Chapter 12 - The Traitor at the TableNathan's hand tightened around my wrist.
“You look surprised,” he said.
“I thought you wanted the ledger.”
“I want several things. The ledger is merely the first.”
He pulled me toward the sedan.
Clara was crying now, her small face red, her fists opening and closing beneath the blanket. Every instinct in my body screamed at me to take her.
Nathan watched the struggle cross my face.
“It's remarkable how easy it is to control a mother,” he murmured. “All you need is something she loves.”
I stopped fighting.
Not because I had surrendered.
Because he was watching my hands.
And I needed him to stop watching my face.
“You always said I was stupid,” I whispered. “You said I never understood how the world worked.”
Nathan smiled.
“You didn't.”
“Then explain it to me.”
He seemed pleased by the question.
“Your father believed information was power. He thought that if he collected enough documents, enough names, enough evidence, he could make powerful people obey him.”
He took the ledger from my coat.
“He was wrong.”
“Is that why you killed him?”
Nathan's expression hardened.
“My father ordered it. I was young enough to believe that family loyalty meant something.”
“And now?”
“Now I understand that loyalty is a tool. It belongs to whoever can enforce it.”
He opened the ledger.
His smile faded as he examined the contents.
“These files are corrupted.”
“I don't know anything about that.”
He slapped me.
My head turned with the impact. I tasted blood, but I refused to look away.
“Where is the original?”
“I gave you what you asked for.”
“Where is Vance?”
“I don't know.”
He grabbed my coat collar.
“You're a terrible liar, Ava.”
I stared at him.
“And you're a terrible father.”
His hand rose again.
A car engine roared somewhere beyond the pier.
Nathan froze.
Through the open sedan door, I saw headlights sweep across the warehouse windows.
Elias's men had arrived.
Nathan dragged me behind the vehicle and pressed a gun against my side.
“Tell Vance to stop his men!”
I reached for the small microphone hidden beneath my collar.
Instead of speaking to Nathan, I whispered the phrase Elias had taught me.
“Winter is over.”
The phrase activated the emergency channel.
A burst of static crackled in my earpiece.
Then Elias's voice sounded.
“Move away from her, Nathan.”
Nathan heard it.
His eyes widened.
He tore the microphone from my collar and crushed it beneath his heel.
“You stupid woman.”
He shoved me into the sedan and slammed the door.
Then he ran toward the warehouse.
I scrambled after him, desperate not to lose sight of Clara. Inside, the vast building smelled of diesel, salt, and old wood. A row of shipping containers divided the floor into narrow corridors.
Men moved between them with weapons.
Nathan reached a second vehicle and shouted at the driver.
“Where is Eleanor?”
The driver hesitated.
“She's already gone.”
“Gone where?”
“I don't know.”
Nathan struck him across the face and seized his phone.
I crouched behind a container, trying to steady my breathing.
Then I heard another familiar voice.
“Boss, the eastern entrance is clear.”
Luca.
He emerged from the shadows with two guards.
Nathan raised his gun.
“You.”
Luca stopped.
“What did you tell him?” Nathan demanded. “What did you tell Vance?”
“Nothing.”
“Liar.”
Nathan aimed at Luca's chest.
I didn't think.
I picked up a metal wrench from the floor and threw it with all the strength I had.
It struck Nathan's shoulder.
His gun discharged toward the ceiling.
Luca tackled him.
They crashed into a stack of wooden pallets. I ran toward the sedan, ripped open the door, and lifted Clara into my arms.
She was alive.
She was warm.
She was crying.
I held her so tightly that she squirmed, and I immediately loosened my grip.
“I'm here,” I whispered. “Mommy's here.”
Behind me, Luca forced Nathan to the ground and kicked away his weapon.
Then Elias appeared through the warehouse entrance.
His gaze found me first.
He hurried toward us, stopped within arm's reach, and searched Clara for injuries.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Either of you?”
I shook my head.
He exhaled, a sound so faint I might have imagined it.
Nathan began laughing from the floor.
“You think you've won?”
Elias turned.
Nathan's face was bloody, but his smile remained.
“You haven't even seen the real ledger.”
Elias crouched beside him.
“Then where is it?”
Nathan looked directly at me.
“Ask your wife.”
My heart stopped.
Nathan laughed harder.
“Her father didn't leave one ledger, Vance.”
He spat blood onto the concrete.
“He left two. And the second one contains the name of the man who ordered your brother's death.”
Elias's expression emptied.
I stared at Nathan.
“Where is it?”
He smiled at me.
“Your mother has it.”
I went cold.
“My mother died when I was a child.”
May you like
Nathan's eyes gleamed.
“That's what you've always believed.”
