Chapter 3 - THE TRAITORS IN UNIFORM
The cold steel barrels of four assault rifles aimed squarely at my chest.
I froze, holding Lily tight against my shoulder. I looked at the men holding the weapons. Captain Vance. Lieutenant Hayes. Sergeant Miller. Men who had eaten at my table, men whose families I had insured, men who had sworn blood-oaths of loyalty to me over twenty years of syndicate rule.
“What is this?” I asked, my voice dangerously calm.
Dominic chuckled, walking over to stand beside Captain Vance. He patted the captain on the shoulder like an old friend.
“Did you really think you were the only one who could build a loyal guard, big brother?” Dominic mocked. “Power doesn't stay with the man who holds the throne, Richard. Power stays with the man who pays the men holding the guns. And for the past five years, the captains have been answering to me.”
Claire stepped closer to me, sliding a small, snub-nosed revolver out from the garter hidden beneath her wedding dress. She didn't hesitate; she raised the weapon and pointed it directly at Captain Vance’s head.
“Drop your weapons,” Claire commanded, her voice steady and lethal.
Vance laughed, unbothered by the gun. “Mrs. Moretti, please. You’re a nurse, not a hitman. You don't have the stomach to pull that trigger.”
“Try me,” Claire said, her finger tightening on the trigger.
Before anyone could move, Dominic raised his hand. “Hold your fire! Don't shoot her. Not yet.”
Dominic walked slowly toward us, stopping a few feet away. He looked at Claire with a strange, dark expression—part frustration, part fascination.
“You know, nurse, you almost ruined the entire plan,” Dominic said. “I hired you ten years ago to make sure Amelia didn't survive that hospital bed. I paid you a fortune to let her flatline and bury her quietly.”
My blood ran so cold I thought my heart would stop beating.
I stared at Claire. “You… you took his money?”
Claire didn't look away from Dominic. “I took his money because my daughter was dying of leukemia, Richard. He offered me fifty thousand dollars to let Amelia die. But when I got into that trauma bay, I looked into your wife’s eyes. She wasn't just a patient; she was a mother begging for her child’s life. She gave me her wedding ring, made me swear to find you, and then she passed away naturally before I could even administer aid.”
Claire turned to me, her eyes swimming with tears. “Dominic thought I let her die and buried the body according to his orders. But I took Amelia’s body to a private coroner, faked the death certificate, and put an empty casket in the ground. I kept Amelia’s secret for ten years, waiting for the right moment to expose him.”
“You lied to me,” I whispered, the betrayal cutting deeper than Dominic’s treachery. “You played me just to get close to him?”
“I played him because it was the only way to infiltrate this house!” Claire cried, stepping toward me. “Richard, if I had walked up to you ten years ago and said your brother tried to kill you, you would have had me killed for treason! I needed proof! I needed the ring! And when Dominic offered to marry me last month as part of his cover to look like a respectable family man, I took the chance!”
I stood frozen in the center of the ballroom, holding my trembling daughter, surrounded by a wife who had deceived me and a brother who had tried to murder me.
“Is that true, Claire?” I asked, my voice hollow. “Was our marriage just a setup?”
Claire opened her mouth to speak, but before she could utter a word, Dominic burst into harsh, mocking laughter.
“Oh, she’s good, isn't she, Richard?” Dominic sneered. “She played the tragic nurse, the devoted bride, the hero of the story. But she forgot to mention one tiny, insignificant detail.”
Claire’s face suddenly drained of all color. For the first time all evening, pure panic flashed in her eyes.
May you like
“Dominic, shut up,” Claire hissed, raising her revolver.
“No, let’s tell him!” Dominic smiled widely. “Let’s tell him who really ordered the hit on Amelia ten years ago. It wasn't just me, big brother. It was her.”
