Chapter 6 - The Betrayal Nobody Saw Coming
Sebastian’s face changed when he saw his mother beside Victor.
“You.”
Elena looked devastated.
“Sebastian, listen to me.”
“Why are you standing beside him?”
Victor smiled.
“Because she never left me.”
Clare looked at Elena.
“Is that true?”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
Victor raised a gun.
“Enough.”
Sebastian moved.
Victor fired.
The bullet struck the wall.
Gabriel tackled Sebastian aside.
Security agents flooded the room.
Victor vanished through a hidden door.
Elena remained.
Sebastian pointed his weapon at her.
“Tell me the truth.”
Elena cried.
“I infiltrated him.”
“For twenty years?”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I had to.”
“You watched me become him.”
“I watched you become strong.”
“You watched me lose everyone.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
“From the man standing in front of you.”
She pointed toward the hidden door.
“Victor is dying.”
Sebastian frowned.
“He has terminal cancer.”
“What?”
“He has months left.”
“And?”
“He wants control of your family before he dies.”
Elena stepped closer.
“He believes death means losing power.”
Clare understood.
“So he wants Sebastian’s empire.”
Elena nodded.
“But he also wants something else.”
“What?”
“Revenge.”
Against Sebastian.
“For his father’s rejection.
For the woman he believed should have been his.
For a lifetime spent in the shadow of the Lombardi name.”
Sebastian looked at Elena.
“You loved him?”
She shook her head.
“I feared him.”
Victor’s voice echoed from the speakers.
“Everyone fears me eventually.”
The cathedral doors locked.
Gas began filling the room.
Gabriel shouted.
“Move!”
They escaped through the archive tunnel.
Back outside, Elena collapsed.
Clare caught her.
“He used you,” Clare said.
Elena nodded.
“I let him think he had me.”
Sebastian looked at his mother.
“Where is he going?”
“To the old Lombardi estate.”
Sebastian froze.
“That house is empty.”
“No.”
Elena looked at him.
“He moved Oliver’s father’s old records there years ago.”
Clare’s heart stopped.
“You mean my son’s father?”
Everyone looked at her.
Clare had rarely spoken about Daniel Bennett.
He had died before Oliver was born.
A construction accident, according to every official record.
But Elena’s expression told her there was more.
“Daniel wasn’t a construction worker,” Elena said.
Clare stared.
“What?”
“He was an accountant.”
“For whom?”
“Victor.”
Clare felt dizzy.
“My husband worked for Victor?”
“He discovered the trafficking accounts.”
“What happened?”
“He tried to expose him.”
Clare whispered, “The accident.”
Elena looked down.
“It wasn’t an accident.”
Clare closed her eyes.
The world seemed to tilt.
For eight years she had believed her husband’s death was tragic.
Now she learned it had been deliberate.
Sebastian moved toward her.
“Clare…”
She held up a hand.
“I need a minute.”
She walked away.
Behind the house, snow had begun to fall.
Sebastian followed her.
“I’m sorry.”
She laughed bitterly.
“You didn’t kill him.”
“No.”
“But your world killed him.”
Sebastian said nothing.
She looked at him.
“Are you going to tell me you’re different?”
“I’m trying to be.”
“That’s not enough.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
She wiped her tears.
“I spent eight years teaching Oliver that his father was a good man who died doing his job.”
“He was.”
“You knew.”
“I didn’t.”
“Then find out.”
Sebastian looked toward the dark woods.
“I will.”
The old estate became their next destination.
Inside the house, dust covered everything.
Victor had been there recently.
They found papers.
Photos.
A hidden safe.
And inside the safe, Daniel Bennett’s journal.
Clare opened it with trembling hands.
The entries described the charity.
The trafficking network.
The murders.
Then one line:
If anything happens to me, Clare must never know Sebastian Lombardi exists.
She stopped.
Sebastian read over her shoulder.
“Why?”
The next page answered.
Because Victor believes the Lombardi family destroyed his life. He will use Clare if he finds her.
Clare turned the page.
There was another note.
He also knows about the baby.
Her hands froze.
“Baby?”
Sebastian looked at her.
“What baby?”
A hospital record was attached.
Clare Bennett.
Pregnancy.
Complication.
Delivery.
Then a handwritten line:
The child must remain hidden from Victor.
Clare stared at the page.
Oliver was born four months after Daniel died.
She whispered, “What was he trying to protect?”
Elena answered.
“Not Oliver.”
Clare turned.
“What?”
“Another child.”
Silence.
Sebastian looked confused.
“Clare’s husband had another child?”
“No.”
Elena shook her head.
“The child was yours.”
Clare’s blood ran cold.
“What are you saying?”
Elena looked at Sebastian.
“Your father had another son.”
Sebastian stared.
“My brother?”
“Half-brother.”
“Where is he?”
Elena looked toward the journal.
“Dead.”
“But if he’s dead…”
“Victor believes the child survived.”
Clare frowned.
“Why would he think I matter?”
“Because Daniel used your name to hide the records.”
Clare’s mind raced.
She understood.
The mysterious medical files.
The surveillance.
The watch.
Everything had been circling her.
Not because she was special.
Because her husband had hidden evidence inside her life.
A noise came upstairs.
Sebastian raised his gun.
Gabriel moved forward.
A figure appeared.
Adriana.
She looked terrified.
“Sebastian.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I followed Victor.”
“Why?”
She held up a phone.
“Because I found out who helped him.”
Sebastian stared.
“Who?”
Adriana swallowed.
“Your chief of security.”
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed.
“That’s impossible.”
Adriana shook her head.
“He gave Victor access codes.”
Sebastian turned toward Gabriel.
Gabriel slowly backed away.
“Don’t.”
“Gabriel.”
“I didn’t betray you.”
“Then explain.”
Gabriel’s voice cracked.
“I was trying to get my sister back.”
Victor had kidnapped Gabriel’s younger sister two years earlier.
He had threatened to kill her unless Gabriel fed him information.
Gabriel had obeyed.
But there was a second secret.
Gabriel had also been secretly recording Victor.
He pulled out a small device.
“Everything he said is here.”
Sebastian lowered the gun.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Victor said if I did, my sister would die.”
Clare understood.
Victor never controlled people through loyalty.
He controlled them through fear.
That night, they listened to the recordings.
Victor discussed the final plan.
He would expose Sebastian as the leader of a trafficking empire.
He would frame Gabriel.
He would eliminate Elena.
Then he would kill Sebastian.
But there was one problem.
He needed Clare alive.
Because only Clare could open the final account.
The account hidden in the watch.
Sebastian looked at her.
“What account?”
Clare opened the watch again.
Behind the micro-SD compartment was a tiny key.
Engraved into it was a number.
A bank vault.
Victor needed Clare because Daniel’s old records had been transferred into an account requiring a biometric authorization connected to her medical records.
Sebastian stared.
“My father built a dead-man switch.”
“For what?”
“To expose Victor.”
Then Clare realized something.
“The account doesn’t require my fingerprint.”
“What does it require?”
“A witness.”
Sebastian looked at her.
“A living witness.”
She nodded.
“And Victor needs me because he wants the evidence destroyed.”
Sebastian took her hand.
“You’re not going anywhere.”
She looked at him.
“Neither are you.”
He smiled.
“Deal.”
But as they prepared to move the files, the power went out.
A message appeared on the security screen.
ONE HOUR.
Then a second message.
May you like
BRING CLARE TO THE OLD THEATER.
OR OLIVER DIES.
