Chapter 34
1127 Words
Nathan didn't speak during the drive.
Rain lashed against the windshield as the convoy crossed the Brooklyn Bridge, the city disappearing behind sheets of gray. Marco sat beside him in the lead SUV, a laptop balanced on his knees. The captured traitor was restrained in another vehicle several cars back.
"He still hasn't said a word," Marco reported.
"He will."
Marco glanced sideways. "You really think Rossi picked him?"
Nathan's gaze remained fixed on the road ahead.
"No."
"Then why betray us?"
Nathan's answer came after a long silence.
"Everyone has a price. The mistake is believing it's always money."
---
The safehouse sat behind an abandoned warehouse on the East River, its steel doors hidden beneath decades of rust and graffiti. Inside, however, everything was immaculate.
The traitor sat alone beneath a single light.
His wrists were bound, but otherwise he was untouched.
Nathan entered without his gun.
Marco noticed.
"So did the prisoner."
The young guard, barely thirty, looked exhausted. Sweat beaded across his forehead despite the cool room.
"Nathan..."
"You've worked for me eight years."
The man nodded.
"I know your wife's name."
Another nod.
"I know your daughter starts third grade next month."
Tears welled instantly in the guard's eyes.
"I never wanted this."
Nathan pulled out a chair and sat opposite him.
"Then tell me why."
The man's shoulders shook.
"They have my brother."
The room went still.
Marco frowned.
"What?"
"They took him three weeks ago."
Nathan didn't interrupt.
"They said if I didn't give them schedules..." He swallowed hard. "...they'd send my mother pieces of him."
Marco cursed under his breath.
Nathan remained expressionless.
"What have you given them?"
The guard stared at the floor.
"Routes."
"What else?"
"Security rotations."
"What else?"
"The school."
Nathan's heartbeat slowed.
The calm before fury.
"They know Alex's schedule?"
The man nodded once.
"They knew before you changed it."
Nathan stood.
Marco instinctively reached for his weapon.
Nathan simply turned toward the door.
"Find his brother."
Marco blinked.
"And him?"
Nathan paused.
"If he's telling the truth..."
He looked back at the trembling guard.
"...he's another victim."
---
By the time Nathan returned to the penthouse, dawn was breaking.
He quietly opened Alex's bedroom door.
The boy slept sprawled across the bed, one arm wrapped around a stuffed wolf Ava had bought him months earlier.
Nathan smiled despite himself.
He walked over and tucked the blanket around him.
"Dad?"
Nathan froze.
Alex's eyes blinked open.
"What are you doing?"
"Checking on you."
Alex yawned.
"You do that a lot now."
Nathan sat on the edge of the bed.
"I know."
"Grandpa says only scared people check locks."
Nathan's jaw tightened.
"Is that true?"
Nathan considered the question carefully.
"No."
"What is it then?"
He brushed a strand of hair from Alex's forehead.
"People who love someone check locks."
Alex thought about that.
Then smiled sleepily.
"I love you too."
Nathan kissed the top of his son's head.
"I know."
---
Ava found him an hour later on the terrace.
The rain had stopped.
The city looked washed clean.
"You never came to bed."
He handed her a mug of coffee.
"They forced one of my guards to help them."
She leaned against the railing.
"So there really was a leak."
"There was."
"And now?"
"They have his brother."
Ava's eyes widened.
"So he wasn't evil."
"No."
"Just desperate."
Nathan nodded.
She looked out across the skyline.
"That's what scares me most."
"What?"
"Your enemies don't just hurt the people they're after."
She turned toward him.
"They destroy everyone around them."
Nathan didn't argue.
Because she was right.
---
Later that morning, Victoria arrived carrying a garment bag.
Ava laughed.
"Please tell me that isn't another dress."
"It is."
"Victoria."
"Humor me."
She unzipped the bag to reveal a cream-colored tailored pantsuit.
"Richard is hosting a charity gala tomorrow night."
Nathan looked up from his tablet.
"I'm not going."
Victoria smiled.
"I know."
Both Ava and Nathan looked confused.
"Which is exactly why she should."
She pointed toward Ava.
"The board expects scandal."
"They'll get gossip."
Victoria shook her head.
"No."
She smiled knowingly.
"They're going to get grace."
Nathan immediately objected.
"Absolutely not."
Victoria crossed her arms.
"If Rossi wanted her hidden, he'd love nothing more than seeing her disappear."
"And if they're watching?"
"They're always watching."
The room fell quiet.
Victoria walked over to her son.
"You've spent years teaching men to fear Nathan Walker."
She rested a hand on his cheek.
"Now let them see what he's fighting for."
---
Across town, Ethan Walker sat alone in his office.
His assistant knocked once before entering.
"Sir."
"What?"
She handed him a sealed envelope.
"No return address."
Inside was a single photograph.
Nathan.
Ava.
Alex.
Together.
Written across the back were six handwritten words.
You're running out of time too.
Ethan's blood ran cold.
For the first time...
He realized Rossi wasn't simply attacking Nathan.
They were manipulating everyone connected to the Walker family.
Including him.
---
That evening, Nathan stood in the walk-in closet fastening the cufflinks of a black tuxedo.
Ava stepped out wearing Victoria's cream-colored suit.
He forgot how to breathe.
She wasn't dressed like someone trying to impress Manhattan's elite.
She looked like someone prepared to stand beside a king.
"You hate it," she teased.
He walked toward her slowly.
"I hate that everyone else gets to look at you."
She laughed softly.
"You've become impossible."
"I've always been impossible."
He adjusted the collar of her jacket.
"You don't have to do this."
"Yes, I do."
She slipped her hand into his.
"If I'm going to be part of your life..."
She squeezed gently.
"...then I won't spend it hiding."
Nathan searched her eyes.
There was fear.
But there was something stronger.
Resolve.
He kissed her forehead.
"Stay beside me all night."
"I wasn't planning on leaving."
---
As their motorcade pulled beneath the grand entrance of the Walker Foundation Gala, camera flashes exploded like lightning.
Reporters shouted questions.
Guests turned to stare.
Nathan exited first.
Then held out his hand.
Ava accepted it without hesitation.
She stepped from the car, shoulders back, head high.
The crowd fell strangely quiet.
Even the photographers lowered their cameras for a heartbeat.
Nathan didn't look at the reporters.
He looked only at Ava.
She smiled.
Small.
Steady.
Unafraid.
From across the street, hidden inside a parked delivery van, a man lifted a camera with a long-range lens.
He didn't photograph Nathan.
He didn't photograph Ava.
He zoomed in on the entrance security badge clipped beneath a guard's jacket.
Click.
One picture.
Then another.
He smiled to himself.
"The gala was never the target."
He lowered the camera.
"The hospital is."
The van pulled away before anyone noticed it had ever been there.
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