Chapter 2 - The Rival Don Who Knew Her Husband’s Secret
Emmett Carbone took Jillian to a private residence on the north side of the city.
It was not the mansion she had expected.
There were no iron gates.
No fountains.
No army of guards walking around with visible weapons.
The house was old, brick, and almost painfully ordinary from the outside.
That made it more frightening.
The moment they entered, a woman in her fifties approached.
“Mr. Carbone.”
“Get Dr. Levin.”
The woman looked at Jillian.
“My God.”
Emmett gave her a warning glance.
“Not a word.”
She nodded.
Jillian felt the room spinning.
Emmett took her arm.
“Sit.”
“I can walk.”
“You can barely stand.”
“I've had worse.”
He looked at her bare foot.
“I doubt it.”
A doctor cleaned the wound.
Jillian gritted her teeth when the antiseptic touched the cuts.
Emmett stood in the doorway.
He never left.
When the doctor finished, he wrapped her foot in gauze.
“Nothing broken.”
Jillian nodded.
“Thank you.”
The doctor left.
Silence returned.
“Tell me where Cody is.”
Emmett sat across from her.
“With Patrick.”
Her heart stopped.
“That's impossible.”
“No.”
“Patrick is in Connecticut.”
“He was.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
“Where is he now?”
“Not here.”
Jillian stared.
“You're lying.”
“I don't lie to people I am trying to keep alive.”
She stood too quickly and nearly fell.
Emmett caught her.
For one brief second, she was against his chest.
She felt the strength in his arms.
Then he released her immediately.
“Sit.”
Jillian did.
“What is happening?”
Emmett leaned back.
“Your husband's brother was murdered because he found something.”
“The ledger.”
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
“A record of financial transactions.”
“That doesn't explain why people are willing to kill a sixteen-year-old.”
“It isn't a financial ledger in the ordinary sense.”
Jillian said nothing.
Emmett continued.
“For more than twenty years, the Bannon family has maintained a second network.”
She frowned.
“What kind?”
“Political influence.”
“Money?”
“Money.”
“Bribes?”
“Some.”
“Blackmail?”
“More.”
Jillian's stomach twisted.
“What does Cody have to do with it?”
“He has a memory Shawn wanted protected.”
“Cody?”
“Yes.”
“He's a kid.”
“He is also the only person who knows where Shawn hid the final copy of the records.”
Jillian stared.
“How?”
“Because Shawn trusted him.”
Jillian covered her mouth.
She remembered the sketches.
The cards.
The strange deadline.
The drawings of doors and buildings.
Cody had spent the past year obsessed with animation.
Or so she had thought.
“What has he been drawing?”
Emmett looked surprised.
“You've seen them?”
“Yes.”
“Then you may already have the answer.”
Jillian remembered the card.
The bus shelter.
The dog.
The old man.
The details nobody else noticed.
Cody never just drew people.
He drew locations.
Maps.
Patterns.
He collected details.
Emmett leaned forward.
“Shawn taught him to draw things he saw without realizing they were maps.”
Jillian stared.
The index cards.
Hundreds of them.
Different places.
Different streets.
Maybe not random at all.
“Where is Cody now?”
Emmett gave her an address.
Jillian recognized it.
An old community arts center.
“He's there?”
“For tonight.”
“Why?”
“Because he refused to go anywhere else.”
Jillian looked up sharply.
“You knew that?”
“Yes.”
“Then take me to him.”
Emmett's eyes narrowed.
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because someone followed us.”
Jillian went cold.
“What?”
He stood.
“Stay here.”
The house suddenly came alive.
People appeared in the hallway.
Emmett gave instructions in a low voice.
Jillian watched from the doorway.
A few minutes later, one of the guards returned.
“Black sedan.”
“How long?”
“Four minutes behind us.”
Emmett nodded.
“Anyone?”
“Unknown.”
He looked at Jillian.
“This is why you stay.”
She shook her head.
“Cody needs me.”
“Cody needs you alive.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Find out who followed us.”
Jillian stared at him.
The man the Bannon family had called a monster did not look like one.
He looked tired.
Careful.
And very, very worried.
Then she remembered something.
“My phone.”
“What about it?”
“You removed the battery.”
“Yes.”
“Before that, did you turn it off?”
“No.”
Her eyes widened.
“You didn't need to track me.”
Emmett understood.
“They can track the car.”
“Exactly.”
A smile almost appeared.
“You're smart.”
“I work with idiots.”
“That is not a modest statement.”
“No.”
For the first time, she saw the faintest amusement in his eyes.
