Chapter 8 - The Price of Protecting Valerie
The voice belonged to Julian Cain.
Ethan’s younger brother.
Dead nine years.
Except he wasn’t.
Julian stepped into view.
A scar ran along his jaw.
“You look disappointed,” he said.
Ethan raised his gun.
“I watched you die.”
“You watched a coffin.”
Julian smiled.
Their father had staged Julian’s death after Julian threatened to expose the family.
But exile had not made Julian moral.
It made him patient.
He had spent nine years building a hidden network inside Cain Logistics.
Daniel discovered it.
Marcus discovered pieces of it.
Eleanor discovered all of it.
“You framed Daniel,” Ethan said.
“Yes.”
“You went after Valerie.”
Julian’s smile disappeared.
“She was leverage.”
Ethan fired beside Julian’s head.
A warning.
“You don’t get another.”
Julian’s men surrounded the warehouse.
Daniel whispered that there was a service tunnel beneath the building.
They escaped.
Daniel survived his wound.
At Ethan’s secure penthouse, Valerie confronted him.
“You almost killed your brother.”
“He threatened you.”
“That doesn’t answer me.”
“It does in my world.”
“Then change your world.”
Ethan stared at her.
Nobody spoke to him like that.
Nobody except Valerie.
Later Daniel explained the truth of his disappearance.
The crash had been staged by Julian after Daniel agreed to cooperate.
Daniel escaped before Julian’s men could kill him.
He stayed hidden because every time he approached Valerie, Julian’s surveillance appeared.
“But why the ring?” Valerie asked.
Daniel looked at Ethan.
“Because the sapphire contains something.”
Valerie removed it.
Ethan examined the setting.
Inside the antique band was a microscopic seam.
They opened it.
A tiny storage chip fell onto the table.
Valerie stared.
Her grandmother had unknowingly carried it for decades.
The chip contained Arthur Cain’s original Account 417 ledger.
Names.
Payments.
Crimes.
Everything.
Enough to destroy the Cain organization.
And enough to expose Julian.
Ethan stared at the files.
Valerie whispered, “What are you going to do?”
Ethan knew the answer would cost him his empire.
May you like
Before he could speak, every light in the penthouse went out.
Then the elevator began rising toward them.
