Chapter 8 - The Last Traitor
Marcus wanted to hang up.
I stopped him.
“Natalie, where are you?”
“Parking structure beneath St. Catherine’s.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
Fair.
“But Victor had contingencies,” she continued. “One of them was inside Vale security.”
Marcus’s expression went still.
“Name.”
“I don’t have it.”
“Then this is useless.”
“I have an account number.”
She read it.
Marcus’s security chief, Dante, typed rapidly into a tablet.
His face changed.
“What?”
He turned the screen.
Payments.
Regular.
Five years.
Recipient masked behind a holding company.
Dante looked at Marcus.
“I know this structure.”
“Who?”
Dante hesitated.
“Eli.”
Marcus froze.
Eli Mercer.
His driver.
The man in the SUV the night he rescued me.
I remembered the photograph.
Eli sitting behind the wheel.
Watching.
Marcus whispered, “No.”
Dante continued.
“He joined after Anthony Vale died.”
Natalie’s voice came through the phone.
“Victor’s father placed him.”
Marcus looked sick.
“How do you know?”
“Because Victor kept files on everyone.”
“Natalie,” I said, “where is my mother?”
“With me.”
“Let me hear her.”
A rustle.
Then Mom.
“Elena?”
My knees weakened.
“Mom.”
“I’m okay.”
“Did Natalie hurt you?”
“No. She pulled me out of my car before another man arrived.”
Natalie came back.
“I am many things, Elena. I’m not going down for kidnapping your mother.”
“Why help us?”
A bitter laugh.
“Victor decided cooperating with prosecutors made me a liability.”
“So this is self-preservation.”
“Mostly.”
I respected the answer.
Marcus looked at Dante.
“Find Eli.”
Dante spoke into his radio.
No response.
Marcus’s phone buzzed.
A text from Eli.
COME ALONE TO THE OLD VALE HOUSE.
WE END THIS WHERE YOUR FATHER STARTED IT.
Marcus went pale.
The old Vale house had been empty for years.
Our childhood home.
The place Dad died.
“No,” I said.
Marcus looked at me.
“He wants me.”
“He wants both of us.”
The message arrived on my phone next.
BRING ELENA.
Marcus swore.
Dante began coordinating police.
Marcus shook his head.
“If Eli sees law enforcement, he disappears.”
“Then let him,” I said.
“He knows too much.”
“About what?”
Marcus looked at me.
I understood.
His old crimes.
The things he admitted he had done before going legitimate.
“Elena.”
“What?”
“If he has records—”
“Then you face them.”
His expression hardened.
“You think it’s that simple?”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“But this family has spent decades hiding truth because exposure felt worse than wrongdoing.”
He stared.
“I’m done with that.”
Silence.
Then he nodded.
We drove to the old house with police several blocks away.
Dante followed in an unmarked car.
Marcus hated bringing me.
I hated going.
We did it anyway.
The house looked abandoned.
Peeling paint.
Dark porch.
Dead hedges.
Inside, the hallway smelled like dust and old wood.
Memories struck without permission.
Dad teaching me to tie shoes on the stairs.
Marcus carrying me upstairs when I fell asleep during movies.
Mom singing while washing dishes.
Then the kitchen.
The place Dad collapsed.
Eli stood there.
No weapon visible.
He looked older than he had in the SUV.
Tired.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
Marcus stared.
“For which part?”
“All of it.”
“Victor owns you?”
“Owned.”
“What does that mean?”
“His father paid me to watch Anthony.”
My stomach turned.
“You were here when Dad died.”
“Yes.”
Marcus lunged.
I grabbed his arm.
“Wait.”
Eli did not move.
“I didn’t poison him.”
“But you watched.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I was twenty-two.”
“So?”
“I thought loyalty meant obedience.”
Marcus’s voice broke.
“Then you watched me become the same thing.”
“Yes.”
“Why stay?”
“To keep Victor informed.”
I felt sick.
Every car ride.
Every private conversation.
Every time Marcus believed Eli was family.
“Why tell us now?” I asked.
Eli looked at me.
“Because Victor ordered your mother killed.”
Marcus went still.
“And you refused?”
“Yes.”
“So Natalie got there first.”
“Yes.”
Eli removed a flash drive.
“This contains everything.”
Marcus stared.
“Everything what?”
“Victor’s records on Vale operations. Old collections. bribes. routes.”
He swallowed.
“And evidence you shut them down.”
Marcus did not move.
Eli continued.
“Victor planned to release only the first half if you turned on him.”
Blackmail by omission.
Perfect.
Marcus looked at the drive.
“If I give this to prosecutors, I may go to prison.”
“Yes.”
“You brought me here for that?”
“No.”
Eli looked toward the back door.
“I brought you because Victor’s last man is outside.”
A gunshot shattered the kitchen window.
We dropped.
Dante shouted from the hall.
Police sirens erupted.
Another shot.
Eli pushed me behind the island.
Marcus pulled him down.
Glass rained across the floor.
Officers stormed the yard.
Then silence.
One minute.
Two.
Dante entered.
“Shooter in custody.”
Marcus looked at Eli.
“Who?”
“Victor’s cousin.”
Eli nodded slowly.
It was over.
Almost.
Marcus picked up the flash drive.
His hand shook.
I placed mine over it.
“You know what Dad would say.”
Marcus looked at me.
“He’d tell me to protect you.”
“No.”
I smiled sadly.
“He’d tell you I can protect my own choices.”
Marcus laughed once.
Then cried.
Not much.
Just enough.
The next morning, Marcus walked into the U.S. Attorney’s Office voluntarily.
May you like
He handed over the drive.
He told them everything.
