Chapter 12 - The Betrayal at Mercer’s Kettle
Kaye's father wasn't alive.
The voice was a recording.
But it contained instructions only he could have created.
A location.
A confession.
And one final warning:
“Laura wasn't the one I feared.”
The recording led them to an old bank deposit box.
Inside were documents naming Rebecca Sloan.
Her real name was Rebecca Vale.
August's daughter.
Dominic's cousin.
She had spent twenty years hidden behind another surname.
Her goal wasn't money.
It was control.
She wanted Dominic destroyed, August exposed, Michael returned, and Kaye forced to unlock the recovered funds.
Everyone had been pieces.
Kaye refused to remain one.
She contacted Rebecca herself.
“I'm done running.”
Rebecca laughed.
“You were never running.”
“No. I was raising a child and paying bills while rich people played chess with everybody else's lives.”
Dominic listened.
Kaye continued.
“You want the phrase? Come get it.”
She arranged the meeting at the diner.
Dominic objected.
Kaye ignored him.
That night, Mercer’s Kettle looked exactly as it had the night Dominic first arrived.
Coffee hot.
Lights low.
Booths empty.
Rebecca entered alone.
“You're braver than your mother.”
“I'm angrier.”
Rebecca smiled.
“Good.”
She wanted the phrase.
Kaye wanted written proof that the victims would receive the trust money.
Rebecca laughed.
“You think you're negotiating?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because twenty men are outside.”
Rebecca looked toward the windows.
Black SUVs surrounded the diner.
Dominic entered.
Then Mateo.
Then Michael.
Then Evan.
August arrived last, escorted by federal agents.
Rebecca's smile disappeared.
August had surrendered.
Not from conscience.
To destroy Rebecca before she destroyed him.
But it was enough.
The evidence connected them all.
Rebecca reached inside her coat.
Dominic moved.
Kaye didn't.
Rebecca pulled out a phone.
Not a gun.
She tapped the screen.
The diner lights died.
A fire started in the kitchen.
Smoke poured through the doorway.
“Toby!” Kaye screamed.
He was supposed to be with Helen.
Then she remembered.
His backpack was upstairs.
No.
A child's voice came from the kitchen.
“Mom!”
Kaye ran into the smoke.
Dominic followed.
“Toby!”
They found him near the back door.
Helen had brought him after receiving a fake message supposedly from Kaye.
Rebecca had planned one final trap.
Flames climbed the wall.
Dominic lifted Toby.
Kaye led them toward the exit.
A beam collapsed.
The doorway disappeared behind fire.
They turned toward the freezer.
There was another exit through the hidden tunnel.
They ran downstairs.
Smoke followed.
At the tunnel entrance, Dominic stopped.
Someone stood blocking the way.
Rebecca.
May you like
She held a pistol now.
And it was pointed directly at Toby...
