Chapter 4 - The Cop Who Sold His Badge
The police came through the gates at 8:47.
Daniel walked outside with his hands visible.
I watched from an upstairs window while holding Grace.
Ella slept against my shoulder.
Harris stepped from the lead cruiser.
Alive.
He had a cut across his forehead from the diner.
“You’re under arrest,” he called.
Daniel smiled.
“For what?”
“Murder. Racketeering. Conspiracy.”
“Long list.”
“Turn around.”
Daniel did.
Harris cuffed him personally.
Then he leaned closer and whispered something.
Daniel’s smile vanished.
A minute later my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
“Anna Bennett?”
Harris.
My skin crawled.
“How did you get this number?”
“You work in a diner, sweetheart. You’re not difficult to find.”
I looked toward Marcus.
He immediately began tracing the call.
Harris continued.
“Daniel told me you have the twins.”
I said nothing.
“Give them to me.”
“No.”
“Then people you care about start dying.”
I laughed.
That surprised him.
“What’s funny?”
“You didn’t research me very well.”
Silence.
“I don’t have anyone.”
That was almost true.
Almost.
Ali had become the closest thing I had to family.
Which meant I understood exactly where Harris would go.
I turned toward Marcus.
“The diner.”
We ran.
Ali’s Diner was ten minutes away.
Marcus got us there in seven.
The front windows were broken.
Ali was sitting behind the counter with blood on his forehead.
I rushed inside.
“Ali!”
“I’m fine.”
“What happened?”
“Some idiot with a badge came looking for you.”
Marcus checked the building.
“Gone.”
Ali noticed the twins.
“Anna.”
“Long story.”
“One of your longer ones?”
“The longest.”
Ali pointed toward the kitchen.
“He left something.”
On the floor was a photograph.
It showed Thomas Moretti standing beside Harris.
Behind them was an abandoned warehouse near the docks.
Written across the photograph:
MIDNIGHT.
BRING SOPHIA’S PHONE AND THE TWINS.
Daniel had been arrested.
Thomas was still loose.
And now Harris wanted the babies.
I stared at Marcus.
“We have twelve hours.”
Marcus’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“What?”
I knew immediately.
“Daniel?”
Marcus nodded.
“Harris arranged the transport personally.”
My stomach dropped.
“What does that mean?”
Marcus looked toward the street.
“It means Daniel never reached the police station.”
Meanwhile, across Boston, Daniel woke inside a moving van.
His wrists were chained.
His side burned.
Thomas sat opposite him.
“Well,” Thomas said, “this is awkward.”
Daniel stared at his younger brother.
“You killed Sophia.”
Thomas rolled his eyes.
“She should have minded her business.”
Daniel lunged.
The chain stopped him.
Thomas laughed.
“You always were emotional about women.”
“You’re alive because we share blood.”
“That’s exactly why I’ll win.”
Thomas leaned closer.
“Father always wanted you. Mother always protected you. Everyone followed you.”
“And you murdered my wife because you were jealous?”
“I murdered your wife because she discovered my business.”
Thomas smiled.
“And now I’ll take yours.”
Daniel looked at him.
“You’ll never touch my daughters.”
“Actually, that depends entirely on your waitress.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
Thomas noticed.
“Oh.”
He smiled wider.
“That bothers you.”
“Leave Anna out of this.”
“She pulled you from an alley. She has the twins. She recovered Sophia’s evidence.”
Thomas leaned back.
“She’s very much in this.”
Daniel’s voice became deadly quiet.
“If you hurt her—”
“What?”
Thomas laughed.
“You’ll kill me?”
He tapped Daniel’s restraints.
“You’re going to be dead before midnight.”
Daniel smiled.
That unsettled Thomas.
“What?”
“You still don’t understand.”
“Understand what?”
“You think the empire belongs to whoever kills the king.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“It doesn’t.”
Thomas frowned.
“It belongs to whoever the soldiers choose to follow.”
Outside the van, three black vehicles suddenly appeared.
Thomas looked through the windshield.
His face changed.
May you like
Daniel smiled.
“And they never chose you.”
