Chapter 14 - The Last BetrayalI stared at Marcus.
“Elena planned it?”
He nodded.
“She knew Victor was watching you.”
“Then why did she send me?”
“She didn't.”
I frowned.
“I chose you.”
“Why?”
“To survive.”
He looked at Rafael.
“Rafael was going to die that night.”
The warehouse.
The blood.
The screaming.
The bullets.
Suddenly everything made sense.
It had been an extraction.
A fake death.
A disappearing act.
But somebody had changed the plan.
Victor.
He had ordered a second team.
One designed to kill everyone.
Marcus shot me to make me look dead.
Then he shot Rafael's arm.
Exactly where the scar was.
The same reason Bella recognized it.
We had both survived the same night.
But there was one more secret.
I looked at Victor.
“What about Vincent?”
Victor smiled.
“Ask him.”
Vincent stepped forward.
“I was supposed to die too.”
“You were?”
“Yes.”
He looked at Rafael.
“Father ordered it.”
Rafael's face hardened.
“Who?”
Vincent stared at Marcus.
My blood froze.
“My father?”
Vincent nodded.
Marcus closed his eyes.
“I did.”
Rafael looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because Vincent had already been recruited by Victor.”
Vincent shook his head.
“I infiltrated him.”
“After the plan had already begun.”
Silence.
Everyone had lied.
Everyone had believed they were protecting someone.
And every lie had made the next betrayal possible.
Then Bella walked into the room.
“Papa?”
Rafael turned.
She ran to him.
He held her.
She looked at Marcus.
“Grandpa?”
I stared.
“She knows you?”
Marcus smiled.
“She remembered.”
Bella looked at me.
“You were there too.”
“Yes.”
She touched my scar.
“So was Papa.”
I nodded.
She looked at Rafael.
“Did you save Sarah?”
He looked at me.
“Yes.”
I swallowed.
“Actually, she saved me.”
Rafael smiled.
Bella smiled too.
Then the lights flickered.
Victor laughed.
Nobody noticed the small device in his hand.
I did.
“Drop it!”
He pressed the button.
Nothing happened.
He looked confused.
Vincent smiled.
“I removed the detonators.”
Victor's face collapsed.
Police sirens filled the streets outside.
Dozens of black cars surrounded City Hall.
Federal agents stormed the building.
Victor stared at us.
“You think this changes anything?”
I stepped toward him.
“It changes everything.”
He laughed.
“You've got no idea how deep this goes.”
“Maybe not.”
I held up the ledger.
“But you won't control it anymore.”
Victor lunged.
Rafael stopped him.
One blow.
Victor fell.
The officers entered.
Weapons pointed.
Hands were cuffed.
Names were read.
Marcus surrendered without resistance.
Vincent did too.
Rafael stood beside me.
For the first time in three years, I didn't feel like running.
Then an officer approached.
“Nora Kane?”
I nodded.
“You're under arrest.”
Rafael stepped forward.
“On what charge?”
The officer looked at the file.
“Murder.”
My stomach dropped.
“Whose?”
The officer handed me a photograph.
I looked down.
The victim was listed as:
Elena DeLuca.
But Elena was dead.
I looked at the photograph again.
It wasn't Elena.
It was another woman.
A woman who looked exactly like her.
And under the photograph was another name.
Sarah Mitchell.
I stared.
Rafael whispered:
“That's not possible.”
The officer said one sentence.
“It happened four years ago.”
My blood turned to ice.
I had never been Sarah Mitchell.
May you like
I had never been Nora Kane.
And suddenly I wasn't sure who I had been before either.