“Come.”
“Where?”
“Basement.”
The basement was a command center.
Screens.
Maps.
Phones.
Security feeds.
Jillian stared.
“You have all this in your house?”
“I dislike surprises.”
“Do you get many?”
“No.”
A screen displayed the approaching sedan.
Emmett zoomed in.
A man was driving.
Another man in the back.
Jillian recognized him.
“Dean.”
Emmett looked at her.
“You're sure?”
“Yes.”
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“He isn't here for Cody.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he looked at your window instead of the house.”
Jillian's chest tightened.
“He's following me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your family believes you know where the ledger is.”
Emmett looked at the screen.
“Even if you don't.”
A gunshot sounded from outside.
Jillian flinched.
Emmett moved immediately.
The basement door locked.
“Stay here.”
“What about you?”
“I have people.”
“You can't keep doing this.”
“Doing what?”
“Protecting me.”
He looked at her.
“Yes, I can.”
She stared.
“You don't even know me.”
His expression changed.
“I know you stayed with Patrick after everyone told you to leave.”
“That isn't relevant.”
“I know you sat beside Shawn in the hospital the night before he died.”
Her eyes widened.
“How do you know that?”
“Because I was there.”
Jillian stopped breathing.
“You?”
“I didn't speak to you.”
“Why?”
“Because you were crying.”
She looked at him.
“What did you want?”
“To tell you the truth.”
“Why didn't you?”
“Because Patrick stopped me.”
Jillian's eyes filled.
“Patrick.”
“Yes.”
“He knew Shawn was in danger.”
“He knew.”
“He knew his brother was going to die.”
“He knew someone wanted him dead.”
“Did he know who?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Emmett's face darkened.
“Malcolm.”
Jillian backed away.
“No.”
“Your father-in-law ordered Shawn's death.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
Emmett did not soften it.
“Shawn found proof that Malcolm had been using Cody's trust fund to move money.”
“What trust fund?”
“The one your husband never told you about.”
Jillian's mouth went dry.
“Patrick has been paying for Cody's care.”
“Yes.”
“I know.”
“He wasn't.”
“What?”
“The money came from an account created by Shawn.”
She stared.
“Why?”
“Because Shawn was protecting Cody.”
The pieces began coming together.
Cody's drawings.
Shawn's call.
Patrick's fear.
Malcolm's dinner.
The men chasing her.
Then something occurred to Jillian.
“Why me?”
Emmett looked at her.
“What?”
“Why would Shawn call me?”
“You were the only person outside the family he trusted.”
“He barely spoke to me.”
“He watched you.”
Jillian frowned.
“Why?”
“Because he knew Patrick loved you.”
She went still.
“What?”
“Patrick never told you?”
“Told me what?”
Emmett hesitated.
“Three days before Shawn died, Patrick came to me.”
“He asked for help.”
“Yes.”
“With what?”
“With you.”
Jillian's throat tightened.
“He said Malcolm was going to use you as leverage.”
Emmett sat across from her.
“He asked me to keep you safe if things went wrong.”
Jillian closed her eyes.
The memory of Patrick looking at her that morning came back.
That fear.
That strange sadness.
She had mistaken it for guilt.
Maybe it had been desperation.
“Where is he now?” she whispered.
Emmett looked at the clock.
“Closer than you think.”
Before she could ask what he meant, another gunshot cracked outside.
Then every light in the basement went out.
Emmett grabbed her hand.
“Move.”
“Where?”
“The tunnel.”
“What tunnel?”
He pulled open a hidden panel.
Jillian stared at the dark passage beyond.
“You have a tunnel.”
“I told you I dislike surprises.”
“And this is normal?”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“This is the first time I've had to use it with you.”
They ran.
The tunnel ended in a garage two blocks away.
A black SUV waited.
Emmett opened the door.
“Get in.”
Jillian climbed inside.
He followed.
“Where are we going?”
“To Cody.”
Her heart raced.
“Why now?”
“Because the men who followed us were not trying to reach me.”
He looked at her.
“They were trying to find you.”
“Why?”
Emmett's face hardened.
“Because someone inside your husband's family knows Patrick is alive.”
The SUV accelerated.
And for the first time since she ran from the Bannon estate, Jillian understood the truth.
Patrick had not been two hours away in Connecticut.
He had never been there at all.
He had disappeared on purpose.
And whatever he was trying to do, he had placed her in the hands of the one man his family hated most.
Emmett Carbone.
The rival.
May you like
The enemy.
The man who apparently knew her husband better than she did.
