Chapter 7 - Blood Is Not LoyaltyEvelyn survived.
The bullet had passed through her shoulder without touching an artery.
The explosion had fractured two ribs.
The doctors called her fortunate.
Diamond did not believe in fortune anymore.
He believed in planning.
Someone had planned the house.
The shooter.
The tunnel.
The explosion.
Even Evelyn’s survival felt intentional.
Victor Sloane was not trying to kill them.
He was arranging pieces.
That frightened Diamond more.
Three days after the explosion, Evelyn sat inside the estate’s private medical suite.
Diamond sat opposite her.
Caprice remained beside him.
Levi stood near the door.
Evelyn looked from one face to another.
“You have his eyes.”
Diamond’s expression hardened.
“Don’t.”
“Victor’s.”
“I said don’t.”
Evelyn lowered her gaze.
Caprice touched Diamond’s shoulder.
He did not relax.
“Tell me everything,” he said.
So Evelyn did.
Twenty-nine years earlier, Patrick Kelly had been building an empire.
Victor Sloane had been building Patrick.
Victor was the strategist.
Patrick was the face.
Together, they took territory.
Bought police.
Controlled docks.
Then Evelyn fell in love with Victor.
Diamond was born ten months later.
Patrick knew almost immediately.
But killing Victor would have fractured the organization.
Killing Evelyn would have caused questions.
So Patrick did something worse.
He kept the secret.
For seventeen years.
Then Evelyn tried to leave.
Patrick discovered the plan.
Victor escaped.
Evelyn did not.
“And me?” Diamond asked.
Evelyn’s face collapsed.
“I tried to take you.”
“But you didn’t.”
“I couldn’t.”
“You left me with him.”
“I was dragged out of that house unconscious.”
Diamond looked away.
Caprice saw the pain.
Not anger.
A child’s abandonment preserved inside a man’s body.
Evelyn continued.
“Patrick told Victor I was dead.”
“And told me you were insane.”
“Yes.”
“What happened after Patrick died?”
“I escaped the people he had assigned to watch me.”
“Why not find me?”
“Because Victor found me first.”
Diamond looked at her.
“He wanted his son.”
Evelyn nodded.
“I told him no.”
“Why?”
“Because by then he had changed.”
Her voice became quiet.
“Victor believed the Kelly empire belonged to him.”
Levi frowned.
“He disappeared.”
“He built another organization overseas.”
Evelyn looked at Diamond.
“He watched you take Patrick’s throne.”
“And?”
“He was proud.”
Diamond laughed bitterly.
“How touching.”
“Until you started changing.”
The room became quiet.
Caprice understood first.
“Me.”
Evelyn looked at her.
“Yes.”
Diamond’s hand tightened.
“Explain.”
“Victor believes love makes rulers weak.”
Evelyn’s eyes filled.
“He thinks attachment destroyed Patrick. He thinks it destroyed him.”
“And now he thinks it’s destroying Diamond.”
“Yes.”
Caprice looked at Diamond.
He stared at the floor.
“Why shoot him two years ago?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“He didn’t.”
Diamond looked up sharply.
“What?”
“Victor did not order the sniper.”
“Then who did?”
“I don’t know.”
Diamond slammed his fist against the armrest.
“Enough.”
Everyone became still.
“For two years, every answer becomes another question.”
His voice rose.
“Costa. Victor. Patrick. You.”
He looked at Evelyn.
“Who shot me?”
Evelyn whispered, “Ask Levi.”
Silence.
Caprice slowly turned.
Levi did not move.
Diamond looked at him.
“What?”
Evelyn’s face was pale.
“Ask him where he was during those ninety seconds.”
Diamond stared at Levi.
Levi’s expression became unreadable.
“Dom.”
Diamond’s hand moved toward the pistol beneath his jacket.
Caprice saw it.
“Diamond.”
He ignored her.
“Where were you?”
Levi’s voice was calm.
“I told you.”
“Tell me again.”
“Outside.”
“Doing what?”
“Taking a call.”
“From whom?”
Levi did not answer.
Diamond drew the gun.
Caprice stepped forward.
“Diamond.”
