Chapter 4 - The Betrayal Inside Leo's House
Leo trusted very few people.
Donnie was one of them.
His driver, Mateo, was another.
The head of household security, Andre, had been with him for eight years.
If information had leaked, one of them had done it.
Sadi was taken back to the mansion.
Leo locked down the property.
"No phones leave the house," he ordered.
Nobody argued.
He reviewed security footage.
One camera had been disabled for thirteen minutes.
The same thirteen minutes during which the coordinates were accessed.
Andre stepped forward.
"I didn't do it."
Leo looked at him.
"Then prove it."
Andre handed over his phone.
Nothing.
Donnie found something else.
A text message.
Encrypted.
Sent from a private number.
The message contained one line.
SHE REMEMBERS THE FIRE.
Leo looked at Sadi.
She was standing in the hallway.
She had heard it.
"Who knows about the fire?"
"My aunt."
"Anyone else?"
"No."
Leo frowned.
"Then someone has been watching you for years."
Sadi swallowed.
"Why didn't they take me before?"
"They were waiting."
"For what?"
"For you to remember."
That night, Leo found Sadi sitting in the library.
She was holding an old photograph.
"My father loved books."
Leo sat across from her.
"Mine did too."
She looked surprised.
"I thought you hated your father."
"I did."
"What changed?"
"I found out he wasn't the man I thought."
Sadi looked at him.
"You've been through this too."
"Yes."
"Does it ever get easier?"
"No."
She sighed.
"I was hoping you'd say yes."
"It's different."
"How?"
"You stop asking why they did it."
"What do you ask instead?"
"What do I do now?"
Sadi thought about that.
Then smiled faintly.
"That sounds like something you would say."
"Probably."
Silence settled.
Then she asked:
"Why do you keep helping me?"
Leo looked directly at her.
"Because when you came into my diner, I noticed you."
"You mean when I spilled your coffee."
"I noticed before that."
He reached across the table.
Not touching her.
Just close enough that she could see the scar on his knuckle.
"You kept working while your body was telling you to stop."
Sadi whispered:
"I didn't have a choice."
"You always have a choice."
"No."
Her eyes filled.
"Some people don't."
Leo's expression softened.
"You're right."
That was the first time he admitted it.
The next morning, a package arrived.
No return address.
Inside was a small silver watch.
Sadi recognized it immediately.
"The man from the fire."
A card lay beneath it.
YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED QUIET.
Leo read it.
Then the house alarm went off.
A guard shouted from the east wing.
Someone had breached the security perimeter.
Leo grabbed Sadi's hand.
"Stay with me."
They moved through the house.
A smoke bomb exploded.
Sadi coughed.
Leo shielded her.
A man in black appeared at the far end of the corridor.
Silver watch.
Scar.
Sadi froze.
"That's him."
Victor Hale smiled.
"Hello, little girl."
Leo stepped forward.
"You made one mistake."
Victor laughed.
"What?"
"You came into my house."
The confrontation was brutal and fast.
Victor escaped through a window.
But he left something behind.
A photograph.
Sadi as a child.
Standing outside the burning house.
And beside her father was Leo's father.
Sadi stared.
Her world tilted.
"My father knew yours."
Leo looked at the picture.
Then turned it over.
There was another message.
THEY WERE PARTNERS.
Leo's face went blank.
"My father and yours."
He looked at Sadi.
May you like
"They knew each other."
"And whatever they were hiding," Sadi whispered, "got them both killed."
