Chapter 3 - The Man Behind the Date
Brendan Cole survived surgery.
That should have been good news.
Instead, it created another problem.
He refused to talk to anyone except Nakia.
Elias did not like the idea.
Not remotely.
But the hospital doctor insisted Brendan's condition was fragile, and emotional stress could worsen his recovery.
So two hours after the shooting, Nakia sat beside Brendan's bed.
Elias stood outside the room behind a one-way observation panel.
He watched every movement.
Brendan opened his eyes.
Nakia leaned forward.
"Hey."
Brendan looked at her.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For lying to you."
Nakia's face tightened.
"What did you lie about?"
Brendan glanced toward the glass.
He could see Elias.
He looked afraid.
"Not here."
Nakia turned.
"You don't have much time."
His breathing became shallow.
"They know."
"Who?"
"Everyone."
"What does that mean?"
Brendan closed his eyes.
"I was supposed to get close to you."
Nakia went still.
Elias's jaw tightened.
"Why?"
"To find out what you remembered."
Nakia stared.
"I don't remember anything."
"You don't remember your father's office?"
"No."
"The red door?"
"No."
"The woman?"
Nakia shook her head.
"What woman?"
Brendan's voice dropped.
"Your father's partner."
Before Nakia could ask another question, Brendan's heart monitor began to scream.
Doctors rushed inside.
Elias entered immediately, pulling Nakia away.
Brendan survived again.
But when he stabilized, he refused to speak.
Elias took Nakia back to the penthouse.
The drive was silent.
For once, she didn't tease him.
When the elevator doors opened, she walked straight to the kitchen.
"What?"
Elias followed.
"I need coffee."
"It's three in the morning."
"I don't care."
He watched her make it.
She added sugar.
Two teaspoons.
Exactly.
He suddenly realized how much he knew about her.
And how little.
"Your father."
She stopped.
"What about him?"
"Tell me everything."
"I already have."
"No."
Elias stepped closer.
"You told me what you chose to tell me."
She turned.
"That's called privacy."
"In my world, privacy gets people killed."
"This isn't your world."
Her words landed harder than she intended.
Elias looked away.
"What was your father like?"
Nakia softened.
"Kind."
"Nothing else?"
"Funny."
"What did he do?"
"He repaired machines."
"Anything unusual?"
She thought.
"He kept an old red toolbox."
Elias's mind raced.
"Do you still have it?"
"No."
"Why?"
"My mother sold most of his things after he died."
"Most?"
"Not everything."
"What remained?"
Nakia walked to her purse.
She took out a small brass key.
"My father gave me this when I was twelve."
Elias stared.
"A key?"
"Yes."
"To what?"
"I don't know."
She had carried it for fourteen years.
Elias took it carefully.
There was a symbol on the head.
A black crow.
He recognized it.
"The Raven Club."
Nakia frowned.
"What is that?"
"An old organization."
"Your organization?"
"No."
"Then whose?"
Elias didn't answer immediately.
The Raven Club had vanished twenty years ago.
Its members had been financiers, politicians, judges, businessmen, smugglers, and murderers.
People above the law.
People who did not need guns.
They owned people.
Elias had believed the club was dead.
Apparently, he was wrong.
A knock sounded.
Marcus entered.
"We have a problem."
Elias turned.
"What now?"
"Someone accessed the old Mercer financial vault."
"When?"
"Twenty minutes ago."
"How?"
Marcus looked at Nakia.
"Using her father's credentials."
Silence.
Nakia looked stunned.
"Impossible."
Marcus put a file on the table.
"Your father wasn't just a mechanic."
He opened it.
Daniel King's real profession appeared.
Financial auditor.
Mercer family.
Confidential operative.
Nakia stared.
Her father had worked for Elias's family.
All these years, she had believed his life was ordinary.
It wasn't.
And then she saw another name.
Gabriel Mercer.
Beside it was a handwritten note.
DANIEL KNOWS ABOUT THE BETRAYAL.
Nakia whispered, "What betrayal?"
Elias's face became expressionless.
"Apparently, the one that killed him."
That night, neither of them slept.
At 5:13 a.m., the power went out.
Every light died.
Emergency systems activated.
Elias grabbed his weapon.
"Nakia."
"I'm here."
They stood in darkness.
Then something crashed against the balcony glass.
A small metal object rolled across the floor.
Elias kicked it away.
It exploded.
Not a bomb.
A flash device.
White light filled the room.
Two figures entered through the shattered glass.
Elias fired twice.
One dropped.
The other escaped.
Marcus's men stormed in.
Nakia stood frozen.
Elias rushed to her.
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
He touched her shoulders.
"Are you sure?"
She nodded.
Then she looked down.
The black ledger was gone.
Someone had used the attack as a distraction.
Elias's eyes darkened.
"Lock every exit."
Marcus said, "Already done."
Nakia stared at the empty box.
"You know what I think?"
Elias looked at her.
"I think someone wanted me to work here."
His expression changed.
"Why?"
"Because whoever hired Brendan knew my name before I ever met him."
She looked at the broken balcony.
"And they knew your home would contain that ledger."
Elias understood.
Someone had planned the entire sequence.
The maid.
The date.
The attack.
The ledger.
All of it.
And suddenly one possibility became unavoidable.
May you like
Someone close to Elias had been feeding the enemy information.
Someone inside his own empire.
