Chapter 3 - THOMAS KANE
Adrian read the words again.
SHE WAS ALIVE.
His first thought was impossible.
Evelyn.
Elias stood beside him.
“Boss?”
Adrian picked up the burner phone.
The battery was dead.
They returned to the apartment.
Elias connected it to a charger.
Grace remained beside the crib.
Adrian showed her the note.
She shook her head immediately.
“Thomas never told me that.”
“Then what does it mean?”
“I don’t know.”
The phone powered on.
One contact existed.
No name.
Just a number.
Adrian called it.
Three rings.
Then silence.
Someone answered but did not speak.
Adrian said, “Thomas.”
The line went dead.
Elias stared at him.
“Could be anyone.”
“It’s him.”
“How do you know?”
“Because a stranger would ask who was calling.”
Twenty minutes later, the burner phone received a text.
ST. AGNES.
11:00.
COME ALONE.
St. Agnes had been abandoned for nine years.
The old church stood between warehouses west of the river.
Adrian arrived at 10:58.
He entered through a broken side door.
Dust covered the pews.
Sunlight slipped through damaged stained glass.
A man sat in the third row.
Adrian recognized the posture before the face.
Thomas Kane stood slowly.
He had lost weight.
A scar ran along his jaw.
He leaned slightly on his left leg.
Adrian walked toward him.
For several seconds, neither man spoke.
Then Adrian hit him.
Thomas stumbled into the pew.
He did not fight back.
“That was for letting me bury my child.”
Thomas wiped blood from his lip.
“I deserved worse.”
Adrian grabbed his collar.
“Eight months.”
“I know.”
“My daughter was alive.”
“I know.”
“You watched me bury an empty coffin.”
“I watched from across the cemetery.”
Adrian’s fist tightened.
Thomas looked him in the eyes.
“If I had walked toward you that day, Lily would’ve been dead by sunset.”
Adrian slowly released him.
“Prove it.”
Thomas reached beneath the pew.
He removed a small laptop.
A video opened.
It was dash-camera footage from the rear security SUV.
The date was the day of the ambush.
Adrian watched Evelyn’s vehicle ahead.
Then two trucks appeared.
The convoy broke apart.
Gunfire struck the road.
The camera spun as the rear SUV crashed.
For several seconds, nothing moved.
Then men descended the embankment.
Vale uniforms.
Thomas paused the image.
Adrian recognized one of them.
Victor Sloane.
Marcus’s private lieutenant.
Victor had disappeared six months earlier.
Marcus said Mercer had probably killed him.
Thomas continued the video.
A second vehicle pulled up near the barrier.
Marcus Reed stepped out.
Adrian went completely still.
Marcus looked down the embankment.
Then spoke into his phone.
The dash camera barely captured the audio.
“Find the baby.”
Adrian’s face changed.
Thomas paused again.
“That’s when I knew.”
Adrian stared at the screen.
“He was there.”
“Yes.”
“He told me he was at the riverfront.”
“He arrived twelve minutes before you.”
Adrian’s voice dropped.
“Why?”
Thomas took a breath.
“Because Evelyn discovered what he was doing.”
“What?”
“For three years, Marcus was moving money through Vale Security.”
“Shell companies.”
“Ghost employees.”
“Fake contracts.”
“He was building his own organization inside yours.”
Adrian shook his head.
“I review those books.”
“You reviewed the books Marcus gave you.”
Thomas clicked another file.
Bank records filled the screen.
Millions had moved through accounts Adrian had never seen.
Thomas continued.
“Evelyn stumbled into it because one of the shell companies was using the same charity contractor as her school foundation.”
“She asked questions.”
“Marcus found out.”
Adrian remembered Evelyn sitting at the kitchen counter two weeks before Lily was born.
She had asked him whether Marcus handled all security accounting.
Adrian had laughed.
He told her not to worry about business.
The memory now felt like a knife.
“She knew.”
“Part of it.”
Thomas looked toward the altar.
“She confronted me.”
“She asked whether Marcus could be trusted.”
“What did you tell her?”
“That he’d saved my life twice.”
“I told her yes.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“I was wrong.”
Adrian looked at the note from the locker.
“She was alive.”
Thomas turned back to him.
“After the crash.”
Adrian’s breathing slowed.
“For how long?”
“Maybe twenty minutes.”
Thomas spoke carefully.
“I pulled Lily out first.”
“Evelyn was trapped.”
“I went back.”
“She was conscious.”
“She told me to take Lily.”
Adrian looked away.
Thomas continued.
“She knew the men coming down the hill.”
“She saw Victor.”
“She understood.”
“What were her last words?”
Thomas hesitated.
Adrian’s eyes returned to him.
“Tell me.”
Thomas swallowed.
“She said, ‘Don’t let Adrian become what they expect him to become.’”
Adrian said nothing.
“She told me Lily had to survive.”
“She said you would burn the whole city looking for revenge.”
“And Marcus was counting on it.”
Adrian stared at him.
“Counting on it?”
Thomas nodded.
“The attack wasn’t just about Evelyn.”
“It was supposed to start a war.”
“Marcus made it look like Grant Mercer ordered the ambush.”
“He wanted you angry enough to destroy Mercer.”
“Then Marcus would inherit half of Mercer’s territory without ever firing the first shot.”
Adrian’s stomach turned.
“And Lily?”
Thomas’s expression hardened.
“Lily changed you.”
“Marcus saw it.”
“You were selling clubs.”
“You were moving money into legitimate construction.”
“You were talking about dissolving the old organization.”
“He believed your daughter would finish what Evelyn started.”
“So he wanted her gone.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“And why are you still alive?”
“Because one of Marcus’s men saw me take Lily.”
“I’ve spent eight months making sure he never found me.”
Thomas reached into his coat.
He handed Adrian a small memory card.
“This contains the rest.”
“The rest of what?”
“Evelyn’s voice.”
Adrian froze.
Thomas closed Adrian’s fingers around the card.
“She recorded Marcus before the crash.”
“And if he finds out you have it, he won’t run.”
“He’ll come for you.”
Adrian looked down at the card.
“No.”
Thomas frowned.
May you like
Adrian’s expression became cold.
“I’m going to make sure he knows I have it.”
