Chapter 6 - The Betrayal Inside the Moretti House
The explosion did not destroy the reinforced office door.
It ripped the locking mechanism free.
That was worse.
Because it meant whoever stood on the other side knew exactly what kind of charge would open the door without collapsing the room.
Vincent moved first.
He shoved the computer tower beneath the steel desk.
Carter drew his weapon.
Adrian grabbed Marin and pulled her behind the concrete sidewall.
Gunfire tore through the doorway.
Glass shattered.
Lights went out.
“Stay down,” Adrian ordered.
“I know!”
Another burst hit the desk.
Carter fired twice.
Someone outside screamed.
Vincent grabbed the storage card from the computer.
“Back exit.”
Adrian looked toward the narrow service corridor behind the server wall.
“Go.”
They moved.
Carter covered the doorway.
Vincent opened the hidden exit.
Marin went first.
Adrian behind her.
Then Vincent.
Carter backed in last.
The passage descended toward an underground parking garage.
Halfway down, Carter stopped.
“Listen.”
Footsteps.
Below them.
Vincent swore.
“They know the exit.”
Adrian’s blood went cold.
Only a handful of people knew this building had a secondary escape route.
“You said this location was secure,” Carter whispered.
“It was.”
“Apparently not.”
Adrian looked at Vincent.
Vincent understood.
“Someone close.”
“How close?”
“Very.”
A voice sounded from below.
“Mr. Moretti.”
Adrian recognized it.
His face hardened.
“No.”
Marin looked at him.
“Who?”
He did not answer.
The man appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
Fifty-eight.
Silver hair.
Perfect black coat.
Gun raised.
Gabriel Moretti.
Adrian’s uncle.
The man who had taught him to drive.
The man who stood beside him at his father’s funeral.
The man who held Noah in the hospital the night he was born.
“Gabriel,” Adrian said.
His uncle looked almost sad.
“I hoped it wouldn’t come to this.”
Vincent raised his weapon.
Gabriel’s men appeared behind him.
Four.
Maybe five.
“Don’t,” Gabriel said. “There are shooters behind you too.”
Carter glanced upward.
Footsteps were coming.
Trapped.
Adrian looked at his uncle.
“How long?”
Gabriel’s eyes shifted toward Marin.
“Long enough.”
“Did you work for Vale when Elena died?”
Gabriel’s expression changed.
Not much.
Enough.
Adrian knew.
A pain deeper than rage moved through him.
“You knew.”
“I knew she was involved in something dangerous.”
“You knew.”
“She refused to stop.”
Adrian stepped down one stair.
Vincent caught his arm.
Gabriel raised the gun.
“Don’t make this worse.”
“Did you kill her?”
“No.”
“Did you help?”
Silence.
That was answer enough.
Marin touched Adrian’s back.
Barely.
A reminder.
Noah.
Stay alive.
Adrian forced himself not to move.
Gabriel continued.
“Elena found things that could collapse powerful people across this city.”
“She found criminals.”
“She found people whose destruction would create a vacuum.”
“So you murdered her for stability?”
“I didn’t murder her.”
“You gave Vale information.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
“I told him she had copied files.”
Adrian stared.
“He said he would frighten her.”
“You believed him?”
“No.”
The admission came quietly.
Vincent looked disgusted.
Gabriel continued.
“I believed he would take the files.”
“But she died.”
“Yes.”
“And you stayed silent for four years.”
Gabriel looked down.
“For Noah.”
Adrian laughed once.
A terrible sound.
“Don’t say his name.”
“Adrian—”
“Don’t.”
His uncle’s face hardened.
“This is bigger than your grief.”
“My grief?”
“You think I didn’t love Elena?”
“You sold her.”
“I protected this family.”
“You protected yourself.”
Gabriel raised his voice.
“I protected you!”
The stairwell echoed.
Silence followed.
Gabriel lowered his gun slightly.
“When your father died, every rival in the city expected you to fail. Vale wanted your companies, your routes, your political contacts. Elena was collecting information that could start a war you were not ready to survive.”
“So you chose for me.”
“Yes.”
“You chose Vale.”
“I chose Noah growing up with a father.”
Adrian stepped down another stair.
“You took his mother.”
Gabriel’s face broke for the first time.
“I know.”
Carter whispered, “We need a way out.”
Vincent glanced toward a fire-control panel.
Adrian saw it.
Understood.
“Gabriel.”
His uncle looked at him.
“Where is Vale?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“You can.”
“No.”
“Then why are you here?”
“To take the card.”
“And Marin?”
Gabriel looked at her.
“She comes with me.”
Adrian became very still.
“No.”
Gabriel sighed.
“She knows too much.”
“No.”
“She has always known too much. Her sister did too.”
Marin’s voice was quiet.
“Did you know Lily?”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Yes.”
Her face tightened.
“Did you help kill her?”
“No.”
“Did you know she was going to die?”
Gabriel hesitated.
Marin closed her eyes.
Adrian turned toward her.
She opened them again.
Tears stood there.
But her voice remained steady.
“So everyone knew.”
