Chapter 6 - The Bullet Meant for MeThe bullet struck the wooden pew inches from my head.
I threw myself sideways, sending a candleholder crashing across the floor.
Adrian stood in the center aisle, his pistol raised. Behind him, Frank Delaney and several armed men spread through the church.
For eight years, Adrian had been the man I trusted to untangle the legal disasters surrounding my businesses. He knew my accounts, my properties, my family history, and every secret I had ever paid someone to keep.
I had considered him the closest thing I had to a brother.
Now he was standing inside my mother's church, trying to kill me.
“Why?” I asked.
Adrian's hand trembled.
“Because you won't understand until it's too late.”
“Try me.”
He glanced toward the side corridor where Maya and Ellie had disappeared.
“You should never have gone near that girl.”
“That's an interesting thing to say about a child.”
“She's the reason your father died!”
For a moment, the gunfire outside seemed to fade.
“What did you say?”
Adrian's eyes flickered.
Frank cursed behind him.
“Shut your mouth, Vale!”
But it was too late.
I had heard him.
And whatever else happened that night, I was going to make Adrian explain every word.
A shot cracked from the doorway.
Adrian ducked instinctively, giving me enough time to reach the side of the pew and return fire toward the entrance. Men scattered behind the pillars.
I didn't want to kill Adrian.
I wanted answers.
Unfortunately, the men surrounding him were less interested in preserving my patience.
I moved toward the sacristy, using the wooden pillars for cover. Frank's men followed, firing into the pews and smashing the old stained-glass windows.
The church had become a battlefield.
I heard Theo shouting through my earpiece.
“Boss, where are you?”
“Still alive.”
“That's reassuring. Maya and Ellie are outside. We're moving them to the secondary vehicle.”
“Get them away from here.”
“Already doing it.”
A burst of static followed.
Then Theo's voice returned, quieter this time.
“We have a problem. The main exit is blocked.”
“Use the alley.”
“There's a vehicle there too.”
My stomach tightened.
Calvin had anticipated our escape.
I fired twice toward the doorway and ran toward the rear corridor. Adrian appeared at the end of it, breathing hard.
“Sebastian, wait!”
I aimed my gun at his chest.
“Drop yours.”
He obeyed.
“Tell me why you betrayed me.”
“Because Calvin owns the people who could have destroyed your organization years ago. Judges, prosecutors, police commanders. Your father knew it. He tried to get out, and Calvin arranged his death.”
I felt my fingers tighten around the pistol.
“And you helped him?”
“I helped hide the evidence. I thought I was protecting you.”
“From what?”
“From becoming your father.”
I laughed once, without humor.
“You helped turn me into the man I became.”
Adrian lowered his eyes.
“Your mother found out what Calvin was doing. Clara had copies of the records. They were preparing to expose him through federal investigators. Then your mother died, your father followed, and Clara disappeared.”
“Why was Ellie involved?”
“Because Clara found evidence that Calvin had ordered the murders using payments disguised as business expenses. She knew the ledger alone wouldn't be enough. There was another record, an original recording, naming the people who had ordered everything.”
“The cassette?”
Adrian shook his head.
“That's only part of it. Clara created a second copy. The last one. She hid it somewhere nobody would ever think to look.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“Then why did Calvin send you?”
“Because he believes I can make you surrender the ledger.”
“And can you?”
Adrian looked at the gun in my hand.
“No.”
A hard expression settled over his face.
“That's why I came here myself. I thought if I killed you, Calvin would leave the child alone.”
I stared at him.
“You believe Calvin lets witnesses live?”
Adrian didn't answer.
The silence was enough.
Footsteps thundered behind us. Frank's men had reached the corridor.
Adrian looked toward the sound.
“Go through the kitchen. There's a passage behind the old furnace. It leads to the alley.”
“Come with me.”
“No.”
“That's not a request.”
He gave me a tired smile.
“Someone has to make them believe you're dead.”
Before I could stop him, Adrian seized the fallen pistol and ran toward the main aisle.
He fired three shots into the ceiling and shouted my name.
The resulting chaos gave me the seconds I needed.
I escaped through the kitchen, climbed through the narrow passage, and emerged into the alley.
Theo's vehicle was already moving away.
A second car waited with its rear door open.
I jumped inside.
“Where are they?” I demanded.
“Safe for the moment,” Theo said.
“Where?”
“Your lakeside property. Only a handful of people know the address.”
I leaned back, trying to steady my breathing.
Then Theo handed me his phone.
A message had arrived from an unknown number.
It contained a photograph of Adrian lying on the church floor, blood spreading beneath his jacket.
Underneath was a sentence.
Your attorney paid for his betrayal with his life. The next payment will come from the girl.
I looked through the rear window at the city lights disappearing behind us.
Adrian was dead.
Calvin knew we had the ledger.
And somewhere beneath the fear, guilt, and rising rage, one terrible realization began to form.
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My mother had not left me an inheritance.
She had left me a war.
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