CHAPTER 6 – THE TRAITOR SPEAKS
CHAPTER 6 – THE TRAITOR SPEAKS
The peace lasted exactly nineteen minutes.
A guard burst into the dining hall.
"We caught someone."
Every conversation stopped.
Rowan wheeled himself toward the underground interrogation room.
Finley followed.
Maeve instinctively pulled Piper close.
She wanted nothing to do with whatever came next.
Yet she couldn't stop listening.
The prisoner was kneeling in the center of the room.
His hands were tied.
Blood trickled from a cut above one eye.
Rowan recognized him instantly.
Nathan Ellis.
One of the organization's financial couriers.
Loyal for eleven years.
Or so everyone believed.
Nathan looked up, terrified.
"I didn't want this."
Rowan's voice remained calm.
"But you did it."
"They threatened my family."
"So you sold mine."
Nathan broke.
"It wasn't just me!"
His words echoed through the room.
"There are people everywhere."
"In your businesses."
"In your security teams."
"Even inside your personal staff."
Finley felt his stomach tighten.
"Names."
Nathan shook violently.
"I only know one."
Rowan leaned closer.
"Who?"
Nathan swallowed hard.
"The orders..."
"...came from someone you trusted more than anyone."
Silence filled the room.
Nathan whispered the name.
"August Reed."
Finley stepped backward in shock.
"No..."
August had served Rowan's father.
He had carried Rowan as a child.
He had taught him how to shoot.
Impossible.
Nathan continued.
"He made everyone believe Garrett was leading the rebellion."
"But Garrett..."
"...was never the mastermind."
The room went deathly still.
Someone older.
Smarter.
More patient.
Had been moving pieces long before the birthday dinner.
Then alarms exploded throughout the monastery.
Red emergency lights flashed across every corridor.
A guard shouted through the speakers—
"Perimeter breach!"
Another voice followed immediately.
"Multiple vehicles approaching!"
Finley checked the surveillance screens.
His face drained of color.
"There are at least thirty armed men."
Rowan stared at the monitors.
Then one camera zoomed toward the lead vehicle.
The driver's door opened.
An elderly man stepped into the rain wearing a dark overcoat.
His silver hair glistened beneath the storm.
He carried no weapon.
He didn't need one.
Rowan whispered only two words.
"August..."
The old man looked directly into the nearest security camera.
Then he smiled.
A slow...
Almost fatherly smile.
Finally, he spoke into the camera microphone.
"Come outside, son."
"It's time to hand me your empire."
Then, after a deliberate pause, his eyes shifted toward another camera focused on the guest wing.
Toward the room where Piper had been sleeping.
His smile widened.
May you like
"And send the little girl with the flower."
"I'd like to meet the child who reminded the Frost... how to feel."
