Chapter 6 - The Last Betrayal
Connor stood on an abandoned pier with one arm around Sarah.
A pistol rested against her side.
She looked pale.
Too pale.
Declan stopped thirty feet away.
Alone.
Or appearing to be.
“Let her go.”
Connor laughed.
“You brought your men.”
“Of course.”
“I said alone.”
“You kidnapped a pregnant woman. You’re not in a position to complain about etiquette.”
Sarah almost smiled despite the pain.
Connor tightened his hold.
Declan’s eyes dropped to the gun.
“Take that away from her stomach.”
“No.”
“Connor.”
“Stop ordering me.”
Declan went silent.
Connor’s anger spilled out.
“Thirty-one years.”
Declan watched him.
“Thirty-one years of walking behind you.”
“You’re three years younger.”
“That’s not what I mean!”
The shout echoed over the water.
Connor continued.
“Dad chose you.”
“He was dying.”
“He still chose you.”
“Because you were nineteen.”
“I was old enough.”
“You lost fifty thousand dollars gambling the week he died.”
Connor’s jaw tightened.
Sarah whispered, “Declan…”
He looked at her.
She was sweating.
Her hand covered her abdomen.
“Stay with me.”
Connor looked down.
“You okay?”
Sarah gave him a look of disbelief.
“You kidnapped me.”
“Besides that.”
“I’m having cramps.”
Connor cursed.
Declan said, “She needs a doctor.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because unlike you, I know what sixteen weeks means.”
Connor’s expression wavered.
Declan stepped forward.
“Don’t.”
Declan stopped.
“Fine.”
He spread his arms.
“You want Hayes?”
Connor stared at him.
“Yes.”
“You can have it.”
Sarah looked sharply at Declan.
Connor laughed.
“You expect me to believe that?”
Declan removed his jacket.
He placed his gun on the ground.
Then kicked it toward Connor.
Connor watched suspiciously.
Declan said, “The company. The ports. The warehouses. Everything.”
“Why?”
Declan looked at Sarah.
“Because none of it matters more than them.”
Connor’s face changed.
For years, he had believed the empire was Declan’s only love.
Sarah understood before he did.
Declan truly meant it.
Connor shook his head.
“No.”
“What?”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
“You would never walk away.”
Declan looked at his brother.
“You never knew me as well as you thought.”
Connor’s hand trembled.
“Then sign it over.”
“Done.”
“I need documents.”
“You’ll have them.”
Sarah gasped again.
This time her knees buckled.
Connor grabbed her.
Declan moved instinctively.
“Stay back!”
Sarah cried, “Connor, I need to sit down.”
Connor looked terrified now.
The situation was slipping from him.
Declan saw it.
And exploited it.
“Put her down.”
Connor hesitated.
“Slowly.”
Connor lowered Sarah to the pier.
Her hand immediately covered her stomach.
Declan crouched several feet away.
“Sarah, look at me.”
She did.
“Any bleeding?”
“No.”
“Dizziness?”
“Yes.”
“Bell is ten minutes away.”
Connor stared at him.
“You brought Bell?”
“I bring doctors when pregnant women are kidnapped.”
Sarah muttered, “Reasonable policy.”
Connor almost smiled.
That fraction of distraction was enough.
Ronan emerged from behind a cargo crane.
“Gun!”
Connor spun.
Declan lunged.
The pistol fired.
Sarah screamed.
Declan crashed into Connor.
Both men hit the wooden pier.
The gun slid away.
Elias rushed toward Sarah.
“I’ve got her!”
Declan punched Connor.
Once.
Twice.
Connor struck back.
“You always win!”
Declan slammed him against the boards.
“This isn’t a game!”
Connor reached for a knife at his ankle.
Declan caught his wrist.
Connor struggled.
“Patrick said you were weak because of her.”
Declan twisted the knife away.
“Patrick is dead.”
Connor froze.
Declan stared at his brother.
“And he died believing the same thing you do.”
“What?”
“That loving someone makes you weaker.”
Declan stood.
Ronan aimed his weapon.
Connor stayed on his knees.
Declan continued.
“It makes you choose what matters.”
Connor laughed bitterly.
“And you chose her.”
“Yes.”
The answer came immediately.
Sarah looked at Declan.
Connor lowered his head.
Then another gunshot exploded.
Connor jerked.
Everyone froze.
Blood spread across his shoulder.
The shot had come from the warehouse behind them.
Declan turned.
A man stood in the doorway.
Daniel Cross.
Elias stared.
“How the hell—”
Cross fired again.
Everyone scattered.
Ronan returned fire.
Cross disappeared inside.
Declan looked at Connor.
