Chapter 5 - The Traitor
Marcus fired first.
Dante ducked.
The tunnel exploded into chaos.
Cassian pulled Elena behind a stone column.
Dante disappeared through a side passage.
Marcus chased him.
“No!” Elena shouted.
Too late.
A steel gate dropped between Marcus and the others.
“Marcus!”
His voice came through the bars.
“I’m fine!”
Then gunfire echoed from his side.
Cassian gripped the gate.
Elena pulled him back.
“You can’t help him.”
“That’s my man.”
“And if you die trying to save him, everybody in this house dies with you.”
Cassian turned on her.
“You don’t get to tell me who I abandon.”
Something flashed in Elena’s eyes.
Pain.
Then it vanished.
“You’re right.”
She stepped back.
“That choice always belongs to the person who has to live with it.”
Cassian heard more gunshots.
Then silence.
“Marcus!”
No answer.
Cassian closed his eyes.
Elena touched his arm.
“We move.”
He looked at her hand.
She immediately withdrew it.
They took Maria back toward the servant quarters and found eleven surviving staff members hiding inside the laundry room.
Some were crying.
One young gardener had been shot in the shoulder.
Cassian looked around.
These were people he saw every day and knew almost nothing about.
Elena knew every name.
“Angela, get the first-aid kit.”
“Tom, lock the loading door.”
“Mrs. Chen, keep pressure on his shoulder.”
They listened instantly.
Cassian stared.
“You command my staff better than I do.”
“They trust me.”
“And they don’t trust me?”
Elena gave him a look.
“Do you really want me to answer that tonight?”
For some reason, Cassian almost smiled.
Then the lights shut off.
Backup lighting came on.
Red.
A voice filled the manor.
Viktor.
“Cassian.”
Cassian looked up.
“I’m growing tired of this.”
Viktor continued.
“Give me Elena Rostova, and I’ll allow your surviving servants to leave.”
Elena whispered, “Liar.”
“I know.”
“No,” she said. “You don’t.”
Cassian watched her.
“He’ll kill them as soon as they step outside. He can’t leave witnesses.”
Viktor’s voice continued.
“You have ten minutes.”
The transmission ended.
Cassian turned to Elena.
“Why does he want you?”
She looked at the frightened servants.
Then at Maria.
Maria nodded quietly.
Elena inhaled.
“Because six years ago, Viktor Volkov ordered an operation in Eastern Europe.”
Cassian waited.
“My team was supposed to extract a government accountant who had evidence against several criminal organizations.”
“What happened?”
“Someone sold us out.”
Cassian already knew the answer.
“Viktor.”
“No.”
Elena’s voice cracked for the first time.
“My commanding officer.”
Silence.
“He sold the team to Viktor in exchange for money and protection. Everyone died except me.”
Cassian studied her.
“You escaped.”
“I did more than escape.”
“What?”
“I stole everything Viktor had paid for.”
Cassian frowned.
“What was it?”
Elena met his eyes.
“A ledger.”
Cassian’s expression changed.
“What kind?”
“The kind containing names of judges, senators, police officials, bankers, cartel financiers…”
She paused.
“And one name connected to the Thorne family.”
Cassian stepped closer.
“Whose?”
Before Elena could answer, the laundry-room door burst open.
Marcus stumbled inside.
Blood covered his shirt.
Cassian caught him.
“Marcus!”
Marcus grabbed Cassian’s jacket.
His voice was barely audible.
“Your brother…”
Cassian leaned closer.
Marcus coughed.
“He’s alive.”
Then Marcus collapsed.
And behind him, from the dark hallway, someone began clapping.
Slowly.
Mockingly.
Cassian raised his gun.
A familiar voice said:
May you like
“Hello, little brother.”
---