“Move.”
“No.”
His eyes flashed.
“Caprice.”
“If Levi wanted you dead, he had two years to finish it.”
“Move.”
“No.”
Levi slowly removed his pistol and placed it on the floor.
Then raised his hands.
“The call came from Victor.”
Diamond stopped.
Evelyn closed her eyes.
Caprice felt her stomach drop.
Levi continued.
“I didn’t know who he was then.”
“You spoke to him?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me there was a traitor inside the meeting.”
Diamond’s gun remained pointed at Levi.
“So you left me alone.”
“I stepped outside to verify the call.”
“Ninety seconds.”
“Yes.”
“And ninety seconds later I was on the floor.”
Levi’s face tightened.
“I have lived with that every day.”
Diamond’s voice became deadly.
“You never told me.”
“Because I thought the call had been designed to separate us.”
“It was.”
“Yes.”
“Then you hid evidence.”
“I hid my mistake.”
Diamond fired.
The bullet struck the wall beside Levi’s head.
Evelyn screamed.
Caprice flinched.
Levi did not.
Diamond’s hand shook.
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“For two years.”
“Yes.”
“You let me blame Costa.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you needed an enemy.”
Levi’s voice finally broke.
“You were in a hospital bed screaming that you wanted to die.”
Diamond froze.
“You wouldn’t eat. You wouldn’t speak. You kept asking me to bring you the gun from your safe.”
Caprice looked at Diamond.
He stared at Levi.
“I gave you Costa,” Levi said.
“Because hatred kept you alive.”
Diamond’s gun slowly lowered.
Levi’s eyes were wet.
“I would rather have you hate the wrong man than bury you.”
Nobody spoke.
Then the estate alarm sounded.
Levi grabbed his gun.
Diamond turned.
A guard’s voice came through the intercom.
“Perimeter breach. Medical building.”
Caprice looked at Evelyn.
Too late.
The lights died.
Darkness.
A shot.
Caprice dropped.
Diamond fired toward the doorway.
Levi shouted.
Emergency lights activated.
Red illumination filled the room.
Evelyn’s bed was empty.
The window stood open.
A rope disappeared over the ledge.
Diamond stared.
“Mother.”
Levi reached the window.
“Team outside!”
No response.
Caprice ran to the bed.
Something lay on the pillow.
A black envelope.
She opened it.
One sentence.
A king who cannot choose between blood and love deserves neither.
Diamond read it.
His face changed.
“Victor.”
Caprice shook her head.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“What?”
“This doesn’t make sense.”
“He took her.”
“Maybe.”
“Caprice.”
“Victor had access to Evelyn before.”
She pointed toward the window.
“He could have killed her at the lake. He didn’t.”
Diamond stared.
Caprice continued.
“And the person who shot her was trying to stop her from talking.”
Levi looked toward her.
“She was about to tell us about Victor.”
“No.”
Caprice’s mind moved quickly.
“She was about to tell us about the sniper.”
Silence.
Diamond understood.
“The sniper is someone else.”
Caprice nodded.
“And whoever it is wants us blaming Victor.”
Levi looked at the envelope.
“Then who took Evelyn?”
Caprice turned it over.
A faint mark appeared in one corner.
A fingerprint.
No.
Not a fingerprint.
Grease.
Black industrial grease.
She had seen it before.
Years of cleaning taught people strange things.
“Dock grease.”
Levi looked at her.
“What?”
“This envelope was handled by someone working around machinery.”
Caprice rubbed it between her fingers.
“Hydraulic grease.”
Diamond’s eyes narrowed.
“The old docks.”
Levi was already moving.
Caprice caught his arm.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“If whoever took Evelyn expects you to follow immediately, that’s where the trap is.”
Diamond stared at Caprice.
“What do you suggest?”
She looked at the open window.
Then the disabled cameras.
Then the envelope.
“We stop reacting.”
Diamond became still.
Caprice stepped toward the table.
“For months, everyone has been making you move.”
“Costa attacked.”
“You responded.”
“Samuel arrived.”
“You responded.”
“The crypt.”
“You responded.”
“The lake.”
“You responded.”
