Chapter 5 - The Betrayal Inside the Vale Family
Roman chose an abandoned rail depot on the South Side.
Predictable enough to worry Reyes.
“It means he wants us to know the terrain,” she said.
Dominic studied the map.
“He owns three warehouses nearby.”
“Then he knows every exit.”
“Yes.”
Tommy sat at the table despite Grant’s repeated orders to rest.
“He’ll kill Adrian.”
Dominic did not answer.
Tommy looked at Clare.
“Tell him.”
“I’m a nurse, not his conscience.”
“You do both.”
Dominic frowned.
“I’m sitting right here.”
Clare ignored him.
Adrian had been missing for days.
Now they knew why.
He had discovered Roman’s connection to Harland and tried to warn Tommy.
Roman had intercepted him.
Whether Adrian had ever done anything else questionable remained unclear.
But he had not betrayed Dominic in the way they feared.
Family had.
Again.
Reyes’s team prepared surveillance.
Federal agents became involved because the missing-patient network crossed state lines.
Dominic hated every minute of it.
“You need to stay in the command vehicle,” Reyes told him.
“Roman demanded me.”
“Which is why he gets to believe you’re coming.”
“I am coming.”
“No.”
Clare raised a hand.
Reyes looked at her.
“I’ll handle this.”
Dominic glared.
“Absolutely not.”
“I mean the argument.”
“Still no.”
Clare stood in front of him.
“If you go inside armed and angry, Roman wins twice.”
“He has Adrian.”
“And police are going to get him.”
“Police fail.”
“So do mafia bosses.”
The room went quiet.
Tommy covered his mouth to hide a smile.
Dominic stepped closer.
“You enjoy this.”
“No.”
“You definitely do.”
“A little.”
Then Clare became serious.
“You almost lost Tommy because somebody manipulated him with your name.”
Dominic’s expression changed.
“Don’t let Roman manipulate you with Adrian.”
That did it.
Dominic stayed.
Barely.
The rescue began at 2:13 a.m.
Roman expected Dominic’s black Escalade.
He got it.
One of Dominic’s men drove.
Dominic was not inside.
Police teams moved from two directions.
A sniper covered the northern exit.
Agents entered through the adjacent warehouse.
Clare remained in the command vehicle beside Dominic and Tommy.
Tommy should not have been there.
Nobody managed to convince him otherwise.
Audio came through.
“Movement east side.”
“Two armed.”
“Target visible.”
Then gunfire.
Tommy stiffened.
Dominic’s hands closed into fists.
Clare watched the monitors.
Officers breached.
One suspect surrendered.
Another ran.
Adrian was found alive.
Roman was not.
A tunnel beneath the depot connected to an old freight building.
Roman escaped.
Dominic punched the side of the vehicle.
“Damn it.”
Reyes’s voice came over radio.
“Adrian secure. Repeat, hostage secure.”
Tommy sagged.
Clare exhaled.
Dominic did not move.
“He got away.”
“Yes.”
“He’ll come again.”
“Probably.”
Dominic looked at her.
“You’re terrible at comfort.”
“I’m not trying to comfort you.”
Adrian was transported to a hospital under police guard.
Not St. Jude’s.
When he regained consciousness, he asked for Dominic.
This time Reyes allowed it.
Clare went too.
Adrian’s face was swollen.
One eye almost closed.
He looked at Dominic.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“I should have told you sooner.”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t know who to trust.”
“You could have trusted me.”
Adrian laughed painfully.
“Roman raised you.”
That silenced Dominic.
Exactly.
Adrian explained everything.
Three weeks earlier, he discovered duplicate freight manifests showing medical shipments diverted to Roman’s foundation properties.
He confronted a supervisor.
The supervisor disappeared.
Adrian began investigating quietly.
Then Nico found the warehouse discrepancy.
Roman panicked.
“Nico wasn’t supposed to be there,” Adrian said.
“The explosion?” Dominic asked.
“Ordered by Sloane.”
“Tommy?”
“Roman wanted leverage.”
Tommy stared from the doorway.
“So he had me shot?”
Adrian looked away.
“He told them leg only.”
A strange silence entered the room.
Tommy’s face crumpled.
As if shooting a nephew “only” in the leg somehow made the betrayal worse.
Dominic’s voice became frighteningly quiet.
“He ordered someone to shoot my brother.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To make you desperate enough to move your people through St. Jude’s.”
Clare frowned.
“What?”
Adrian looked at her.
“Roman knew Dominic would avoid public hospitals if police were watching. But if Tommy was dying…”
“He thought Dominic would make an exception.”
“Yes.”
“And then Harland would get him.”
Adrian nodded.
Clare felt nauseated.
“They were going to transfer Tommy.”
“To force Dominic to sign over control of Vale Maritime.”
Dominic stared.
“Roman wanted the company.”
“He always did.”
Everything narrowed.
This entire chain—
Nico.
Clare’s firing.
Tommy’s shooting.
The hospital.
The patients.
All of it connected to power and money.
Clare asked, “Why fire me before Nico arrived?”
