“I’m sorry,” Chloe whispered over and over. “I’m so sorry.”
Harper held her tightly. “Tell us what happened.”
Chloe looked at Dominic with terror in her eyes.
He sat across from them, one hand pressed to the cut at his temple.
“I didn’t steal from you,” Chloe said.
“I know.”
She blinked, startled.
Dominic’s voice was controlled, but something fierce moved beneath it.
“Tell me whose name is in those files.”
Chloe swallowed.
“Matteo Moretti.”
The car went silent.
Dominic did not move.
Luca swore softly from the front seat.
“My cousin,” Dominic said.
Chloe nodded. “He used Apex to move money through accounts tied to your organization. At first I thought it was you, but the authorization patterns were wrong. Someone was using your structure to hide transfers, payments to hitmen, bribes, weapons shipments. He was building a case against you while stealing from you.”
Dominic’s face looked carved from stone.
“And the blackmail demand?”
“I never made one. Matteo did. He used my access logs and sent the demand under my name. Then he came to my apartment and told me that if I didn’t give him the drive, Harper would die first.”
Harper’s grip tightened around Chloe’s hand.
“That’s why you called me.”
“I tried. You didn’t answer.” Chloe started crying again. “I thought I was too late.”
Harper closed her eyes.
The earbuds. The walk. The music.
Her ordinary little choices had almost cost them everything.
Dominic leaned forward.
“Where is the real drive?”
Chloe hesitated.
Harper felt Dominic’s patience sharpen.
“Chloe,” Harper said gently. “He can help.”
Chloe looked between them, confused by the trust in Harper’s voice.
“I hid it inside the church,” she said. “Behind a loose brick near the old confessional.”
Dominic gave one order, and the SUV turned around.
“No,” Harper said. “You can’t go back. They’ll be waiting.”
“Yes,” Dominic replied. “They will.”
And for the first time, Harper realized he was counting on it.
By dawn, Dominic had the drive.
By noon, he had a plan.
Matteo believed Chloe was desperate, injured, and alone. He believed Harper was frightened enough to stay quiet. He believed Dominic still thought Chloe had betrayed him.
He believed wrong.
The meeting took place in a parking garage beneath an unfinished luxury tower near the waterfront. Chloe wore a wire under her sweater. Harper waited in the surveillance van with Luca, her stomach twisted into knots.
Dominic stood in the shadows near a concrete pillar, invisible from the meeting point but close enough to intervene.
Matteo arrived wearing a pale gray suit and a smile that made Harper’s skin crawl even through the monitor.
“Smart girl,” he said to Chloe. “You finally realized nobody survives by being noble.”
Chloe held out a flash drive.
“I want my sister left alone.”
Matteo laughed.
“That was never going to happen.”
Harper’s blood turned to ice.
Chloe’s voice shook, but she held her ground. “You promised.”
“I promised whatever got you here.” Matteo stepped closer. “You accountants are all the same. You think numbers make you powerful. Numbers are just numbers. Men with guns are power.”
Dominic stepped from the shadows.
“Then you should have brought better men.”
Matteo froze.
For one second, the two cousins stared at each other across the concrete floor.
Then Matteo smiled.
