Chapter 4 - The Box With My Name
The Manhattan vault opened at nine.
Damian bought the building at eight forty-three.
Caitlyn discovered this only after watching the manager nearly faint when Damian walked through the doors.
“You bought a bank?”
“A building.”
“In seventeen minutes?”
“Nineteen.”
“That isn’t normal.”
“Neither is someone trying to kidnap your brother.”
She had no response to that.
The brass key opened box 417.
Inside were three objects.
A flash drive.
A photograph.
And a handwritten letter.
Caitlyn recognized her father’s handwriting immediately.
Her knees weakened.
She unfolded it.
Caitie,
If you are reading this, then Noah remembered enough to lead you here. I am sorry.
Her vision blurred.
Damian stood several feet away, giving her privacy.
She continued.
There are good men who do terrible things and terrible men who learn how to look respectable. Never confuse appearance with character.
Her eyes moved involuntarily toward Damian.
He looked away.
I trusted Damian Hamilton because when he discovered what was happening inside his father’s organization, he tried to stop it. But someone close to him is protecting Nicholas Vale.
Caitlyn’s heartbeat accelerated.
Do not trust the obvious enemy.
Then came the final line.
The man who betrayed us will be standing beside Damian when you read this.
Caitlyn slowly lowered the letter.
Damian was across from her.
Vincent stood beside him.
So did Marco.
Three men.
Three possibilities.
Vincent read her expression.
“What?”
Caitlyn folded the letter.
“Nothing.”
Damian knew she was lying.
But he did not challenge her.
They examined the photograph.
It showed Thomas Elmore outside the Red Door warehouse.
Beside him stood Nicholas Vale.
And behind Vale—
Caitlyn leaned closer.
A much younger Vincent Russo.
Her blood went cold.
Vincent stared at the photograph.
“I can explain.”
Damian looked at him.
“You have ten seconds.”
“I was undercover.”
“Under whose orders?”
“Yours.”
Damian’s eyes hardened.
“I never sent you there.”
Vincent went silent.
Marco reached for his weapon.
Vincent slowly raised his hands.
“Then somebody used your authorization.”
Caitlyn looked between them.
Damian’s organization had been compromised long before her parents died.
Perhaps before Damian even knew it.
They inserted the flash drive into an isolated laptop.
One video file appeared.
Thomas Elmore filled the screen.
Caitlyn covered her mouth.
Her father looked tired.
Scared.
But alive.
“If you’re watching this,” he said, “I probably failed.”
Caitlyn began crying silently.
Damian looked down.
Thomas continued.
“Nicholas Vale is not the head of the network. He answers to someone inside Hamilton’s inner circle.”
Vincent’s jaw tightened.
“I have not identified him. But I found how he communicates.”
Thomas lifted a ledger.
“The names are encoded here.”
Suddenly the video shook.
Her father looked toward something outside the frame.
A door slammed.
Then Thomas whispered:
“They found me.”
The recording ended.
Caitlyn stared at the black screen.
“That’s it?”
Marco checked the drive.
“There’s another encrypted partition.”
“How long to open it?”
“Could take hours.”
Damian looked at Vincent.
“Give it to our cybersecurity team.”
Caitlyn immediately grabbed the drive.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
“No more people.”
Damian’s expression shifted slightly.
She was learning.
“Then we take it somewhere nobody knows exists.”
“Where?”
Damian answered.
“My mother’s house.”
Nobody spoke.
Vincent actually looked uncomfortable.
Caitlyn frowned.
“You have a mother?”
Damian gave her a dry look.
“Most people do.”
It was the closest thing to a joke she had ever heard from him.
For half a second, she almost smiled.
Then the vault alarm screamed.
Marco drew his weapon.
Damian pulled Caitlyn behind him.
The lights went out.
Gunfire exploded in the hallway.
And somewhere in the darkness, Vincent shouted:
“Damian, get down!”
A shot cracked.
Someone fell.
May you like
When the emergency lights flickered on, blood was spreading across the marble floor.
And Vincent Russo was lying in it.
