Chapter 5 - THE BETRAYAL INSIDE THE HOUSEVictor disappeared the following morning.
His office was empty.
His phone was off.
Two guards were missing.
Daniel Bishop found the first clue in the garage.
A bloodstained glove.
Raphael stared at it.
“Search the estate.”
They searched everything.
Basements.
Warehouses.
Guest rooms.
Vehicles.
Nothing.
Sloan stood beside Gus.
“Who was Victor?”
Gus sighed.
“The boy Raphael trusted most.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“It is in this family.”
Raphael returned with another piece of evidence.
A financial report.
Payments had been made from Raphael's private accounts to an offshore company.
For three years.
Millions.
Every payment had been approved electronically.
By Raphael himself.
Except Raphael had never seen them.
Sloan frowned.
“Could someone have cloned his authorization?”
Daniel nodded.
“Possible.”
“Who had access?”
“Victor.”
“Charles?”
“Too.”
“Anyone else?”
Daniel hesitated.
“The server administrator.”
“Name?”
“Ethan Cole.”
Sloan's stomach dropped.
“Why?”
Because she knew that name.
Ethan had been the systems manager at the hospital where she lost her nursing license.
She looked at Raphael.
“That's the same man who handled the medication records.”
Silence.
Raphael's face became expressionless.
“Bring him here.”
Daniel moved.
Sloan caught his arm.
“Alive.”
He looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because dead people can't tell us who paid them.”
Raphael gave her a long look.
Then nodded.
“Alive.”
Ethan was found six hours later.
He was dragged into the estate study.
Terrified.
Raphael sat across from him.
Sloan remained near the doorway.
“You know me,” Raphael said.
Ethan swallowed.
“Yes.”
“You took money from my accounts.”
“No.”
“Wrong answer.”
Ethan started shaking.
Raphael placed a document on the table.
“Sixteen million dollars.”
Ethan stared.
“I didn't—”
“Your offshore company received it.”
“I was following orders.”
“Whose?”
Silence.
Raphael leaned closer.
“Daniel died because someone lied.”
Ethan's breathing accelerated.
“Who?”
“I'll tell you nothing.”
Raphael reached for the gun.
Sloan stepped between them.
“No.”
Raphael glared.
“He is responsible.”
“He is afraid.”
“He should be.”
“But fear makes people lie.”
She looked at Ethan.
“You were at the hospital.”
He stared.
“You know what happened to me.”
“Yes.”
“Who changed the medication record?”
Ethan's lips trembled.
“I don't know.”
“Who ordered the donation?”
“I don't know.”
“Who hired you?”
Ethan looked at Raphael.
Then Sloan.
And finally the floor.
“Victor.”
Raphael's eyes hardened.
“What did Victor want?”
Ethan whispered,
“Access.”
“To what?”
“The Moretti accounts.”
“Why?”
Ethan looked terrified.
“Because Victor wasn't working alone.”
“With whom?”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“Charles.”
Raphael stood.
Sloan felt something shift.
“Charles and Victor were partners.”
Ethan nodded.
“They planned the marina attack.”
“Why?”
Ethan looked at Raphael.
“Because your brother knew.”
Raphael's face went rigid.
“Knew what?”
“The money.”
Sloan stepped closer.
“What money?”
Ethan whispered,
“Your father had a hidden reserve.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“Who does?”
Ethan looked at Raphael.
“Your grandfather.”
Everyone turned toward Gus.
The old man stood in the doorway.
His face was pale.
“Raphael.”
Raphael stared.
“What did Daniel discover?”
Gus did not answer.
“Grandfather.”
Silence.
Then Gus sighed.
“Your father hid evidence of something terrible.”
“What?”
“A syndicate inside the Moretti organization.”
“What syndicate?”
“Men who believed the family should remain criminal forever.”
Raphael's eyes narrowed.
“And Daniel found them.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Gus looked at Sloan.
Then at Raphael.
“Charles.”
Raphael's fist clenched.
“And Victor.”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
Gus lowered his head.
“Because I was afraid.”
The words shocked everybody.
Raphael's grandfather had ruled the Moretti family with an iron hand.
Yet now he looked old.
Human.
Broken.
“I thought if you didn't know,” Gus whispered, “they couldn't use you against me.”
Raphael stared.
“You let me believe my brother died from drugs.”
“I thought it was safer.”
“You let me bury him.”
“I know.”
“You let me spend two years believing he betrayed me.”
Gus's eyes filled.
“I was wrong.”
Raphael stepped closer.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because Daniel gave me one warning before he died.”
“What warning?”
Gus looked at Sloan.
“He said, ‘If Rafe learns the truth, everyone he loves will become a target.’”
Silence.
Sloan felt the words settle like ice.
Raphael turned toward her.
His expression changed instantly.
The realization hit him.
They were already being watched.
That night, Sloan woke to footsteps.
She sat up.
Her door opened.
A shadow stood outside.
“Raphael?”
No answer.
The shadow stepped closer.
Sloan reached for the lamp.
A hand clamped over her mouth.
She fought.
The attacker dragged her from the bed.
Then a gunshot exploded.
The man dropped.
Raphael stood in the doorway.
Barefoot.
Without his prosthetic.
His pistol smoked.
He looked at Sloan.
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head.
He crossed the room.
Then she saw the expression on his face.
Pure terror.
Not anger.
Terror.
Because for the first time, Raphael understood what the enemy had discovered.
May you like
His pain was no longer their weakness.
His love for Sloan was.
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