“No,” Gabriel said. “Not everyone.”
“Enough people.”
“Yes.”
Marin nodded once.
Then she looked at Adrian.
He understood something in her expression.
She was done being afraid.
Gabriel raised his weapon again.
“Give me the card.”
Vincent slowly reached into his jacket.
Adrian watched his other hand.
Moving toward the fire panel.
Carter shifted.
Marin stepped closer to Adrian.
Gabriel’s men raised their guns.
“Now,” Gabriel said.
Vincent threw the card.
It hit the floor halfway down the stairs.
Every eye followed it.
Vincent slammed the fire-control switch.
Steel shutters dropped between stairwell sections.
Sprinklers exploded overhead.
Alarms screamed.
Adrian grabbed Marin.
Carter fired.
Chaos.
A bullet struck the wall.
Another hit the railing.
Gabriel shouted.
Adrian pulled Marin upward.
Vincent followed.
They reached the office level as the shutter sealed the stairwell beneath them.
“Move!” Vincent shouted.
The attackers behind them had entered the passage.
They ran toward the damaged office.
Carter led them through smoke.
One attacker stepped from the doorway.
Carter hit him.
Vincent disarmed a second.
Adrian shoved Marin behind the steel desk as bullets tore through the room again.
Then police sirens screamed outside.
Carter’s backup.
The attackers retreated.
For the first time in several minutes, Adrian breathed.
Vincent looked at him.
“The card.”
Adrian’s stomach dropped.
They had thrown it toward Gabriel.
“Damn it.”
Marin was already moving toward the computer.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“The files copied.”
She pointed at the monitor.
A progress bar.
LOCAL BACKUP COMPLETE.
Carter laughed breathlessly.
“Your dead wife was smarter than all of us.”
Adrian looked at Elena’s frozen image on screen.
Her video had paused before the explosion.
“There is one thing Adrian must never know until Vale is arrested.”
He pressed play.
Elena continued.
“If Dominic is exposed before the people around Adrian are identified, Noah will be in danger.”
Adrian’s blood chilled.
Elena looked exhausted.
Afraid.
“I have made mistakes. I trusted someone in Adrian’s family. I do not know who else is involved.”
Adrian looked at the ruined doorway.
Gabriel.
Elena continued.
“The files contain enough evidence to destroy Vale’s network, but one folder matters more than all the others.”
She looked directly into the camera.
“It is called N.”
Adrian opened the file directory.
Found it.
N.
Password protected.
Marin whispered, “Noah?”
Adrian’s hands went cold.
He tried Noah’s birthday.
Failed.
Elena continued speaking.
“If Adrian sees what is inside, he will want revenge. He must choose his son instead.”
Adrian stared at the screen.
“What did you find, Elena?”
Marin touched the keyboard.
“Try Camera Nine.”
He looked at her.
“Why?”
“Your wife recorded this in your house. Maybe she used something only you would recognize.”
Adrian typed:
CAMERA9
Failed.
Carter said, “What did she call Noah?”
Adrian stopped.
Elena had one nickname no one else used.
“My North Star.”
He typed:
NORTHSTAR
The folder opened.
Inside was one audio file.
Adrian clicked.
A man’s voice played.
Dominic Vale.
“We don’t touch the boy. Ever. That is the agreement.”
Gabriel answered.
“What if Elena talks?”
“Then Elena becomes the lesson.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
The recording continued.
Gabriel said, “Adrian will burn the city down.”
Vale laughed.
“No. He won’t.”
“Why?”
“Because after Elena is gone, I’ll make sure he knows what happens if he comes for me.”
A third voice entered the recording.
One Adrian recognized instantly.
His father-in-law.
Elena’s father.
Richard Bellamy.
“Then use the boy.”
Adrian’s eyes opened.
Marin covered her mouth.
Richard continued.
“If Adrian chooses revenge, threaten Noah. He’ll stop.”
The recording ended.
Adrian could not move.
Elena’s own father.
Noah’s grandfather.
Carter whispered, “Jesus.”
Vincent stared at the floor.
Marin reached for Adrian’s hand.
This time he took hers.
Not because he wanted comfort.
Because he needed it.
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone looked at it.
Adrian answered.
“Moretti.”
Dominic Vale spoke.
No distortion.
No disguise.
“Now you know.”
Adrian’s face emptied of emotion.
“Where are you?”
Vale chuckled.
“Still asking the wrong question.”
“What question should I ask?”
“Where is Noah?”
Adrian stopped breathing.
Vincent pulled out his phone immediately.
Adrian heard shouting through the line.
Then a child crying.
Noah.
“Dad!”
Adrian’s entire body went cold.
Vale spoke again.
“Your uncle wasn’t the only person in your house working for me.”
Marin whispered, “No.”
Vale continued.
“Bring me Marin Dade and every copy of Elena’s files by sunrise.”
Adrian gripped the phone until his knuckles whitened.
“Touch my son and—”
“You’ll what?”
Vale laughed softly.
“Burn the city down?”
The line went quiet.
May you like
Then Vale whispered:
“Choose carefully.”
