Chapter 9 - The Betrayal Upstairs
By morning, nobody trusted anyone.
Security teams were divided.
Phones were confiscated.
Every employee was questioned.
Caleb even ordered Jonah's access credentials suspended.
Jonah accepted it without protest.
“If I were you, I'd do the same.”
Elise watched both men.
They had known each other nearly fifteen years.
Distrust hurt them more than either admitted.
Martha brought breakfast and slammed the tray down.
“I've had enough.”
Caleb looked at her.
“Of?”
“Men.”
Elise nearly choked on her coffee.
Martha continued.
“You all turn suspicious and suddenly every room becomes a battlefield.”
“There was an actual battlefield here two nights ago,” Jonah said.
“That doesn't improve your argument.”
She pointed at Caleb.
“You need sleep.”
Then Jonah.
“You need food.”
Then Elise.
“And you need to stop pretending your hand doesn't hurt.”
Elise looked at the cut.
Martha marched away.
Caleb said quietly, “She has been threatening me since I was fourteen.”
“She may be my favorite person here.”
“I assumed that was me.”
Elise looked at him.
“You threw a glass at me.”
“You continue mentioning that.”
“I plan to mention it at your funeral.”
His smile disappeared at the word funeral.
Elise regretted it.
Before she could speak, Jonah returned to business.
“Victor said someone close to Caleb is working for him.”
“Could be psychological warfare,” Elise said.
“Could be.”
“Or true.”
“Yes.”
Caleb looked at her.
“Who do you suspect?”
“Everyone.”
“Including me?”
“Especially you.”
He blinked.
“How could I be behind my own assassination?”
“Maybe you're very dramatic.”
Jonah actually laughed.
For a few seconds, tension broke.
Then a guard entered carrying Adrian's phone.
“We found this hidden in the guest bathroom.”
Jonah examined it.
A deleted message had been partially recovered.
M: He knows about Monarch. Get him out before Sloane does.
Caleb frowned.
“M?”
Elise asked, “Martha?”
Nobody liked saying it.
Martha had access everywhere.
She knew schedules.
Cleaning products.
Caleb's migraines.
Service areas.
She had managed the house sixteen years.
Exactly the sort of person capable of helping an intruder.
Caleb's expression became unreadable.
“Bring her.”
Martha entered ten minutes later.
She saw the message.
Then looked at Caleb.
“You think that's me?”
“I have to ask.”
Pain crossed her face.
“You have known me since you were a child.”
“I know.”
“I carried you upstairs when you broke your ankle at fourteen.”
“I remember.”
“I sat outside the hospital every night after the bombing.”
Caleb's voice softened.
“I remember that too.”
“Then ask.”
He looked miserable.
“Did you help Victor?”
“No.”
“Do you know what Monarch is?”
Martha hesitated.
That was enough.
Everyone stiffened.
Caleb whispered, “Martha.”
She sat.
“Your mother knew.”
Caleb froze.
“What?”
“Evelyn discovered your father was planning something.”
“Against me?”
“Years before your accident.”
“Then what?”
“She tried to leave.”
“You knew?”
“I helped pack.”
Caleb looked wounded.
“You never told me.”
“She made me promise.”
“She died!”
“And you were eighteen and living with the man I believed killed her!”
Silence.
Martha's eyes filled.
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
Caleb turned away.
Elise saw his hand shaking.
Martha continued.
“Rachel Parker helped us.”
Elise stopped breathing.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
“You knew her?”
“Briefly.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“I didn't know who you were until yesterday.”
Elise sat.
Martha explained.
“Rachel worked at a small hotel in Queens. Evelyn stayed there under another name while preparing to leave your father.”
Caleb whispered, “Rachel hid her?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Three weeks.”
“Then?”
“Evelyn returned to Bellgrave.”
“Why?”
“She wanted you.”
Caleb closed his eyes.
“She wouldn't leave without you.”
The sentence devastated him.
For twenty years he had believed his mother died while leaving him.
Now he learned she had returned because she refused to abandon him.
Elise reached for his shoulder.
He covered her hand.
Martha continued.
“Rachel followed later. She believed Evelyn was in danger.”
