Chapter 2 - The Safe House
The safe house was hidden deep in the mountains.
No public records.
No visible driveway.
No cell coverage.
Only a private road and a security perimeter.
Samuel wasn't impressed.
“You're taking us to a mansion?”
“It isn't a mansion.”
He looked through the window.
“It has twelve bedrooms.”
“It's a large house.”
Noah pressed his face against the glass.
“Can Goliath have his own room?”
I almost smiled.
“He can have the whole downstairs.”
Noah grinned.
For the first time since waking up, I felt something resembling peace.
Then Marcus pulled me aside.
“There's a problem.”
“What?”
“The attack team wasn't after you alone.”
My expression hardened.
“Explain.”
“They were tracking the Bennett family.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“We don't know.”
Samuel overheard.
“I know.”
We turned.
He stood in the doorway.
“Know what?”
Samuel sighed.
“I've been keeping something from Noah.”
He looked at his grandson.
Then at me.
“My son worked for a company called Voss Security.”
My eyes narrowed.
“Caleb Voss?”
Samuel nodded.
“He was Noah's father.”
I looked at Noah.
The boy was playing with Goliath.
“You're saying Caleb is his father?”
“Yes.”
“Why would he help bury me?”
Samuel's face hardened.
“Because he isn't the man I thought he was.”
Then he told me everything.
Caleb had disappeared six months earlier.
He had been involved with organized crime.
He had taken money from dangerous people.
When Samuel tried to protect Noah, Caleb threatened them.
Then Caleb vanished.
Samuel had assumed he was dead.
He wasn't.
He was working for the traitor inside my organization.
I looked at Marcus.
“Who?”
“We still don't know.”
Samuel stepped closer.
“You need to understand something.”
“What?”
“Caleb doesn't care about money anymore.”
“Then what does he want?”
Samuel looked toward Noah.
“My grandson.”
I felt something cold move through me.
“Why?”
“Because Noah saw something.”
“What?”
Samuel shook his head.
“He doesn't remember.”
“Then why is Caleb afraid?”
“Because children remember more than adults think.”
I looked at Noah.
He was sitting beside Goliath.
Then the boy suddenly looked up.
“Mr. Adrian?”
“Yes?”
“I remember something.”
The room went silent.
“What?”
Noah frowned.
“A man.”
“Who?”
“He had a silver ring.”
Marcus and I exchanged a look.
“What kind of ring?”
Noah held up his hand.
“A black stone.”
My blood ran cold.
I knew exactly who wore that ring.
Marcus did too.
We looked at each other.
Then he whispered one name.
“Elias Kane.”
My oldest adviser.
The man who had convinced me to travel to West Virginia.
The man I'd trusted for fifteen years.
The man who had arranged my burial.
May you like
The traitor wasn't hiding anymore.
He was already inside my house.
