Chapter 4 - The Trap Beneath Ashford House
Cole expected me to enter the underground garage through the west stairwell.
So I did.
Alone.
At least, that was what the cameras showed.
“Stop there.”
His voice echoed through the garage.
Cole stepped from behind a concrete pillar.
My guard was tied to a chair twenty feet away.
“You look tired, Dominic.”
“You look unemployed.”
He smiled.
“Still arrogant.”
“Still breathing.”
“Temporarily.”
“Where’s Claire?” he asked.
“Safe.”
His smile disappeared.
“You always did underestimate women.”
“Not anymore.”
Cole raised his gun.
Then Claire’s voice came through the darkness.
“Neither should you.”
Cole turned.
Claire stood on the upper catwalk.
He fired.
She dropped behind the railing.
I moved.
Two suppressed shots struck the pillar beside Cole.
My men poured through the maintenance entrance.
Cole grabbed the hostage and pressed his weapon against the man’s neck.
“Back!”
Everyone stopped.
I kept my pistol trained on him.
“You're surrounded.”
“And you still don't know who betrayed you in Miami.”
That stopped me.
Cole smiled.
“See? That’s the problem with kings. They think every betrayal begins beneath them.”
“Name him.”
“Let me leave.”
“No.”
“Then enjoy another funeral.”
Claire appeared behind the catwalk railing.
“Cole.”
His eyes lifted.
She held up her phone.
“I copied the accounts.”
For the first time, genuine panic crossed his face.
“You’re lying.”
“Zurich. Montreal. Nassau.”
She began reading numbers.
Cole’s face went pale.
“Stop.”
“Who owns account 7719?”
“Claire.”
“Who paid you to kill Isabella Vale?”
“Shut up!”
“Who ordered Miami?”
He fired toward her.
That gave me the opening.
I shot the weapon from his hand.
My men tackled him.
Seconds later, Cole was on his knees.
I grabbed his collar.
“Who ordered it?”
He laughed through bloodied teeth.
“You really don’t know?”
I pressed the barrel against his chest.
Claire came down the stairs.
“Dominic.”
“Stay out of this.”
“If you kill him, you lose the answer.”
“He murdered my wife.”
“And Isabella spent her final weeks trying to expose whoever controlled him.”
That reached me.
I lowered the gun.
Cole laughed.
“You should listen to the maid.”
Claire crouched in front of him.
“Who?”
Cole looked at me.
“Victor Salerno.”
My chest tightened.
Victor was my father-in-law.
Isabella’s father.
“No.”
Cole smiled.
“Ask yourself who benefited when Isabella died.”
My mind raced.
Victor had blamed me for her death.
He had demanded more control over my organization afterward.
He had pushed for Cole to become head of residential security.
Claire whispered, “Dominic.”
I looked at her.
She showed me the phone.
An account transfer.
Salerno Holdings.
Three million dollars.
Transferred forty-eight hours before Isabella’s death.
Cole laughed.
“Family is complicated.”
I hit him.
Once.
Then I walked away before I killed him.
My phone rang.
Ava.
I answered immediately.
“Dad?”
Something in her voice was wrong.
“What happened?”
“Grandpa is here.”
I stopped walking.
“Where?”
“In the house.”
Claire heard.
Her face went white.
“Get Emma,” I ordered. “Lock yourselves in the panic room.”
Ava whispered, “We can’t.”
“Why?”
Then a man’s voice replaced hers.
Victor Salerno.
“Because they're with me, Dominic.”
My world narrowed to the phone.
“If you touch them—”
“They're my grandchildren.”
“You killed your daughter.”
Silence.
Then Victor sighed.
“Come upstairs.”
The line died.
I looked at Claire.
She checked her pistol.
“What are you doing?”
“Coming with you.”
“He wants me.”
“No.”
Her eyes hardened.
“He wants Emma.”
I understood.
Emma remembered him.
Claire stepped closer.
May you like
“And if Isabella died trying to protect those girls, we finish what she started.”
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