Chapter 3 - The Traitor at Gray’s Table
I stepped away from him.
“Someone in your organization?”
“Yes.”
“And you waited until now to mention that?”
“I learned the truth after she disappeared.”
“My mother is dead.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Gray’s jaw tightened.
“She called me three weeks before she died.”
I stared at him.
“She never told me that.”
“She was afraid.”
“Of you?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Gray opened the ledger.
“Victor Donovan.”
“Your family?”
“My uncle.”
Victor had helped Gray build his empire after Gray’s father died.
“He worked with Mercer?”
“For years.”
I felt sick.
“Is he still alive?”
“Yes.”
“Still working with you?”
Gray did not answer immediately.
That was answer enough.
“You kept him close?”
“I kept him where I could watch him.”
“You could have warned my mother.”
“I tried.”
“Not hard enough.”
Gray absorbed that without defending himself.
“No,” he said. “Not hard enough.”
His phone rang.
He answered.
“Marco.”
A voice spoke rapidly.
Gray’s expression changed.
“When?”
Another pause.
“Find him.”
He ended the call.
“What happened?”
“Elias Reyes.”
“What about him?”
“He may be alive.”
I stared.
“Mercer’s men moved someone matching his description from a private medical facility tonight.”
“Why keep him alive?”
“Because Elias handled accounts.”
“He knows where the money went.”
“And who was paid.”
I grabbed my coat.
“Then we find him.”
“You stay here.”
“No.”
“Tessa.”
“No.”
Gray’s voice hardened.
“Mercer wants you.”
“And Elias may have risked his life because he discovered the same thing I did.”
“You cannot help him if you’re dead.”
“And you cannot lock me in your house because you’ve decided protecting me gives you authority over me.”
Silence.
Gray stared at me.
Then he exhaled.
“My mother would’ve liked you.”
“My mother would’ve yelled at both of us.”
“That too.”
An hour later, Gray’s people located Elias.
He had escaped the vehicle transporting him and reached a church on the South Side.
We found him sitting in a small office behind the sanctuary.
He looked twenty years older.
When he saw me, his eyes filled.
“Tessa?”
I crouched beside him.
“Mercer said you moved to Arizona.”
Elias gave a dry laugh.
“I hate Arizona.”
Gray stood near the door.
“Who took you?”
Elias looked at him.
“Your uncle.”
Gray’s face went still.
“Victor?”
“He discovered I was copying Mercer’s accounts.”
“Why?”
“Because Evelyn asked me to.”
My head snapped up.
“My mother?”
Elias looked at me.
“She never stopped.”
“Stopped what?”
“Building a case.”
I sat beside him.
“For seventeen years?”
“Your mother knew Mercer had police, judges, businessmen. She knew one accusation wouldn’t destroy him.”
“So she documented everything.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Elias looked toward Gray.
“The recipe.”
I pulled the card from my coat.
Elias smiled weakly.
“Evelyn always said criminals never respected kitchens.”
Gray almost smiled.
“What does it unlock?”
“Bank deposit box.”
“Where?”
“First National.”
“Number?”
Elias tapped the recipe.
“Four-eleven-three-nine.”
“And twenty-seven?”
“Key number.”
I stared at the card.
“What’s inside?”
Elias’s expression became serious.
“Everything.”
A sound came from the hallway.
Gray immediately turned.
Footsteps.
Marco appeared.
“Gray.”
“What?”
“We have company.”
“How many?”
“Six.”
Gray looked at me.
“Stay with Elias.”
I grabbed his sleeve.
“No shooting in a church.”
His eyebrows rose.
“You’re setting rules now?”
“My mother would.”
For the first time that night, Grayson Donovan smiled.
A real smile.
“Fine.”
He turned toward Marco.
“No shooting in the church.”
Marco sighed.
May you like
“I liked her better before she started making policy.”
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