Adrian’s answer came slowly.
“Because somebody flagged you.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“For what?”
“You had filed safety complaints.”
Clare blinked.
“What?”
“Staffing. Medication storage. Transport irregularities.”
She remembered.
Of course.
Clare had written reports for years.
Most disappeared into administration.
“You were considered unpredictable.”
Dominic almost smiled.
“That part is accurate.”
She ignored him.
Adrian continued.
“Davis was told that if a sensitive patient arrived, you needed to be removed from the department.”
“So my termination was prepared in advance.”
“Yes.”
“And when I saved Nico anyway…”
“They used the protocol violation.”
Clare felt something inside her settle.
For days she had been humiliated by the firing.
Questioning herself.
Wondering whether maybe she had acted too aggressively.
Now she understood.
Her career had not ended because she was reckless.
It ended because she was difficult to control.
A strange pride replaced shame.
Dominic saw it.
“You look happier.”
“I am.”
“You were targeted by a criminal conspiracy.”
“Yes.”
“And that cheers you up?”
“It means Davis’s opinion was worthless.”
Dominic stared.
Then laughed.
Not a polite laugh.
A real one.
Adrian smiled through bruised lips.
“There it is.”
Dominic stopped.
“What?”
“You haven’t laughed like that in years.”
Clare looked away.
That was dangerous territory.
She preferred gunshot wounds.
Those were easier to diagnose.
Roman disappeared for four days.
During that time, federal agents raided two more private medical sites.
More survivors were found.
Families who had believed relatives ran away discovered they had been held illegally.
St. Jude’s suspended Davis.
Dr. Weber agreed to cooperate.
Harland Patient Transport lost state licensing.
Sloane vanished.
The scandal exploded nationally.
News vans surrounded St. Jude’s.
Clare’s name leaked.
NURSE FIRED AFTER SAVING WITNESS IN HOSPITAL CONSPIRACY.
Her phone filled with interview requests.
She declined every one.
Then the hospital called.
Not Davis.
The board chairman.
“Ms. Bennett, we would like to discuss reinstatement.”
Clare almost laughed.
“You fired me five days ago.”
“We believe the termination process may have been compromised.”
“May have?”
“We are conducting an internal investigation.”
“Call me when you learn adverbs.”
She hung up.
Dominic stood nearby.
“That was cruel.”
“I learned from you.”
“I’m proud.”
“Don’t be.”
Tommy recovered slowly.
He began walking with assistance.
Nico moved to a secure hospital.
Adrian remained under protection.
For the first time, the safe house felt almost calm.
That lasted until Clare returned from the kitchen and found Dominic bleeding.
He stood near the back door with one hand pressed against his side.
“Sit down.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re dripping on the floor.”
“It’s superficial.”
“Everybody says that before passing out.”
She pulled his hand away.
A deep cut along his ribs.
Not gunshot.
Knife.
“What happened?”
“A man got through the alley.”
“Where is he?”
“Gone.”
“You let him go?”
“No.”
The answer told her enough.
Clare did not ask.
She cleaned the wound.
Dominic watched her.
“You should be afraid of me.”
“I am sometimes.”
His expression changed.
She continued.
“You should also be afraid of me when you tell me a wound is superficial.”
He almost smiled.
Then his eyes dropped to her hands.
“You never shake.”
“I do.”
“I’ve never seen it.”
“You haven’t looked at the right time.”
“Like when?”
Clare tied the dressing.
“After.”
“After what?”
“After the patient lives or dies. After everyone leaves. After I get home.”
Dominic was quiet.
“I thought people like you didn’t get scared.”
“People like me?”
“People who run toward blood.”
“We get scared.”
“Then why run toward it?”
Clare looked at him.
“Because somebody has to.”
The room changed.
Not dramatically.
No music.
No cinematic shift.
Just silence becoming aware of itself.
Dominic lifted one hand as if he might touch her face.
He stopped.
Clare noticed.
Again.
He always stopped.
For a man accustomed to taking control, Dominic had begun asking without words.
That mattered more than she wanted.
She stepped back.
“Don’t.”
His hand lowered.
“I wasn’t—”
“Yes, you were.”
He nodded.
“Okay.”
No anger.
No wounded pride.
Just okay.
Clare’s heartbeat was suddenly too loud.
“Why did you stop?”
He looked confused.
“When I said don’t.”
“Because you said don’t.”
The simplicity of the answer struck harder than a romantic line would have.
Clare looked away.
“Get some sleep.”
“You too.”
She walked toward the hall.
Then Dominic’s phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed immediately.
“What?”
Clare stopped.
He listened.
Then looked at her.
“Roman called Tommy.”
“What does he want?”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“He wants me to trade something.”
“What?”
“Everything.”
Roman wanted control of Vale Maritime.
All Dominic’s voting shares.
All freight properties.
All security contracts.
And in exchange, Roman promised to tell them where Victor Sloane was keeping the last person taken from St. Jude’s.
Jasmine’s younger brother.
Kevin Lee.
May you like
A paramedic.
Missing since that morning.