“You helped him escape?”
Connor shook his head.
“No.”
Declan saw the truth.
Connor was surprised.
Cross had never been loyal to Connor.
He had been using him.
Ronan realized it too.
“Who was he really working for?”
Connor’s face went pale.
“I don’t know.”
Declan grabbed his collar.
“You better remember.”
Connor looked at Sarah.
Then at his brother.
“Margaret.”
Declan froze.
“Aunt Margaret?”
Connor nodded.
“She funded Black Harbor.”
Declan’s expression turned cold.
Everything aligned.
Patrick.
Connor.
Daniel.
All three believing they were partners.
Margaret controlling the money.
The woman who had spent twenty years appearing harmless.
Declan stood.
“Where is she?”
Connor swallowed.
“The Hayes estate.”
Sarah whispered, “Declan.”
He turned.
Bell had arrived.
The doctor knelt beside her.
“Her blood pressure is dropping.”
Declan immediately abandoned everything else.
He ran to her.
Bell checked the portable monitor.
“Heartbeat is fast.”
“Baby?”
“Distressed.”
Declan’s face drained.
“What do we do?”
“Hospital.”
Bell looked at the ambulance.
“Now.”
Declan took Sarah’s hand.
She squeezed weakly.
“Go.”
“No.”
“Margaret.”
“I don’t care.”
“She’ll disappear.”
“Then she disappears.”
Sarah stared at him.
“You would let her go?”
“For you?”
Declan leaned closer.
“Yes.”
Sarah’s eyes filled.
Then Elias approached.
“You don’t have to.”
Declan looked at him.
“I’ll handle Margaret.”
Declan hesitated.
Elias nodded toward the ambulance.
“Go be a father.”
That ended the argument.
Margaret Hayes did not run.
When Elias entered the family estate two hours later, she was sitting in the library drinking tea.
She was sixty-eight years old, elegantly dressed and completely calm.
Elias stood across from her.
“You knew we were coming.”
“Obviously.”
“Daniel told us.”
Margaret smiled.
“Daniel tells everyone whatever will keep him alive.”
“Connor named you too.”
Her smile faded slightly.
“Connor was always weak.”
“So it was you.”
Margaret placed down her cup.
“Declan was never supposed to inherit everything.”
“He did.”
“My husband built half those routes.”
“And Declan’s father built the other half.”
“He left them to a boy.”
“That boy turned them into an empire.”
Margaret’s eyes hardened.
“An empire my son Patrick should have controlled.”
Elias stared.
Patrick.
Her son.
Not merely Declan’s uncle.
Her motive went deeper than money.
“He killed Patrick.”
“Patrick tried to murder his child.”
Margaret stood.
“That child should never have existed.”
Elias’s expression changed.
Margaret continued.
“Declan was impossible to remove while he believed he had nothing to lose. Then Sarah became pregnant.”
“So you poisoned her.”
“I ordered Daniel to make it look natural.”
“You nearly killed her.”
“That was the objective.”
Elias stared at her.
“You just confessed.”
Margaret looked toward the window.
“To you.”
“No.”
A second voice came from the doorway.
Ronan entered holding a phone.
“Also to the federal prosecutor listening on this call.”
Margaret’s face finally changed.
Elias smiled.
“Declan told us the family was done solving everything with bullets.”
Margaret looked stunned.
Ronan added, “Apparently fatherhood is making him annoyingly responsible.”
Security officers moved into the room.
Margaret’s shoulders lowered.
For the first time, the woman behind the conspiracy had nowhere left to move.
At Massachusetts General Hospital, Declan sat beside Sarah.
Hours had passed.
The room was dark except for the monitor.
Bell entered.
Declan stood instantly.
“Well?”
Bell removed his glasses.
“Sarah is stabilizing.”
“And the baby?”
Bell smiled.
“Still fighting.”
Declan closed his eyes.
Sarah started crying.
He sat beside her and took her hand.
Bell continued.
“We still have months ahead of us. This remains a high-risk pregnancy.”
“But?”
Bell looked at them both.
“But tonight, you still have a baby.”
Declan lowered his forehead to Sarah’s hand.
For a man feared across half the East Coast, he suddenly looked painfully human.
Sarah touched his hair.
“Declan.”
He looked up.
“You said something on the pier.”
“I said many things.”
“You said you would give up the empire.”
He was silent.
“Did you mean it?”
“Yes.”
She studied him.
“All of it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Declan looked at the monitor.
Then at her.
“Because I almost lost you over something I spent my life believing I needed.”
Sarah’s voice softened.
“And now?”
May you like
Declan squeezed her hand.
“Now I know what I need.”
