Chapter 6 - The Enemy Within
Gabriel Voss went to jail.
But his danger did not disappear.
Within days, Andrew’s lawyers uncovered a web of companies tied to Gabriel’s old organization. Some of Andrew’s own business managers had been quietly feeding information to Voss for years. They had used Andrew’s reputation as cover while moving money, weapons, and people through the same channels Andrew claimed he had left behind.
The truth was worse than Andrew expected.
His empire had rot beneath its foundation.
One morning, Marcus entered Andrew’s office carrying a thick folder.
“You need to see this.”
Andrew looked up from the paperwork in front of him.
“What is it?”
“Names. Accounts. Shipping routes. The people who helped Gabriel fake his death.”
Andrew opened the folder.
At the top of the list was a name he recognized immediately.
Richard Whitaker.
His uncle.
The man who had helped raise him after his father died.
Andrew felt the air leave his lungs.
“No.”
Marcus said nothing.
Richard had been Andrew’s mentor. He had taught Andrew how to negotiate, how to read enemies, how to survive in a world where weakness was punished. For years, Andrew had believed Richard was the only family he could trust.
But the bank records were clear.
Richard had funded Gabriel’s escape.
He had helped target Hannah.
He had ordered the anonymous report to child services.
And he had done it for one reason: he wanted Andrew to lose control.
“He thinks the children make me weak,” Andrew said.
Marcus nodded. “He thinks they make you predictable.”
Andrew looked toward the nursery monitor on his desk.
Mason and Noah were sleeping. Sophie was beside them, reading a picture book aloud in a dramatic whisper.
“He’s wrong,” Andrew said.
---
Child services arrived that afternoon.
A social worker named Claire Donnelly entered the estate with two investigators. She was professional, calm, and clearly uncomfortable with the armed guards outside every door.
Hannah sat beside Andrew in the sitting room.
Sophie sat close to her mother, holding Noah’s hand while Mason gnawed on a rubber toy.
Claire opened her folder.
“We received a report concerning the children’s safety,” she said.
“I’m aware,” Andrew replied.
“The report includes allegations regarding your criminal history, Mr. Whitaker.”
Andrew nodded once.
“Some allegations are true.”
Hannah looked at him.
Claire seemed surprised by the answer.
Andrew continued. “I have made serious mistakes. I have associations I am ending. I understand why you are here.”
Claire studied him carefully.
“And why are these children living with you?”
“Because their mother was ill and had no safe support system,” Hannah said before Andrew could answer. “Mr. Whitaker helped us when he had no obligation to. He has never tried to take my children from me.”
Sophie stood suddenly.
“He keeps promises,” she said.
Everyone looked at her.
Sophie’s chin lifted.
“He said we would stay together. And we did.”
Claire’s face softened.
But then the estate alarm sounded.
Marcus’s voice came through the intercom.
“Andrew, we have a situation.”
A delivery truck had entered through the service gate with forged clearance papers.
Inside was no delivery.
Only a bomb.
The truck exploded before it reached the house, shattering windows and sending smoke across the lawn.
Sophie screamed.
Andrew moved instinctively, covering the children with his body while Marcus’s men rushed them into the secure hallway.
No one inside the mansion was injured.
But the message was clear.
Richard Whitaker was not finished.
That night, Andrew made a decision that terrified Hannah.
“I’m turning everything over,” he said.
She stared at him. “What does that mean?”
“It means I give Detective Ruiz the files. The accounts. The names. All of it.”
“Andrew, if you do that—”
“I know what happens.”
He could lose his businesses.
He could lose his freedom.
He could lose the entire life he had built.
Hannah took his hand.
“You don’t have to destroy yourself to protect us.”
Andrew looked at Sophie asleep on the couch with Storm curled against her feet.
“I spent years protecting the wrong things,” he said. “Money. Pride. Power.”
His voice lowered.
“This is the first thing I’ve ever had that matters more than being feared.”
Hannah’s eyes filled with tears.
“Then let us help you.”
Andrew shook his head.
“This is not your burden.”
“It became my burden the moment someone used my children to hurt you.”
She stood.
“No more decisions alone. Not if we’re a family.”
Andrew looked at her.
Family.
The word terrified him more than any gun ever had.
May you like
And yet it was the only place he wanted to belong.
---
