Chapter 4 - The Man Vincent Trusted With Everything Finally Admitted Why He Betrayed HimThe old church on Pratt Street had been abandoned for years.
Rain had eaten away at its stone walls.
Weeds grew between the steps.
The stained-glass windows were cracked.
But beneath the building was a vault built by Vincent's grandfather before Vincent was born.
Frank opened the entrance with a key Julian had left behind.
Vincent, Hannah, Molly, and Evelyn entered.
The vault smelled of dust and iron.
Evelyn found a panel.
“Seven-three-one-seven.”
Vincent entered the code.
Nothing happened.
Molly stepped forward.
“Try the recorder.”
Vincent looked at her.
“What?”
“The sound.”
Evelyn frowned.
Molly pressed one button on the recorder.
Seven beeps.
Three.
One.
Seven.
A hidden lock clicked.
A steel door opened.
Everyone stared.
Inside was a single wooden box.
Vincent walked toward it.
On top was a photograph of Julian.
And beneath it, a handwritten note.
For my brother, when he finally stops trusting everyone.
Vincent swallowed.
He opened it.
Inside was a stack of documents.
Photographs.
A ledger.
And one old cell phone.
The phone turned on automatically.
A video played.
Julian appeared.
He looked tired.
Afraid.
Vincent had not seen his brother this way before.
“Vince,” Julian said, “if you're watching this, then I've failed.”
Vincent leaned closer.
“I found the Broker.”
Static.
“I also found out who he is.”
Vincent's heart beat faster.
Julian looked over his shoulder.
“I can't put his name on paper because he has people everywhere.”
Then Julian said:
“He is not one of our enemies.”
Vincent frowned.
“He is someone we trusted.”
The recording ended.
A second file played.
Adrien.
Vincent's jaw clenched.
Adrien said, “Julian, stop digging.”
Julian replied, “You can't protect him forever.”
Adrien's voice became harder.
“He doesn't need protection.”
“Then why are you afraid?”
“Because you don't understand what happens if Vincent learns the truth.”
Julian laughed bitterly.
“The truth about what?”
Adrien answered.
“His father.”
Vincent froze.
His father had died when Vincent was twenty-eight.
A heart attack.
At least that was the story.
Julian continued.
“What did he do?”
Adrien said nothing.
“What did he build?”
Silence.
Then Julian said, “The Crown.”
Vincent dropped the phone.
Hannah gasped.
Evelyn looked horrified.
Frank stared at Vincent.
For decades, Vincent had believed his father had built legitimate shipping businesses.
But apparently there had been another empire.
A secret network.
A system that bought judges, companies, politicians, police officers, rivals.
The Crown.
And Vincent had inherited it without ever knowing.
Molly walked toward the box.
“There is another paper.”
Vincent pulled it out.
It was a list.
Names.
Beside each name was an amount.
Some had dollar values.
Others had words.
LOST.
BOUGHT.
DEAD.
One name was underlined.
VINCENT CALLAHAN — PROTECTED.
Vincent stared.
“What does protected mean?”
Evelyn read beneath it.
“Protected by order of the Broker.”
Vincent felt his stomach turn.
Frank asked, “Why would the Broker protect you?”
Then a phone rang.
Everyone froze.
It was coming from the wooden box.
Vincent picked up the old cell phone.
“Hello?”
Adrien's voice answered.
“You finally found it.”
Vincent's eyes narrowed.
“Where are you?”
“You don't want to know.”
“You betrayed me.”
A pause.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought I was saving you.”
Vincent laughed without humor.
“By selling me?”
“By keeping you alive.”
Vincent's voice hardened.
“Who is the Broker?”
Adrien hesitated.
Then said:
“Ask your father.”
“My father is dead.”
“No.”
Silence.
Vincent stopped breathing.
Adrien continued.
“Your father isn't dead.”
The call ended.
Vincent stood motionless.
Hannah whispered, “That's impossible.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“Your father's death certificate is real.”
Vincent looked at Frank.
“Find out.”
Frank started calling.
Molly had gone strangely quiet.
Vincent knelt.
“What is it?”
She pointed to the old phone.
“There was another voice.”
“What?”
“After he stopped talking.”
Vincent replayed the call recording.
Static.
Then faintly:
“Tell Vincent his mother remembers.”
Hannah went pale.
Vincent looked at her.
“You know something.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Hannah.”
“I swear.”
Molly looked at her mother.
“Mama.”
Hannah closed her eyes.
“I knew your father.”
Vincent stared.
“You worked for him?”
“I cleaned this house.”
“My father died before you started working here.”
Hannah whispered:
“He visited your father.”
Vincent stood.
“When?”
“Nine years ago.”
The room went silent.
“Nine years ago?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of whom?”
Hannah looked at Molly.
“Of the same people who are after her now.”
Before anyone could move, gunfire erupted outside.
Bullets slammed into the stone.
Frank pushed everyone behind the vault wall.
Vincent pulled Molly close.
“Stay down.”
The attack lasted less than thirty seconds.
Then silence.
Frank checked the entrance.
Two attackers were down outside.
The others had fled.
One of the dead men wore the same black ring.
Vincent removed it.
There was a tiny photograph hidden inside.
His father.
Standing beside a woman Vincent recognized.
His mother.
And another man.
Adrien.
But Adrien was much younger.
Vincent stared at the photograph.
On the back were three words.
THE THREE KEEPERS.
Evelyn whispered, “Your father, your mother, and Adrien.”
Vincent's eyes hardened.
“Then one of them knew where the truth was buried.”
Molly looked at him.
“Maybe all three.”
Vincent looked toward the entrance.
“No.”
He understood now.
May you like
They had been protecting the same secret.
And somebody had spent nine years trying to destroy it.
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