Chapter 6 - THE MAN WHO BETRAYED US TWICE
Sophia wanted Damian dead.
For approximately seven seconds.
Then she wanted answers.
Adrian preferred the first option.
“He has betrayed us twice.”
“He’s my cousin.”
“That has not improved his character.”
“He may have a reason.”
Adrian stared at her.
“You possess an extraordinary commitment to finding good in terrible people.”
“You’re standing here, aren’t you?”
That silenced him.
Sophia immediately regretted the words when she saw something flash across his face.
But Adrian only said, “Fair.”
They had twelve hours before Elena’s deadline.
Adrian divided his remaining loyal men into teams.
Roman would prepare the Pier Seventeen operation.
Nikolai, still under suspicion, would remain confined.
Isabelle would help Sophia determine what Damian had taken to Victor.
Adrian intended to visit Victor personally.
Sophia blocked the door.
“No.”
“Sophia.”
“You walk into Victor’s headquarters and Elena gets exactly what she wants.”
“I’m not going to kill him.”
“You say that now.”
“I have remarkable self-control.”
“You put a gun against Damian’s head yesterday.”
“I didn’t shoot him.”
“A very inspiring standard.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“Move.”
“No.”
“Sophia.”
“Take me.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Absolutely not.”
“Victor came to my house. Damian is my family. The ledger involves my company.”
“It is dangerous.”
“So is pretending to marry you.”
“That part is becoming less pretend.”
Silence.
Sophia’s breath caught.
Adrian seemed almost surprised he had said it.
Neither moved.
Finally Sophia whispered, “What?”
He looked away.
“Nothing.”
“No. You don’t get to say something like that and then—”
Roman entered.
“Boss, car’s ready.”
Adrian immediately walked past her.
Sophia followed.
“I hate you.”
“No, you don’t.”
“That confidence is deeply irritating.”
“I know.”
Victor Kane’s headquarters occupied the upper floors of the Kane Grand Hotel.
Sophia expected armed men everywhere.
Instead, the lobby looked like any luxury hotel.
Piano music.
Flowers.
Tourists.
Adrian leaned toward her.
“Stay close.”
“I thought this wasn’t a real relationship.”
His hand settled against her back.
“For the next twenty minutes, pretend convincingly.”
The elevator opened directly into Victor’s private floor.
Victor waited beside a wall of windows.
Damian stood near him.
Sophia walked straight toward her cousin.
“You idiot.”
Damian raised an eyebrow.
“Nice to see you too.”
“You stole the ledger.”
“I stole a ledger.”
He placed it on the table.
Sophia opened it.
Blank pages.
Adrian looked at Damian.
“A decoy.”
“Yes.”
Victor poured himself a drink.
“I’m beginning to understand why family dinners are difficult for you.”
Sophia ignored him.
“Why are you here, Damian?”
“Because Victor has something we need.”
Victor placed a file on the table.
Photographs.
Bank records.
Shipping manifests.
And surveillance images of Elena meeting members of Adrian’s organization.
Adrian examined them.
“Names?”
“Eleven of your captains,” Victor said. “Six of mine. Four Laurent board members.”
Sophia looked at Damian.
“How did you get this?”
“I didn’t.”
Victor answered.
“Charles did.”
Sophia froze.
Victor walked toward her.
“Your father contacted me six months ago.”
“Why?”
“To arrange a ceasefire.”
Adrian laughed.
“You don’t do ceasefires.”
Victor looked at him.
“For my sister, I considered one.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“Elena.”
“Yes.”
Victor looked tired suddenly.
“She was always better at turning people against each other than I was.”
“You tried to kill my father.”
“I did.”
The admission shocked everyone.
Victor continued.
“Twenty-two years ago. I was thirty years old and stupid enough to believe loyalty to my family mattered more than anything else.”
Adrian stepped toward him.
Sophia grabbed his arm.
Victor did not move.
“I fired at Mikhail,” Victor said. “I missed.”
Adrian stopped.
“What?”
“Elena shot him.”
Silence.
Adrian’s face changed.
Victor walked to a safe.
He opened it.
Inside was another videotape.
“Mikhail survived my bullet.”
He put the tape on the table.
“Your mother finished him.”
Adrian stared.
“Why?”
“Because he discovered she had never truly left the Kane organization.”
Victor’s voice became bitter.
“She betrayed him. Then she betrayed me.”
Sophia looked at the evidence.
“Why hasn’t anyone exposed her?”
“Because Elena has spent two decades making sure everyone who could expose her looked worse.”
Victor pointed toward the ledger.
“If the original becomes public, it destroys Adrian’s organization, mine, half your board, several judges, police officials, and your father’s reputation.”
“My father?”
“He helped launder Volkov money through Laurent International in the early years.”
Sophia felt sick.
“No.”
“He later spent twenty years trying to undo it.”
Victor looked at her.
“Good men can make terrible decisions.”
Adrian said quietly, “And terrible men?”
Victor smiled.
“Occasionally make useful ones.”
Damian opened another folder.
“We have Elena’s location.”
Sophia looked up.
“Pier Seventeen?”
“No.”
Damian shook his head.
“That’s a trap.”
“Where is my father?”
“Pier Seventeen.”
“Then Elena?”
Victor answered.
“Laurent Tower.”
Sophia stared.
Her company headquarters.
“She’s been operating from my building?”
“For months.”
Adrian looked at Damian.
“Why tell us?”
Damian’s expression became serious.
“Because I helped her get access.”
Sophia closed her eyes.
Of course.
“I thought she was going to help me take the company,” Damian said. “I didn’t know who she was.”
“You never know anything until people start dying.”
“I know.”
For once, he did not defend himself.
Victor checked his watch.
“We have ten hours.”
“To do what?” Sophia asked.
“Charles built a dead-man system.”
Victor pointed toward Laurent Tower.
“If Elena kills him, every file he collected is automatically released.”
“Then she can’t kill him.”
“She found the server.”
Adrian understood first.
“She’s going to disable it.”
Victor nodded.
“When?”
“Midnight.”
Sophia looked around the room.
“So we have to rescue my father and secure the server simultaneously.”
“Yes.”
“And trust all of you?”
Nobody answered.
Sophia laughed.
“Perfect.”
They created the plan.
Adrian and Sophia would go to Pier Seventeen.
Victor and Damian would infiltrate Laurent Tower.
Isabelle would coordinate both teams remotely.
For the first time in decades, Kane and Volkov men would work together.
At 11:40 p.m., Sophia entered the tunnel beneath Pier Seventeen beside Adrian.
Water dripped from rusted pipes.
The passage ended at a steel door.
Adrian opened it.
A warehouse stretched beyond.
Charles Laurent sat beneath a hanging light.
Alone.
“Dad.”
Sophia ran toward him.
Charles lifted his head.
“Sophia?”
She reached him.
He was alive.
She threw her arms around him.
For several seconds, she was a little girl again.
Then Charles looked over her shoulder.
He saw Adrian.
His face changed.
“No.”
Adrian frowned.
“Charles.”
“No, no, no.”
Sophia pulled back.
“What?”
Her father looked terrified.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“We came to rescue you.”
Charles shook his head violently.
“That’s what she wanted.”
Adrian turned.
The warehouse doors slammed shut.
Lights ignited overhead.
Dozens of armed men appeared along the upper walkway.
And through the speakers came Elena’s voice.
“Thank you, Sophia.”
Adrian pulled his weapon.
Elena laughed.
“I knew you were the only person who could bring my son exactly where I needed him.”
Sophia looked at Adrian.
Then at her father.
Charles whispered three words.
May you like
“She chose you.”
A red laser appeared on Sophia’s chest.
