Chapter 8 - THE LAST PROMISE
Daniel was still alive.
Barely.
Hannah reached him first.
Nicholas knelt on the concrete with his brother’s head against his arm.
Blood darkened Daniel’s shirt.
“Hannah.”
She already knew.
“Move your hand.”
Nicholas did not.
“Nicholas, move.”
He lifted it.
Hannah pressed both palms against the wound.
Daniel gasped.
“Hurts.”
“That’s good.”
He gave her a confused look.
“It means you’re conscious.”
“Feels terrible.”
“I didn’t say it was enjoyable.”
Lena reached them.
Together they worked.
Pressure.
Airway.
Breathing.
Keep him awake.
Elias secured the warehouse.
Victor Rourke lay dead ten feet away.
Nicholas never looked at him.
Only Daniel.
“Stay with me.”
Daniel’s eyes found his brother.
“Funny.”
“What?”
“You telling me that.”
“Don’t talk.”
“You always… told me not to talk.”
Nicholas’s mouth tightened.
“Still giving that advice.”
Daniel coughed.
Hannah pressed harder.
“Don’t.”
“Sorry.”
“You can apologize when you survive.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You really were a medic.”
“Yes.”
“They said you killed Joseph.”
“They lied.”
“I know.”
Hannah’s hands stopped for half a second.
Daniel saw.
“I knew Frank changed the report.”
Nicholas looked at him.
“You knew that too?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Hannah said, “Keep them open.”
He obeyed.
“I’m sorry.”
Hannah felt anger rise.
Not useful.
Not now.
“Later.”
“I had Frank erase it.”
Hannah stared.
Daniel whispered, “Victor said Joseph told you too much.”
There it was.
The final piece.
Daniel had destroyed Hannah’s career.
Not indirectly.
Not accidentally.
He had ordered Frank to erase the evidence.
Nicholas’s face went white.
“Hannah…”
She shook her head.
Not now.
Daniel looked at her.
“I ruined your life.”
“Part of it.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Stay alive long enough to say it when I’m not holding your chest closed.”
Sirens approached.
Real sirens this time.
Lena had called emergency services once Elias secured the perimeter.
Nicholas tensed.
Hannah looked at him.
“He needs a hospital.”
Nicholas nodded.
No argument.
That was how frightened he was.
Paramedics arrived.
Hannah stepped back automatically when they entered.
That old instinct.
Once, she would have been the person taking over.
Now she was just a woman with blood on her sleeves.
One paramedic recognized her.
“Brooks?”
Hannah froze.
Miguel Santos.
Former partner.
Older now.
More gray.
He stared.
“Hannah?”
She looked away.
“Gunshot. Left chest. Conscious most of the time. Pressure maintained. Possible hemothorax.”
Miguel’s training took over.
He knelt.
“Good work.”
Two words.
Good work.
Hannah almost broke.
Nicholas noticed.
The ambulance took Daniel.
Nicholas insisted on following.
Hannah expected him to tell her to stay.
Instead he held the SUV door open.
She got in.
Daniel underwent surgery for four hours.
Nicholas waited in a private corridor outside the operating suite.
He did not sit.
Hannah sat enough for both of them.
At one point, she said, “Walking holes in the floor won’t change the outcome.”
Nicholas continued pacing.
“Could improve the floor.”
“Sure.”
Another hour.
Finally, a surgeon appeared.
“He made it.”
Nicholas stopped.
The surgeon continued.
“The bullet missed the heart but damaged the lung. He lost significant blood. The next twenty-four hours matter.”
Nicholas nodded.
“Can I see him?”
“Briefly.”
Daniel was pale beneath the hospital lights.
Tubes everywhere.
Machines doing too much.
Nicholas stood beside the bed.
Hannah remained outside the glass.
She could not hear the first words.
Then Daniel looked toward the window.
Toward her.
He raised two fingers weakly.
Come in.
Hannah hesitated.
Nicholas nodded.
She entered.
Daniel’s voice was rough.
“I owe you.”
“You owe me several years.”
“I know.”
Hannah stood at the foot of the bed.
“You ordered Frank to lie.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Victor had proof of what I did with the Saint Agnes accounts.”
“You helped trafficking?”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
Nicholas watched him.
Daniel continued.
“I moved money. I told myself cargo was cargo. When I found out people were involved, I tried to get out.”
“Joseph?”
“Joseph helped.”
Daniel swallowed painfully.
“We were going to give everything to Nicholas.”
Nicholas looked surprised.
Daniel continued.
“Victor discovered it.”
“So he poisoned Joseph,” Hannah said.
Daniel nodded.
“And threatened you.”
“Yes.”
“Then you chose yourself.”
Daniel’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Hannah appreciated the lack of excuse.
He had been afraid.
He had also been selfish.
Both could be true.
“I won’t forgive you today.”
“I know.”
“Maybe not ever.”
“I know.”
“But I want my record cleared.”
Daniel nodded.
“I’ll sign everything.”
“You’ll testify.”
Nicholas looked at her.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Then reopened them.
“Yes.”
That answer changed everything.
A Vale testifying publicly could collapse half the organization.
Nicholas understood immediately.
“So that’s your choice.”
Daniel looked at him.
“I don’t want to die like Dad.”
“Dad died in bed.”
“You know what I mean.”
Nicholas did.
Daniel continued.
“Mom wanted us out.”
Nicholas looked down.
“I didn’t know.”
“You heard the tape?”
“Yes.”
Daniel smiled faintly.
“She used to call you Nicky.”
“Only once if she wanted to live.”
Daniel laughed, then winced.
For one moment, they were brothers again.
Not boss and traitor.
Not victim and conspirator.
Just two boys remembering their mother.
Daniel whispered, “You kept your promise.”
Nicholas frowned.
“What promise?”
“You said you’d never leave me.”
Nicholas looked away.
Daniel continued.
“Even after I became someone you should have.”
Nicholas’s jaw tightened.
“I should have seen it.”
“No.”
“You were angry for years.”
“You thought I hated being second.”
“You did.”
“I also hated myself.”
Daniel looked at Hannah.
“She saved you?”
“Yes.”
Daniel smiled weakly.
“Then maybe Mom sent the right cleaner.”
Hannah rolled her eyes.
“Please don’t turn my scheduling error into religion.”
Daniel almost smiled.
Then his expression became serious.
“There’s something else.”
Nicholas looked at him.
“What?”
“Victor wasn’t the only person involved in your kidnapping.”
Nicholas’s face hardened.
“Who?”
Daniel looked toward the door.
“Someone in your house.”
Nicholas stepped closer.
“My house?”
“Not the organization.”
Daniel swallowed.
“Your actual house.”
Nicholas stared.
“Who?”
Daniel whispered the name.
And for the second time in twenty-four hours, Nicholas Vale looked as though someone had hit him.
“Gabriel Shaw.”
His attorney.
His closest adviser.
The man who had handled Elena Vale’s estate.
The man who had arranged access to the bank that morning.
The man who had known exactly where Nicholas and Hannah were going.
Nicholas turned toward Elias.
“Find him.”
Elias was already moving.
Daniel grabbed Nicholas’s wrist.
“Wait.”
“What?”
Daniel’s eyes filled with panic.
“Gabriel has a copy of Mom’s original files.”
Nicholas froze.
“How?”
“Dad gave them to him before he died.”
“Why?”
“Insurance.”
“Against who?”
May you like
Daniel looked at Hannah.
“Against you.”
