Chapter 4 - The Betrayal at the Dinner Table
Vincent did not run.
That almost made it worse.
He entered the security room and placed both hands on the table.
“I didn’t approve her application.”
Marco replied, “Your credentials did.”
“Then someone used them.”
Damian stared at him.
“Convenient.”
Vincent’s jaw tightened.
“You think I brought Lucas’s daughter into this house to kill her?”
“I don’t know what to think.”
Claire stepped forward.
“I do.”
Everyone turned.
She looked at Vincent.
“When Lucas talked about the person hunting him, he called him ‘the accountant.’”
Vincent frowned.
“I’ve never been an accountant.”
“No.”
Claire continued.
“But Lucas said the man could make money disappear without anyone noticing.”
Damian looked at Marco.
“Who handles the Romano financial network?”
Marco answered immediately.
“Elliot Grayson.”
Damian’s blood turned cold.
Elliot was not technically family.
But he might as well have been.
Damian’s father had brought him into the organization twenty-five years earlier.
He had attended every Christmas dinner.
Every wedding.
Every funeral.
Including Lucas’s.
Vincent whispered, “My God.”
Damian grabbed his phone.
“Find Grayson.”
Marco called security.
No answer from Grayson’s apartment.
No answer from his office.
Then one guard came running into the room.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“Mr. Grayson just entered through the west gate.”
Damian stared at him.
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
That made no sense.
Unless he believed no one suspected him.
Or unless he wanted something.
Damian walked toward the dining hall.
Claire followed.
“Stay upstairs.”
“No.”
“This is not a discussion.”
“My daughter is involved.”
“That is exactly why you stay away.”
Claire stopped.
“So you get to make every decision?”
“When bullets are involved, yes.”
She stepped closer.
“You don’t own me.”
Damian’s eyes held hers.
“No.”
His voice lowered.
“But I’m trying very hard not to bury another person Lucas loved.”
Claire stopped arguing.
Damian entered the dining room.
Elliot Grayson stood beside the table pouring himself whiskey.
Sixty-five.
Gray suit.
Soft voice.
Completely calm.
“Damian.”
“Elliot.”
“I heard there was trouble.”
“You heard correctly.”
Elliot drank.
“Vincent?”
Damian did not answer.
Instead, he placed Lucas’s pocket watch on the table.
For the first time, Elliot reacted.
Barely.
But Damian saw it.
“Recognize it?”
Elliot smiled.
“Of course.”
“Where did Lucas get it?”
“Your mother gave it to him.”
Wrong.
Damian’s father had given Lucas the watch on his eighteenth birthday.
Only family knew.
Damian stepped closer.
“You sent Vescari to find Sophie.”
Elliot sighed.
“I was hoping we could avoid theatrics.”
Marco and four guards appeared behind him.
Elliot looked around.
“That seems unlikely now.”
Damian’s voice became dangerously quiet.
“You killed my brother.”
Elliot stared into his glass.
“Lucas killed himself.”
“Careful.”
“He was reckless. He discovered things he did not understand.”
“He understood you were stealing.”
Elliot laughed.
“Stealing?”
He looked around the mansion.
“Who do you think built the financial machine that paid for all of this?”
“My father.”
“Your father understood violence. I understood money.”
“You stole from him.”
“I took what I earned.”
Damian’s fists clenched.
“And Lucas found out.”
“Yes.”
Claire had remained behind the doorway.
She heard everything.
Elliot continued.
“Lucas threatened to expose accounts that protected hundreds of people.”
“So you had him shot.”
“I ordered the car stopped.”
“You shot it forty-seven times.”
Elliot finally looked irritated.
“Vescari exceeded instructions.”
Damian took another step.
“Why didn’t you finish Lucas when you learned he survived?”
“Because he disappeared.”
“And when you found Claire?”
“I watched.”
Damian’s voice hardened.
“For five years?”
“I needed to know whether Lucas left evidence.”
Claire stepped inside.
“You used my daughter.”
Elliot looked at her.
“That was unfortunate.”
Damian moved so fast Marco barely stopped him.
“Boss.”
Damian’s hand was already around Elliot’s throat.
“Say that again.”
Elliot struggled.
“Damian.”
Claire spoke.
“Don’t kill him.”
Damian looked at her.
“He murdered Lucas.”
“And Sophie is upstairs.”
Those words reached him.
Damian released Elliot.
Elliot coughed.
Then smiled.
“That is why you will lose.”
Damian frowned.
“What?”
“You have something to protect now.”
A sound came from upstairs.
Claire froze.
A child screamed.
“Sophie!”
Claire ran.
Damian followed.
The bedroom door was open.
The guard outside lay unconscious.
The window stood wide open.
Sophie's bed was empty.
On the blanket rested a phone.
It rang.
Damian answered.
Elliot’s voice came through the speaker.
Which meant the man downstairs had carried a second phone.
“You should have killed me when you had the chance.”
Damian turned.
Elliot was gone.
Marco shouted from below.
“West exit!”
Damian looked out the window.
A black SUV accelerated beyond the estate wall.
Claire grabbed his arm.
“Sophie.”
Her face collapsed.
“He took Sophie.”
Damian took Claire’s face between his hands.
“Look at me.”
She did.
“I will bring her back.”
“How?”
“I know Grayson.”
“You didn’t know he was betraying you for seven years.”
The words hurt.
Claire immediately regretted them.
Damian nodded once.
“You’re right.”
“Damian…”
“But I know what he wants.”
“What?”
Damian looked toward Lucas’s watch.
“Evidence.”
Claire stared.
“What evidence?”
“Something Lucas hid before he died.”
“How do you know?”
Damian opened the back of the watch.
Inside, beneath the mechanical plate, was a tiny memory card.
Claire covered her mouth.
Lucas had hidden the truth with his daughter all along.
Damian removed it.
“He wasn’t protecting money.”
He inserted the card into a laptop.
Documents appeared.
Bank accounts.
Names.
Payments.
Judges.
Police officers.
Politicians.
And a video.
Lucas appeared on screen.
Damian stopped breathing.
His brother looked directly at the camera.
“If you’re seeing this, I probably didn’t make it.”
Claire began crying silently.
Lucas continued.
“Damian, don’t trust Grayson.”
Damian closed his eyes.
“I should have told you sooner.”
Lucas took a breath.
“But there’s something else you need to know.”
The video froze.
Marco cursed.
“The file is damaged.”
Then Damian’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Elliot said, “Bring the memory card to Pier 19.”
Damian’s expression became deadly calm.
“And Sophie?”
“She leaves when I get the card.”
“You hurt her—”
“You have thirty minutes.”
The call ended.
Claire grabbed her coat.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“She’s my daughter.”
Damian looked at her.
Then nodded.
“Fine.”
Marco objected.
“Boss.”
Damian checked his weapon.
“This ends tonight.”
May you like
And for the first time since Lucas died, Damian Romano was going to war not for power—
but for a four-year-old girl who had taught him how to hold hands.