She looked at him.
“Someone is controlling you by deciding where you look.”
Diamond’s face slowly changed.
Respect.
Again.
But deeper.
“What do we do?”
Caprice looked at Levi.
“Nothing.”
Levi blinked.
“Nothing?”
“For twelve hours.”
Diamond understood first.
“We make them nervous.”
Caprice nodded.
“If Evelyn matters, they keep her alive.”
“And if she doesn’t?”
Caprice looked at Diamond.
“Then rushing into another trap won’t save her.”
The words hurt.
She saw it.
But Diamond nodded.
“Do it.”
For twelve hours, the Kelly organization became silent.
No cars left.
No soldiers mobilized.
No phone calls to informants.
Nothing.
At hour six, someone called.
Unknown number.
Diamond answered on speaker.
A distorted voice.
“You disappoint me.”
Diamond looked at Caprice.
She nodded.
He said nothing.
“You were supposed to come.”
Silence.
“Your mother may not survive your patience.”
Diamond’s hands shook.
Caprice put her hand over his.
The voice continued.
“Dock seventeen. Midnight.”
The call ended.
Levi looked at the clock.
8:14 p.m.
Caprice smiled without humor.
“They blinked.”
Diamond looked at her.
“Yes.”
“Now?”
“Now we know they need you there.”
Levi leaned over the map.
“Which means we don’t enter through Dock Seventeen.”
Diamond’s mouth curved.
For the first time since Evelyn disappeared, the predator returned.
“No.”
He looked at Caprice.
“We enter everywhere else.”
At midnight, Dock Seventeen went dark.
Not because Victor planned it.
Because Caprice did.
The Kelly organization cut power to six blocks.
Levi’s teams entered through drainage tunnels, rooftops, and the river.
Diamond remained in an armored command vehicle.
He hated it.
Caprice sat beside him.
“You’re more useful alive.”
“I know.”
“You’re still angry.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Levi’s voice came through the radio.
“Movement.”
Diamond leaned forward.
Thermal cameras showed men inside the warehouse.
Twelve.
Then fourteen.
Then seventeen.
“Too many,” Caprice whispered.
Diamond nodded.
“Decoy.”
Another radio transmission.
“Dom. We found Evelyn.”
“Location?”
“Not Dock Seventeen.”
Diamond looked at Caprice.
“Where?”
Levi answered.
“Dock Twelve.”
Caprice frowned.
“Why?”
Then she understood.
Dock Twelve.
Bernardi.
The traitor she had exposed months earlier.
Diamond looked at her.
“You said Bernardi disappeared.”
Levi’s voice came through.
“He did.”
“Did you kill him?”
Silence.
Diamond’s face hardened.
“Levi.”
“No.”
Caprice looked at Diamond.
“Then who did?”
Levi answered.
“Victor.”
The warehouse at Dock Twelve exploded.
Diamond stared at the monitor.
Fire climbed into the night.
“Evelyn!”
Levi’s voice shouted through static.
“We got her out!”
Diamond closed his eyes.
Relief.
Then another voice entered the radio frequency.
A man.
Older.
Calm.
“Hello, son.”
Diamond froze.
Victor.
“You’re learning.”
Diamond grabbed the microphone.
“Where are you?”
A quiet laugh.
“Closer than you think.”
“You touch my mother again—”
“I rescued your mother.”
Diamond stopped.
Victor continued.
“You are still looking in the wrong direction.”
“Then show yourself.”
“Soon.”
“Coward.”
Victor laughed.
“Ask Caprice what she found.”
Diamond turned.
Caprice stared at the dashboard.
A small red light blinked beneath it.
She reached down.
A transmitter.
Someone had planted it inside the armored vehicle.
Her blood went cold.
Victor’s voice returned.
“The enemy isn’t outside your walls, Diamond.”
A pause.
“He’s sitting at your table.”
The transmission ended.
Diamond looked at Caprice.
Then at the transmitter.
Someone inside the Kelly estate had planted it.
Someone close enough to access Diamond’s personal vehicle.
Someone trusted.
May you like
The war was no longer approaching the fortress.
It was already inside.
