Chapter 7 - Someone Inside the House Was Lying
Delaney's apartment looked exactly as she had left it.
That was the problem.
If Adrian Vale knew Nolan had hidden something there, Delaney expected broken drawers and overturned furniture.
Instead, the small one-bedroom apartment in Somerville seemed frozen in time.
The mug beside the sink.
Nolan's running shoes near the door.
A grocery list still attached to the refrigerator.
Coffee.
Milk.
Dish soap.
Those ordinary words nearly destroyed her.
Six months ago, Nolan had expected to come home and buy milk.
Now armed men waited in the hallway while Delaney searched for evidence that might keep him alive.
Emmett stood near the window.
"This is where you lived together?"
"Still do."
He looked at the untouched side of Nolan's closet.
Delaney knew what he was thinking.
She hadn't packed anything.
Not a shirt.
Not a toothbrush.
Not even the jacket Nolan hated but kept because Delaney had given it to him.
"I couldn't."
Emmett said nothing.
She opened the bedroom dresser.
Top drawer.
Baby box.
Yellow socks inside.
She touched them briefly.
Then reached beneath.
Envelope.
Still there.
Her name written across the front in Nolan's handwriting.
Delaney sat on the edge of the bed.
She had seen it before.
Why hadn't she opened it?
Because grief made simple things impossible.
Because anything in Nolan's handwriting had felt like a bomb.
Because she had assumed it was something mundane.
Now she tore it open.
Inside was a key.
Small.
Silver.
And a note.
D—If anything happens, remember where we promised we'd go when life got too loud.
Delaney stared.
Emmett leaned closer.
"Where?"
She knew immediately.
"Rockport."
"Why?"
"Our honeymoon."
"Specific place?"
"A rental cottage overlooking the water."
"Still exists?"
"I think so."
Emmett called his team.
Delaney continued examining the envelope.
One corner seemed unusually thick.
She tore the paper.
A second slip fell out.
Numbers.
Bank routing format.
"Safe deposit box," Emmett said.
"How do you know?"
"I've hidden things before."
"That's reassuring again."
He photographed the numbers.
Within minutes his people identified a private vault company in downtown Boston.
Delaney frowned.
"The note says Rockport."
"Misdirection."
"Nolan wanted only me to understand."
"Maybe the cottage contains the authorization."
"Or maybe the key opens something there."
Before they decided, someone knocked on the apartment door.
Three taps.
Pause.
Two taps.
One of Emmett's men entered.
"Problem."
"What?"
"The team downstairs spotted a vehicle circling twice."
"Victor?"
"Registered to Ror Holdings."
Emmett went still.
"Which department?"
"Executive security."
Delaney watched his expression.
"Someone from your own company is following us."
"Yes."
"Who has access to those cars?"
"Six people."
"How many know we're here?"
Emmett's jaw tightened.
"Three."
Someone inside his closest circle was leaking information.
Again.
Delaney suddenly remembered Nolan's wall message.
Don't trust the man who sent me to Emmett.
That referred to Vale.
But what if Nolan had discovered more than one traitor?
"Who came with us tonight?"
"Marco, Elias, Ben, Theo."
"And the driver?"
"Theo."
"Who knew about the apartment?"
"Marco and Elias."
"So narrow it."
Emmett stared at her.
"You sound like an auditor."
"I'm married to one."
He picked up his phone.
Then Delaney noticed something near the front door.
A faint wet print.
Mud.
Fresh.
Her apartment had been entered.
She pointed.
"Someone's already been here."
Emmett immediately searched the rooms.
Nothing obviously disturbed.
Then Delaney opened the kitchen cabinet.
The jar where she kept emergency cash was gone.
Not much.
A few hundred dollars.
But gone.
"Nolan used to hide spare keys behind it."
She reached farther into the cabinet.
Empty.
"What kind of keys?"
"Storage unit."
Emmett looked at her.
"Which storage unit?"
