Chapter 13 - The Wolf in Disguise
The next morning, Caitlyn walked through the sterile, bright hallways of Noah's exclusive medical wing. The heavy security presence Damian had installed was still firmly in place. Men in dark suits nodded respectfully to her as she passed, their loyalty to Damian extending seamlessly to her, regardless of her current estrangement from their boss.
She sat in the comfortable armchair beside Noah's bed, watching her brother sleep peacefully. The expensive treatments were working miracles. Noah's color was better, and his tremors had significantly reduced. Damian’s money had given her brother a second chance at life.
"Ms. Elmore?" a smooth, professional voice called out from the doorway.
Caitlyn turned to see a tall, sharply dressed man standing at the entrance of the room. He flashed a silver badge from his breast pocket, offering her a polite, disarming smile.
"Special Agent Elias Thorne, FBI," the man introduced himself, stepping into the room. "I apologize for the intrusion, but it is absolutely imperative that I speak with you regarding Damian Hamilton."
Caitlyn felt an instant, cold spike of adrenaline in her veins. "The FBI does not have jurisdiction in this private facility without a warrant, Agent Thorne."
"I am not here to make an arrest, Ms. Elmore," Elias said smoothly, pulling up a chair and sitting across from her. "I am here to offer you a way out. We know exactly what Arthur Hamilton did to your parents. And we know that Damian has been keeping you as a gilded hostage to ensure your silence."
Caitlyn narrowed her eyes. "Damian is not keeping me hostage. I am here of my own free will."
"Stockholm syndrome is a tragic reality in these cases," Elias replied sympathetically. "But the Bureau is preparing a massive RICO indictment against the Hamilton syndicate. We are going to freeze every single asset, including the funds paying for your brother's medical care."
Caitlyn's heart skipped a beat. If the FBI froze the accounts, Noah's life-saving treatments would stop immediately.
"However," Elias continued, leaning forward with a conspiratorial whisper, "if you provide us with your master administrative access codes to Hamilton Holdings, we can quietly siphon Noah's medical trust into a federally protected account before the raid. You and your brother will be placed in witness protection, fully funded, forever."
It sounded like the perfect escape. It sounded like everything she could possibly need to start over safely.
But Caitlyn had spent years working directly under Damian Hamilton. She had learned to read people, to spot the subtle micro-expressions of deception. Elias was too smooth, his suit was slightly too expensive for a government salary, and his eyes lacked the tired, bureaucratic dullness of a real federal agent.
"I need time to think," Caitlyn said, keeping her expression perfectly neutral. "Those codes are heavily encrypted."
"Of course," Elias smiled, handing her a blank white business card with a single phone number printed on the back. "Call me by midnight. For your brother's sake."
Elias stood up and walked out of the room. Caitlyn waited exactly thirty seconds before pulling out her laptop. She immediately bypassed the hospital's firewall and accessed the secure federal database she had hacked into years ago to check Damian's background.
She ran a facial recognition scan on the hidden camera footage she had just quietly recorded from her laptop's webcam.
May you like
The database did not return a hit for an FBI agent named Elias Thorne. Instead, it flagged the face on an international Interpol watchlist. The man's real name was Marcus Vance, a notorious corporate fixer who worked exclusively for The Commission—the shadowy council of rival mafia bosses who wanted Damian dead.
The Commission was making their final move, and they were trying to use her to unlock the vault.
