Chapter 6 - THE BETRAYAL AT VALE HOUSE
By sunrise, Senator William Graves was on every major news channel in America.
The recording had reached federal prosecutors at 4:12 a.m.
Nathan sent copies to three newspapers, two television networks, and an investigative journalist Gabriel had contacted years earlier.
Dominic made sure no single person could bury it.
By 8:00, federal agents surrounded Graves’s Washington townhouse.
By 9:30, his campaign suspended operations.
At 10:07, the senator was taken into custody.
Victor Sloane remained missing.
Dominic returned to Vale House with Elena and Lucy under extraordinary security.
Lucy immediately asked for pancakes.
Dominic stared at her.
“You were kidnapped yesterday.”
“I know.”
“You survived a gunfight.”
“I know.”
“You found evidence that brought down a United States senator.”
“I know.”
“And you want pancakes?”
“With blueberries.”
Dominic looked at Elena.
“She gets this from you.”
“She absolutely does not.”
They ate breakfast in the main kitchen.
Not the formal dining room.
The kitchen.
Dominic could not remember the last time he had done that.
Lucy sat on the counter while Elena cooked.
Marcus drank coffee.
Nathan complained about hospital instructions he was ignoring.
For twenty minutes, Vale House almost felt normal.
Then Marcus received a call.
His face changed.
“What?”
Dominic asked.
Marcus lowered the phone.
“Federal team found Victor.”
Elena stopped moving.
“Where?”
“Queens industrial district.”
“Alive?”
Marcus hesitated.
“No.”
Dominic stared.
“What happened?”
“Car crash. Vehicle burned.”
“Body?”
“Inside.”
Nathan exhaled.
“It’s over.”
Dominic did not answer.
Something felt wrong.
Victor had survived for nine years by preparing exits within exits.
A convenient burned body did not feel like an ending.
“Dental confirmation?”
Marcus shook his head.
“Not yet.”
“Then it’s not over.”
Nathan frowned.
“Dominic, sometimes dead is dead.”
“Not with him.”
Elena watched Dominic.
“You think he staged it.”
“I think Victor spent years teaching people to accept what they see.”
Lucy held up a blueberry.
“Like magic?”
Dominic looked at her.
“Exactly.”
She ate it.
“Magic is usually lying.”
Marcus stared.
“Your child is terrifying.”
Elena smiled faintly.
Dominic’s instincts proved correct three hours later.
The body was not Victor.
It belonged to one of his own injured men.
Marcus increased security again.
Yet the greatest betrayal came from inside.
At 6:40 that evening, Dominic entered his office and found Nathan waiting.
The attorney looked exhausted.
“We need to talk.”
Dominic closed the door.
“That sentence has ruined several days recently.”
Nathan did not smile.
“I know how Victor knew about Connecticut.”
Dominic went still.
“How?”
Nathan placed his phone on the desk.
A message thread was open.
Marcus Hale.
Dominic stared.
“No.”
“I traced the security leak.”
“You’re wrong.”
“I wish I were.”
Nathan tapped the screen.
Messages showed convoy routes.
Security changes.
The safe house address.
All sent from Marcus’s encrypted account.
Dominic’s first reaction was disbelief.
Marcus had been beside him for twelve years.
Saved his life twice.
Buried his own career in law enforcement to become Dominic’s security chief.
“No.”
Nathan said nothing.
Dominic checked metadata.
Authentic.
His stomach dropped.
“Where is he?”
“Security wing.”
Dominic walked there alone.
Marcus was reviewing exterior feeds.
He looked up.
“What happened?”
Dominic placed the phone on the desk.
Marcus read the messages.
His face emptied.
“Where did you get this?”
“Nathan.”
Marcus stood.
“This isn’t me.”
“Your account.”
“Cloned.”
“Your encryption key.”
“Someone got it.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Dominic stared at him.
“Connecticut.”
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
“You think I gave Victor my sister’s address?”
“I’m asking.”
