Chapter 10 - The Price of Protection
The doctor was Dr. Malcolm Voss.
He had signed Ray’s death certificate.
He had also signed dozens of false medical documents connected to Patrick.
Eddie had discovered the connection and tried to blackmail him.
That was Eddie’s betrayal.
Not of June.
Of everyone.
“He sold our location?” June asked.
Cormac nodded.
“To pay gambling debts.”
June closed her eyes.
Another man she trusted.
Another secret.
They went to the warehouse.
June wore a wire.
Cormac hated the plan.
“So propose a better one.”
“I lock you in an armored car.”
“Try it and I’ll drive through your house.”
Cormac looked at Evelyn.
“She would.”
Evelyn nodded.
“She absolutely would.”
June entered alone.
Patrick waited.
Ray was chained to a support column.
Eddie sat nearby.
Declan stood behind them.
June looked at Ray.
He looked terrible.
But alive.
Patrick extended his hand.
“The microfilm.”
“Ray first.”
“No.”
June smiled.
“Then we’re done.”
She turned.
Patrick stopped her.
“You think Riley will save you?”
June faced him.
“No.”
Patrick looked surprised.
“I think I’m going to save myself.”
She produced the microfilm.
Patrick’s eyes fixed on it.
“You spent thirty-six years looking for this.”
“Yes.”
“And my father died protecting it.”
“He died because he was foolish.”
June’s hand tightened.
Ray shouted, “June, don’t!”
Patrick smiled.
“Give it to me.”
June held it above a lighter.
Patrick’s smile vanished.
“You wouldn’t.”
“I run a restaurant. I burn things professionally.”
Cormac’s men entered through three doors.
Chaos erupted.
Declan grabbed June.
Cormac shot the weapon from his hand.
Ray tackled Patrick despite his chains.
Evelyn freed Eddie.
Within minutes, it was over.
Except Patrick escaped.
Again.
Ray was free.
June stood before her husband.
Neither knew what to say.
Finally Ray whispered, “You look beautiful.”
June started crying.
“You look terrible.”
He laughed.
Then she hit him.
Not hard.
Mostly.
“I deserved that.”
“You deserve twenty-seven years of arguments.”
“I’ll take them.”
June looked at him.
“No.”
Ray’s smile disappeared.
She touched his face.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“But the marriage we had is gone.”
Ray began crying.
June did too.
“I don’t know what comes next,” she said. “But we don’t pretend.”
Ray nodded.
Cormac watched from across the warehouse.
June saw him.
And understood that love did not always mean returning.
Sometimes love meant finally seeing the truth.
Police sirens approached.
Evelyn had arranged federal involvement.
Declan began bargaining before officers even entered.
He offered Patrick.
Locations.
Accounts.
Names.
Then he said something that silenced the room.
“Patrick has already ordered Holloway House destroyed.”
June turned.
“What?”
Cormac grabbed his phone.
Too late.
A message arrived.
A live security feed.
Her diner.
Flames suddenly erupted in the kitchen.
June watched fire climb the walls.
May you like
Then a shadow appeared inside.
Someone was still in the building.
