Chapter 4 - A House Built for Enemies
The ledger was hidden beneath the lining of Willa’s canvas tote.
Bastion cut the stitching with a small knife while Willa watched from across the dining table.
Inside the fabric was a thin black notebook wrapped in plastic.
Marcus reached for it.
Willa slapped his hand away.
“Don’t.”
Marcus pulled back, surprised.
Willa took the ledger herself and placed it in front of Bastion.
“Mom said only you.”
Bastion opened the cover.
The first pages contained property transactions from nine years earlier. Shell companies, account numbers, and signatures filled the margins.
Daniel adjusted his glasses.
“These are records from the Halcyon redevelopment.”
Bastion turned another page. “That project nearly destroyed my company.”
Marcus looked over his shoulder. “Crane was the internal accountant.”
“And someone was laundering money through the acquisitions,” Daniel added.
Bastion’s finger stopped on a familiar name.
Victor Crowe.
His older half brother.
Victor had disappeared seven years earlier after trying to seize control of Bastion’s business. Everyone believed he had fled overseas.
Bastion closed the ledger.
“Crane wasn’t working alone.”
Willa sat very still.
“Is this why Mom was scared?”
“Yes.”
“Did she leave because of the book?”
“Possibly.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You said she left because you argued.”
“That was what I believed.”
“So she didn’t trust you.”
Bastion looked at the closed notebook.
“Maybe she was trying to protect me.”
“Or herself.”
“Yes.”
“Or me.”
Bastion’s gaze lifted to hers.
“Yes.”
The penthouse security alarm sounded.
One sharp tone.
Then another.
Marcus reached inside his jacket and moved toward the hall.
“What is it?” Willa asked.
“Stay here,” Bastion said.
She stood. “Don’t say that and walk away.”
“Willa.”
The lights flickered.
Marcus touched his earpiece.
“No response from the lobby.”
Bastion crossed the room and locked the interior door.
“Safe room,” he ordered.
Willa backed away. “No.”
“This isn’t a discussion.”
“You said no one knows I’m here.”
“I was wrong.”
Bastion opened a hidden panel beside the fireplace. Behind it was a reinforced door.
Willa stared. “You have a room inside a wall?”
“My life is complicated.”
“That’s not complicated. That’s insane.”
A crash came from the floor below.
Bastion took her by the shoulders.
“Listen to me. You go inside with Daniel. You lock the door. You do not open it unless you hear my voice and the security phrase.”
“What security phrase?”
Bastion glanced around, then said the first thing that came to mind.
“Macaroni belongs on the table.”
Willa blinked. “That’s terrible.”
“You’ll remember it.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Make sure no one reaches you.”
Her composure cracked.
“People came because of me.”
“They came because adults made bad decisions before you were born.”
“Mom died because of this?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m telling you what I know.”
A gunshot echoed from the stairwell.
Daniel pulled Willa toward the safe room.
She twisted free and grabbed Bastion’s sleeve.
“Don’t die.”
The words stopped him.
Bastion put one hand against the back of her head.
“I have no intention of dying.”
“That’s not a promise.”
“No,” he said. “This is.”
He looked directly into her eyes.
“I will come back.”
Willa released him.
Daniel guided her into the hidden room. The steel door closed.
Bastion turned toward Marcus.
“How many?”
“Cameras cut out before I could see.”
Another security guard emerged from the hall. Blood darkened his shoulder.
“Service elevator,” he gasped. “Three men. Maybe four.”
Bastion took the guard’s weapon.
“Call backup.”
“Signal jammer,” Marcus said. “Landline is dead.”
Footsteps approached.
Bastion and Marcus took positions behind opposite walls.
The door burst open.
The first intruder entered fast. Marcus struck him before he could raise his weapon. They slammed into a console table, sending glass to the floor.
A second man appeared.
Bastion fired once into the wall beside his head.
“Drop it.”
The man froze.
“Bastion Crowe,” a voice called from the corridor. “Still dramatic.”
Bastion recognized it.
Elias Crane stepped into view, older and heavier than Bastion remembered. A pistol hung loosely at his side.
“You entered my home,” Bastion said.
“I came for something that belongs to me.”
“The ledger belongs to the people you stole from.”
Crane smiled. “Norah never understood the difference between evidence and leverage.”
At the mention of her name, Bastion’s grip tightened.
“You knew she had cancer.”
“I knew she was dying.”
“And you waited for her child to be alone.”
Crane’s smile faded.
“She was supposed to leave the notebook in the apartment. Instead, she trained that little girl like a courier.”
“You will never speak about my daughter again.”
Crane raised the pistol.
Bastion moved first.
The shots came almost together.
Crane’s weapon spun across the floor. He collapsed, clutching his hand.
Marcus forced the remaining intruder to his knees.
Sirens rose in the distance. One of the guards had reached an emergency transmitter.
Bastion walked toward Crane.
“Who gave you the order?”
Crane laughed through clenched teeth.
“You still don’t know?”
“Know what?”
“Victor didn’t flee Chicago.”
Bastion stopped.
Crane looked toward the hidden wall.
“He’s been here the entire time, waiting for you to care about something.”
Bastion’s expression went cold.
“Where is he?”
Crane smiled.
“Close enough to know the girl’s school interview is Friday.”
Bastion struck him once.
Crane hit the floor and stayed there.
Marcus grabbed Bastion’s arm before he could do it again.
“Willa,” Marcus warned.
Bastion stepped back.
He crossed the room and pressed the release switch for the safe room.
The door opened.
Daniel emerged first. Willa rushed past him.
Bastion lowered the weapon before she could see it clearly.
Her eyes moved over his face, his chest, his hands.
“You’re bleeding.”
“It isn’t mine.”
She stopped in front of him.
“What’s the phrase?”
Bastion understood.
“Macaroni belongs on the table.”
Willa threw both arms around his waist.
He held her tightly.
Over her head, he looked at Marcus.
“Find Victor.”
Marcus nodded.
May you like
Bastion’s voice became quieter.
“Before Victor finds her.”
