Chapter 6 - The Betrayal Came From The One Man Dominic Trusted Most

Samuel disappeared three days later.

So did Vale.

Security cameras showed nothing.

Doors had never opened.

No alarms.

No witnesses.

Dominic knew what that meant.

There was a mole.

He gathered his entire security team.

"Nobody leaves the property."

Twenty men stood in silence.

Dominic walked in front of them.

"One of you has been selling information."

Nobody moved.

Clara watched from the balcony.

She saw what Dominic couldn't.

One man's eyes kept drifting toward Daniel.

Another kept checking his phone.

And one man...

Ethan.

The youngest guard.

His hands were shaking.

Clara remembered seeing him at the warehouse.

He had been standing beside Room Twenty-Three.

He had heard them discussing the key.

"Dominic."

Everyone turned.

She pointed.

"Ethan."

The man froze.

Dominic stepped forward.

"Why?"

Ethan's face collapsed.

"I'm sorry."

"Who?"

"My sister."

"Who has her?"

"Vale."

Dominic's expression hardened.

"He threatened her."

Ethan nodded.

"They told me where to find the ledger."

Clara stepped forward.

"They?"

Ethan looked at her.

"The Black Rose."

Dominic immediately understood.

"Where is your sister?"

"An abandoned hospital in Queens."

They went there.

It was a trap.

But Dominic came prepared.

Gunfire erupted.

Clara was pushed behind a concrete wall.

Dominic fought his way through the attackers.

Then she heard a child scream.

Ethan's sister.

A teenage girl.

Clara found her in a basement room.

"Come with me."

"I can't."

"Yes, you can."

Clara pulled her toward the stairs.

A gunman appeared.

Clara froze.

Dominic shot the weapon from his hand.

The man ran.

Dominic rushed toward Clara.

"Are you hurt?"

"No."

He touched her face.

"Don't ever do that again."

"I saved her."

"I know."

"Then why are you angry?"

"Because I love you."

The words stopped them both.

Clara stared.

Dominic seemed equally surprised.

"I didn't mean to say it like that."

She smiled through tears.

"I did."

He laughed softly.

Then pulled her into his arms.

"I love you too."

Behind them, Daniel cleared his throat.

"Should I leave?"

Dominic sighed.

"Apparently not."

Ethan's sister was rescued.

Ethan turned state's witness.

But Vale remained missing.

That night, Dominic finally opened the second file found in the Avalon.

Inside was one sentence.

The Black Rose does not have a leader.

Clara frowned.

"Then who gives the orders?"

Dominic read further.

"The leader died twenty years ago."

"Then how is it operating?"

Clara pointed to the date.

"Maybe it isn't."

Dominic looked at her.

"What?"

"Maybe someone is pretending to be the Black Rose."

"Who?"

She stared at the signature.

A single initial.

M.

"Your mother."

Dominic froze.

"No."

"Think."

"She's dead."

"According to who?"

He stared.

Clara continued.

"Your mother disappeared when you were twelve."

"Yes."

"No body."

"Because she left."

"Or because your father said she did."

Dominic went silent.

The pieces connected.

Angelo Caruso had been controlling everyone.

Victor had been a lieutenant.

Vale a legal fixer.

Samuel the financial link.

But there had been someone else.

A woman who understood the entire network.

Dominic's mother.

Isabella Caruso.

"Where is she?"

Clara looked at the document.

"At the place where the Black Rose began."

"The old opera house."

They found her there.

Isabella stepped from the darkness.

Dominic raised his gun.

Then lowered it.

"Mom."

She smiled.

"My son."

He stared at her.

"You were alive."

"Yes."

"You let me believe you were dead."

"I was protecting you."

"From what?"

"Your father."

Dominic's eyes filled with anger.

"You knew everything."

"I did."

"You knew about Clara's father."

"I did."

"Why didn't you stop him?"

Isabella looked at Clara.

"Because Daniel Bennett had a plan."

"What plan?"

"To destroy the entire network."

Clara stepped closer.

"My father trusted you."

"Yes."

"Did he trust Dominic?"

"With his life."

She handed Clara a small envelope.

Inside was a list.

Every name.

Every account.

Every crime.

At the bottom was one final name.

Angelo Caruso.

Clara looked at Dominic.

His father had died six years ago.

Or so everyone believed.

Dominic's face went pale.

"He isn't dead."

Isabella shook her head.

"No."

"Where is he?"

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She looked toward the dark stage.

"Coming for you."