Chapter 8 - The Betrayal Within
Nora’s finger hovered over the trigger, her heart pounding a frantic, deafening rhythm against her ribs. The muzzle of her Sig Sauer was locked directly onto the center of Dominic’s chest.
“You,” she whispered, the word tasting like ash in her mouth. “You said if your name was in the book, you’d hand me the gun.”
Dominic took a slow drag from his cigarette, exhaling a thin cloud of blue smoke into the dim office air. He didn't look afraid. He looked tired—the weary, heavy-eyed look of a man who had carried too many secrets for too long.
“My name isn’t in the book, Captain,” Dominic said quietly, stepping further into the room. “My brother’s name is.”
Nora’s brow furrowed, though her aim didn't waver an inch. “What are you talking about?”
“Ten years ago, my older brother, Julian, ran this syndicate before I took it over,” Dominic explained, his voice flat and devoid of emotion. “He was ambitious, reckless, and deeply in debt to federal intelligence assets who wanted control of the Middle Eastern supply routes. He’s the one who sold your unit’s comms codes to the highest bidder. Not me. Not Cal Vale.”
“Then why are you protecting him?” Nora snarled, her voice shaking with rage. “Why cover up for a monster?”
“I’m not covering for him,” Dominic replied softly. He reached into his coat pocket and slowly pulled out a heavy, steel-framed revolver—not to aim at her, but by the barrel, presenting it to her handle-first, exactly as he had promised in the van. “Julian died three years ago in a suspicious car crash on the Schuylkill Expressway. A brake line cut by professional hands. Cal Vale thought he was tying up loose ends. But he missed one thing.”
Dominic pointed a finger toward the open safe behind her.
“The ledger doesn't just list the traitors, Nora,” Dominic said, his dark eyes locking onto hers with intense, burning sincerity. “It lists the people who ordered the hit on your convoy. Cal Vale’s signature is right there on the bottom of page two hundred and fourteen. He didn’t just buy the intel—he designed the ambush.”
Nora stared at the gun handle offered in front of her, then slowly lowered her pistol a fraction of an inch. She reached out with her left hand, flipped the heavy pages of the ledger back to page two hundred and fourteen, and scanned the bottom line.
There it was.
May you like
Authorized by: C. Vale.
The weight of six years of grief, anger, and phantom guilt seemed to fracture all at once in her chest. The ghosts she had been hunting weren't hidden behind a wall of unreachable shadows; they were right here, waiting to be dragged into the light.