Delaney's eyes widened.
Their old one in Cambridge.
They had rented it after moving.
Mostly furniture.
Boxes.
Nolan's college papers.
And maybe—
Something valuable enough for Adrian Vale to follow her across Boston.
They left through the rear stairwell.
Emmett deliberately sent the main convoy toward Rockport.
He and Delaney took another car with only Marco driving.
For twenty minutes nobody spoke.
Then Delaney noticed Emmett watching the side mirror.
"What?"
"Same headlights for six blocks."
"Ror car?"
"No."
Marco turned suddenly.
The vehicle followed.
Emmett called security.
No answer.
He tried again.
Nothing.
"Phones jammed," Marco said.
Delaney's stomach tightened.
The pursuing vehicle accelerated.
Marco swerved.
Emmett reached toward Delaney.
"Down."
She ducked.
Glass shattered behind them.
A bullet punched through the rear window.
Delaney screamed.
Marco turned sharply into a parking garage.
The pursuing car overshot the entrance.
They descended two levels.
Stopped.
Silence.
Emmett looked at Delaney.
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
"Baby?"
She placed both hands against her stomach.
Movement.
"Fine."
His face showed a flash of relief so intense that Delaney noticed.
Marco exited to inspect the vehicle.
Delaney looked at Emmett.
"They knew."
"Yes."
"Only three people knew."
"Yes."
"Which means one of them—"
"I know."
His phone regained signal.
Messages flooded in.
One from Elias.
Convoy ambushed on Route 1. Everyone alive. They knew it was a decoy.
Delaney stared.
"How?"
Emmett read another message.
A photo.
Taken less than five minutes earlier.
It showed Delaney and Emmett inside their current vehicle.
From behind.
Someone had photographed them after they entered the garage.
They weren't alone.
Emmett opened the door.
"Marco?"
No answer.
He stepped out.
Delaney followed against instruction.
Marco's phone lay on the concrete floor.
No Marco.
A trail of blood led toward the stairwell.
Emmett drew his weapon.
"Stay behind the car."
For once, Delaney obeyed.
Footsteps echoed.
Then Marco stumbled back into view, one hand pressed against his shoulder.
"Don't shoot."
Emmett rushed toward him.
"What happened?"
"Guy came from the stairs."
"Who?"
"Didn't see."
"Where?"
"Gone."
Marco handed Emmett something he had ripped from the attacker's jacket.
A metal badge.
Ror Holdings security.
Emmett looked at it.
Employee number.
His face went cold.
Delaney stepped closer.
"Whose?"
He didn't answer.
"Emmett."
Finally he looked at her.
"Elias."
Delaney stared.
Elias was one of the men Emmett trusted most.
He had been the one supposedly leading the decoy convoy.
If the badge was real—
Either Elias had attacked Marco.
Or someone wanted them to think he had.
Emmett's phone rang.
Elias.
He answered.
"Where are you?"
"Route 1. Like I told you."
Emmett's gaze remained on the bloody badge.
"Put Theo on."
A pause.
"He's not here."
"What?"
"We thought he was with you."
Emmett's expression changed.
Theo.
The driver who had known about Delaney's apartment.
The man who had switched vehicles minutes before departure.
Delaney whispered, "Theo knows where we are."
Emmett ended the call.
Then a text arrived from an unknown number.
One photograph.
Their Somerville apartment.
A man standing inside.
Theo.
Holding the yellow baby socks Delaney had intended to give Nolan.
Beneath the image was a message:
STOP LOOKING FOR CROSS. NEXT TIME WE DON'T MISS THE CAR.
Delaney stared.
Emmett's face became stone.
Because the enemy was no longer simply Victor Dane or Adrian Vale.
Someone had infiltrated his security team.
Someone had access to his house.
His vehicles.
His daughter.
And now—
They knew about Delaney's unborn child.
May you like
The betrayal wasn't outside Emmett Ror's empire anymore. It was sitting at his own table.
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