“And the crash?”
“She saw another vehicle strike Evelyn's car.”
“Who was driving?”
“I don't know.”
“Did Rachel?”
“Yes.”
Elise felt dizzy.
“Who?”
Martha shook her head.
“She refused to tell me. She said if I didn't know, I couldn't be forced to reveal it.”
“Thomas?” Elise asked.
Martha nodded.
“Rachel eventually gave the information to Detective Price and Thomas Reed.”
Jonah stared.
“My father.”
“Yes.”
Three witnesses had known the truth.
Rachel.
Thomas.
Samuel Price.
All dead now.
Elise swallowed.
“So M isn't you?”
Martha looked at the message.
“No.”
Jonah studied it.
“What other M?”
Caleb's expression changed.
“Marcus.”
The captured renovation worker.
Jonah swore.
They hurried toward the holding room.
Empty.
The guard outside was unconscious.
Marcus Flint was gone.
Someone had released him.
The evidence room had also been opened.
Several items were missing.
Including Marcus's phone.
Elise examined the keypad.
No damage.
“Code?”
“Changed every twelve hours,” Jonah said.
“How could he know?”
“He couldn't.”
Caleb looked at his security chief.
“Who had today's code?”
“Me. You. Deputy chief.”
“Who?”
“Ethan Cole.”
Elise froze.
“Cole?”
Jonah looked at her.
“Nina's married name is Cole.”
Silence.
They found Ethan in the security office.
He didn't run.
When Jonah confronted him, he looked tired.
“Nina is your wife?”
“Yes.”
“You never thought that was relevant?”
“I've been trying to keep her alive.”
Caleb moved closer.
“By working for Victor?”
Ethan's face hardened.
“I don't work for Victor.”
“Then why release Marcus?”
“I didn't.”
“You had the code.”
“So did you.”
Jonah stepped forward.
“You're accusing me?”
Ethan looked at him.
“I don't know who to accuse anymore.”
Elise watched the men.
Then noticed something on Ethan's desk.
A photograph.
Nina.
Two children.
And behind them, visible through a window, a familiar building.
Her old apartment building.
Elise stared.
“Where was this taken?”
Ethan looked confused.
“My sister's place.”
“Where?”
“Harbor Street.”
Elise's pulse jumped.
“My building is Harbor Street.”
“What number?”
“418.”
Ethan went pale.
“My sister lives at 416.”
Caleb understood.
Victor's people may not have bought Elise's building only because of her.
They could have been watching Ethan's family too.
A larger surveillance network.
Ethan stood.
“My family.”
Jonah called the exterior team.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
They raced toward the control room.
The cameras showed static.
Then a single image appeared.
Martha.
Walking upstairs alone.
Behind her, a man in a Rowan security uniform.
Elise recognized him.
The guard who had laughed when she first warned Caleb about the floor.
His name was Mason Drake.
Jonah swore.
“Mason.”
Caleb turned his chair.
“Where is Martha?”
The camera showed her reaching the second-floor landing.
Mason followed.
He drew a weapon.
Elise ran.
Caleb shouted after her.
She didn't stop.
She reached the staircase.
Martha turned.
Saw the gun.
Mason raised it.
“Elise!” Caleb shouted.
Elise grabbed the enormous brass floor lamp beside the staircase and shoved.
It crashed across Mason's path.
He fired.
The bullet missed Martha.
Jonah tackled him seconds later.
Mason struggled.
Then laughed.
“You're too late.”
Caleb reached the landing via the elevator.
“Where is Adrian?”
Mason smiled through blood on his lip.
“Ask your father.”
Caleb's face went still.
“My father is dead.”
Mason laughed harder.
“That's what Victor wanted you to believe.”
Everyone froze.
Elise stared.
Caleb's father, Silas Rowan, had supposedly died nine years earlier.
But Mason leaned closer and whispered:
“Dead men don't build empires, Caleb.”
Then a phone began ringing inside Mason's pocket.
Jonah pulled it out.
The caller ID contained only two words.
SILAS ROWAN.
Caleb stared at the screen.
May you like
For the first time since Elise had met him, the most feared man in Bellgrave looked genuinely afraid.
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