Chapter 4 - The Betrayal at the Dinner Table
Daniel Costello arrived at the mansion at noon.
Sixty-three years old. Silver hair. Tailored charcoal suit. Calm eyes.
He walked into Victor’s dining room like he owned it.
Perhaps once, he had.
Victor sat at the head of the table.
Sadi watched from the service corridor.
Daniel noticed her immediately.
“That the maid?”
Victor’s expression hardened.
“She has a name.”
Daniel smiled.
“So this is what’s changed.”
“Sit down.”
Daniel obeyed.
Marco remained near the door.
Victor placed Sadi’s stolen badge on the table.
“Recognize it?”
“No.”
“Eleanor Graves.”
“What about her?”
“She’s gone.”
Daniel shrugged.
“Domestic help disappears.”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“You paid her.”
“Did I?”
Victor slid a photograph across the table.
Daniel glanced at it.
Sadi couldn’t see the image.
But she saw Daniel’s smile disappear.
Victor said, “Bank camera. Tuesday afternoon.”
Daniel leaned back.
“You’ve become sentimental.”
Victor’s voice lowered.
“You attacked my home.”
“I tested it.”
“You put my people in danger.”
“I showed you how weak you’ve become.”
Daniel’s eyes shifted toward Sadi.
“Over a maid.”
Victor stood.
“Look at me.”
Daniel smiled again.
“There he is.”
“Leave her out of this.”
“Why?”
“She has nothing to do with our business.”
“She does now.”
Sadi stepped into the room.
“No.”
Victor turned.
“Sadi, go upstairs.”
She ignored him.
Daniel looked amused.
Sadi approached the table.
“You stole my badge.”
“Indirectly.”
“You used my debt.”
“Yes.”
“You endangered my brother.”
Daniel’s smile faded.
“Your brother was useful leverage.”
Victor moved so quickly his chair crashed backward.
Marco caught his arm.
“Victor.”
Sadi had never seen rage like that.
Not loud.
Not wild.
Worse.
Controlled.
Victor stared at Daniel.
“You’re done.”
Daniel stood.
“You think this house belongs to you because your father left you a chair?”
“My father left me an organization you nearly destroyed.”
“I built you.”
“No. You taught me.”
Victor stepped closer.
“And apparently you taught me exactly what not to become.”
Daniel’s eyes hardened.
“You choose her over blood?”
Victor glanced at Sadi.
Then back at his uncle.
“I’m choosing my house over a traitor.”
Daniel laughed once.
“You’ll regret this.”
Victor answered quietly.
“I already regret waiting this long.”
Daniel walked toward the door.
Before leaving, he stopped beside Sadi.
“Men like Victor don’t rescue people, sweetheart. They acquire them.”
Sadi looked directly at him.
“Maybe.”
Daniel smiled.
“But?”
“But men like you think everyone has a price.”
His expression tightened.
Sadi continued.
“That’s why you’re going to lose.”
Daniel left.
Victor stared at her.
“You shouldn’t have done that.”
“Done what?”
“Provoked him.”
“He threatened Sam.”
“And now he knows you matter to me.”
Silence.
Sadi’s breath caught.
Victor realized what he had said.
Neither moved.
Finally Sadi whispered, “Do I?”
Victor looked away.
“That isn’t important.”
“It seems extremely important.”
His phone rang.
Marco answered his own at the same moment.
Both men’s expressions changed.
Marco said, “Boss.”
Victor already knew.
“What?”
“The hospital detail lost contact with one guard.”
Sadi’s face drained.
“Sam.”
Victor was moving before Marco finished.
They reached St. Jude’s seventeen minutes later.
Sam’s room was empty.
The bed sheets were disturbed.
His IV stand remained beside the bed.
Sadi stared at the empty mattress.
“No.”
A nurse rushed toward them.
“Ms. Hayes?”
“Where is my brother?”
“A man said you’d authorized a transfer.”
Sadi’s knees weakened.
“What man?”
Victor’s phone buzzed.
A photograph appeared.
Sam.
Alive.
Sitting in a wheelchair.
Behind him stood Daniel Costello.
Under the photograph were six words.
COME ALONE OR THE BOY PAYS.
Victor’s face became stone.
Sadi grabbed his wrist.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“You’re not going alone.”
“I am.”
“He wants you angry.”
“I am angry.”
“He wants you reckless.”
Victor said nothing.
Sadi tightened her grip.
“So don’t give him what he wants.”
Victor stared at her hand around his wrist.
Then at her face.
“What do you suggest?”
Sadi swallowed her fear.
May you like
“We make him think you did.”
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