
Red.
Footsteps sounded downstairs.
Not security.
Too many.
Vincent handed Marco a weapon.
“Safe room.”
They moved upstairs.
A window shattered below.
Men shouted.
Vincent’s guards engaged them.
Sophia carried Mia.
“Is this hide-and-seek?” Mia whispered.
“Yes.”
“Are we winning?”
Sophia forced a smile.
“We're going to.”
They reached the safe-room corridor.
Vincent entered the code.
Rejected.
Again.
Rejected.
Marco stared.
“Someone changed it.”
Only four people had access.
Vincent.
Marco.
The security administrator.
And Rosa.
Sophia’s blood chilled.
Rosa.
The woman who had worked in Vincent’s house for twelve years.
The woman who watched Mia.
A door opened behind them.
Rosa stood there.
She was crying.
“I’m sorry.”
Vincent raised his gun.
“Rosa.”
“They have my son.”
Her hands trembled.
“I had no choice.”
“Where is he?”
“I don't know.”
“Who contacted you?”
“Camilla.”
Vincent lowered the gun slightly.
Rosa sobbed.
“She made me change the codes.”
Then Sophia noticed something behind her.
A shadow.
“Vincent!”
A man seized Rosa and pulled her backward.
Gunfire erupted.
Vincent returned fire.
Marco dragged Sophia and Mia into another room.
Vincent followed.
They barricaded the door.
Mia buried her face against Sophia.
Then Sophia’s phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A live video appeared.
Rosa sat bound to a chair.
Beside her was her teenage son.
Camilla Mercer stepped into frame.
“Bring me Daniel’s ledger.”
Sophia stared.
Camilla smiled.
“Or they die.”
Then another camera angle appeared.
It showed the room Sophia was standing in.
Someone was watching them from inside the estate.
Vincent looked slowly toward the ceiling.
The hidden camera moved.
And a voice came through its speaker.
“Hello, Sophia.”
May you like
She recognized that voice.
It belonged to someone who had attended Daniel’s funeral.