“No. You’re accusing.”
Dominic hated how true that sounded.
Marcus stepped closer.
“I held your brother while he died.”
Dominic froze.
“I know.”
“I spent nine years helping you hunt the man responsible.”
“I know.”
“My sister nearly died yesterday.”
“I know.”
“And you think I sent Victor there?”
Dominic looked away.
Marcus removed his security badge.
He placed it on the table.
“If twelve years doesn’t buy me the benefit of one investigation before an accusation, I shouldn’t be here.”
He walked out.
Dominic did not stop him.
That was his mistake.
Thirty minutes later, the east security cameras went offline.
Dominic received an alert.
He rushed toward the guest wing.
Elena’s door was open.
Room empty.
“Lucy!”
No answer.
His heart slammed.
Then Lucy emerged from beneath the bed.
“Uncle Dominic?”
He dropped to his knees.
“Where’s your mother?”
“Aunt Nathan said she needed to sign something.”
Dominic froze.
“Aunt?”
Lucy frowned.
“Uncle Nathan.”
“Where did they go?”
“Downstairs.”
Dominic ran.
Nathan’s office was empty.
So was the garage.
One vehicle was missing.
Dominic called Marcus.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
Dominic left a message.
“I was wrong. Nathan took Elena.”
Seconds later, his phone rang.
Marcus.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“I do.”
Dominic stopped.
“How?”
“Before I left, I copied the logs because I wanted to prove someone cloned my account. Nathan accessed the encryption server eleven times.”
Dominic closed his eyes.
Nathan.
His oldest friend.
Gabriel’s attorney.
The man who had supposedly tried to warn them.
Marcus continued.
“He sent those messages.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Then Dominic remembered something.
Victor had attacked Nathan in the music room.
Or appeared to.
Nobody heard the conversation.
Nobody knew what was said.
What if it had been staged?
“What does Nathan want?”
Marcus answered slowly.
“Maybe the same thing Victor wants.”
Dominic looked at Gabriel’s recovered files.
Then he found something.
One document had been deleted after opening the deposit box.
The access log showed Nathan’s credentials.
Dominic restored it.
A partnership agreement.
Three names.
Victor Sloane.
William Graves.
Nathan Pierce.
Dominic felt sick.
Nathan had never been protecting Gabriel.
He had been part of the conspiracy.
For nine years.
And Gabriel had discovered him too.
Marcus arrived ten minutes later.
Dominic met him in the foyer.
“I owe you an apology.”
“Yes.”
“That’s all you’re getting right now.”
“I’ll invoice you later.”
Dominic handed him the document.
Marcus read it.
“Son of a…”
Lucy interrupted from the staircase.
“Bad word.”
Marcus looked up.
“Sorry.”
Dominic crouched.
“Lucy, did your mom say anything before she left?”
“She said she didn’t want to go.”
His chest tightened.
“Anything else?”
Lucy thought.
“Uncle Nathan told her he found Daddy’s other letter.”
Dominic and Marcus exchanged a glance.
“What other letter?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where were they going?”
Lucy closed her eyes.
“He said something about birds.”
Dominic leaned closer.
“What exactly?”
“He said, ‘The bird goes back to the nest.’”
Marcus frowned.
Dominic did not.
The Vale family crest was a falcon.
The oldest Vale property in New York was known informally as the Nest.
An abandoned estate north of the city.
Nathan had taken Elena there.
Dominic stood.
Marcus picked up his weapon.
Lucy grabbed Dominic’s hand.
“Bring Mommy back.”
He looked down.
“I will.”
“Promise?”
He thought about every promise he had failed to keep.
Then knelt.
“Yes.”
Lucy studied him carefully.
“Okay.”
Dominic headed for the door.
Behind him she called, “Uncle Dominic?”
He turned.
She held up the drawing she had made.
The four stick figures.
“Don’t forget Daddy too.”
May you like
Dominic touched the letter inside his jacket.
“I won’t.”
