Chapter 7 - THE ESCAPE THROUGH THE WALL
Darkness swallowed the underground room.
Sadi heard Victor shout her name.
Then a gunshot tore through the air.
Dario’s arm jerked.
His grip loosened.
Sadi dropped to the floor as Victor crossed the room in two strides. He struck Dario’s wrist, sending the gun skidding across the stone.
Mick grabbed Sam and tried to drag him toward the stairs.
Elias tackled him.
The room erupted into movement.
Sadi crawled toward the metal box, clutching the letter against her chest. Someone kicked a shelf, and glass jars crashed around her.
A flashlight flickered on.
Victor stood over Dario, one hand gripping his collar.
“Where is Rafael?”
Dario smiled through blood on his lip. “Closer than you think.”
Victor struck him.
Sadi flinched.
Sam called her name.
She ran to him.
Elias had cut his bindings. Sam was pale and breathing quickly, but he was conscious.
“Are you hurt?” Sadi asked.
“My side hurts.”
Mick had struck him, but nothing appeared broken.
Victor pulled Dario to his feet.
“Who fired the shot?” Sadi asked.
“Someone from outside,” Elias answered.
A bullet had grazed Dario’s shoulder. The shooter had vanished.
Victor looked toward the opened wall.
“Rafael was watching.”
Sadi held up the box. “My father’s letter says not to trust the man who carries the broken crown.”
Victor looked at the words.
“What does that mean?” she asked.
He took the letter and studied it.
“Rafael wears a ring shaped like a broken crown.”
Sadi’s pulse quickened.
“Then it says not to trust Rafael.”
“Maybe.”
“Who saved me?”
Victor looked at her.
The final line had said: The truth is in the person who saved you.
Sadi remembered being four years old beneath the porch.
She remembered footsteps.
A man opening the trapdoor.
A hand covering her mouth.
Then another man arriving.
A voice saying, “Take the girl and run.”
She had never seen the face.
But the voice—
Victor’s.
No.
It was impossible.
Victor had been older, perhaps eighteen, but he could have been there.
“Did you know my father when you were young?” she asked.
Victor’s expression became guarded. “Yes.”
“Were you at the blue house?”
He said nothing.
Sadi understood.
“You were there.”
Victor released Dario to Elias.
“When?”
“After my father sent me.”
“Why?”
“Your father had stolen the ledger. Rafael’s men were looking for him.”
“And you saved me?”
“I tried.”
“What does that mean?”
“I got you out of the house.”
“Where was my father?”
Victor looked away.
Sadi stepped closer. “Tell me.”
“Dead.”
The word crushed the remaining air from the room.
“My father was alive when we left.”
“He was shot.”
“By whom?”
Victor’s jaw clenched. “I don’t know.”
“You were there.”
“I was eighteen.”
“You saw him.”
“I saw him bleeding.”
“And you left him?”
“I carried you out because you were trapped beneath the porch. By the time I returned, the house was burning.”
Sadi stared at him.
All her life, she had believed her father had abandoned them.
She had believed he had chosen the criminal world over his family.
Now she learned he had died trying to protect her.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you were a child. Then your mother was dying. Then you came to work for me.”
“You knew everything.”
“I knew enough to keep you alive.”
“That’s not the same as telling me the truth.”
“No.”
Sam touched her sleeve. “Sadi, we need to go.”
Victor nodded. “He’s right.”
They moved toward the stairs.
Mick tried to rise.
Elias pressed him back down.
“What about him?” Sadi asked.
Victor looked at Mick. “He stays.”
Mick laughed. “You think arresting me changes anything? Rafael already has the boy’s medical records. He knows every weakness you have.”
Victor crouched beside him. “You’re going to tell me where Rafael is.”
“You’ll kill me.”
“Not if you speak.”
“You always say that.”
“And yet people keep testing me.”
Mick’s face twisted with fear.
Sadi felt no sympathy.
Outside, the sun had begun to rise.
Victor escorted Sam to the waiting car while Elias searched the property.
Sadi stood on the porch, holding her father’s box.
Victor approached.
“Your brother needs to return to the hospital.”
“I know.”
“I’ve arranged a private room and a new security team.”
“I can’t afford—”
“I’m not asking you to.”
“You can’t keep paying for everything.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t want to owe you.”
Victor looked at her hands.
“You already owe me nothing.”
“Then why does it feel like I owe you everything?”
He had no answer.
Sadi opened the box again.
The photograph showed her father standing beside a younger Victor outside the blue house.
Victor’s hand rested on Sadi’s father’s shoulder.
On the back, her father had written:
The boy has a conscience. Protect him from his name.
Sadi looked at Victor.
“Your father trusted you.”
Victor studied the photograph.
“My father trusted no one.”
“Mine did.”
Victor took the photograph from her.
For a moment, his fingers touched hers.
Neither moved.
Then his secure phone rang.
He answered.
The caller spoke only three words.
Victor’s face changed.
“What?” Sadi asked.
May you like
He ended the call.
“Your brother’s doctor has been taken.”
