Chapter 6 - BROOKLYN
Elias’s driver broke at least four traffic laws getting to Brooklyn.
Ava didn’t care.
She called her sister twelve times.
No answer.
“Again,” Elias said.
“I am.”
“Ava.”
“What?”
“Breathe.”
“Don’t tell me to breathe.”
“Fair.”
She called again.
Voicemail.
Her younger sister, Lily, had come into the city for a job interview and planned to sleep on Ava’s couch.
She should have been home.
“She’s twenty-four,” Ava whispered. “She panics when somebody knocks too loudly.”
Elias looked at his security chief.
“ETA?”
“Four minutes.”
The SUV stopped before the driver finished speaking.
Ava saw the broken lobby door before they reached the curb.
She jumped out.
Elias grabbed her arm.
“No.”
“My sister is inside.”
“And you running into a potentially occupied apartment helps her how?”
“Let go.”
“Ava.”
“LET GO.”
He did.
But he stepped in front of her.
Two security men entered first.
Seconds felt like years.
Then a voice came through Elias’s earpiece.
“Clear.”
Ava ran upstairs.
Her apartment door hung open.
Drawers had been emptied.
Cushions slashed.
Her cheap desk overturned.
Papers covered the floor.
“Lily!”
A sound came from the bedroom closet.
Ava yanked the door open.
Lily crouched inside clutching a lamp.
“Ava!”
They fell into each other.
“Oh my God.”
Lily was shaking.
“I heard the door break. I hid.”
“Did they see you?”
“No. I don’t think so.”
Elias appeared in the doorway but kept his distance.
Lily stared at him.
“Who’s Batman?”
Ava nearly laughed from relief.
“Long story.”
Security searched the apartment.
Nothing valuable had been taken.
No television.
No jewelry.
No laptop.
Instead, someone had searched files.
Boxes.
Old notebooks.
Ava looked toward the closet.
Her grandmother’s wooden storage box was open.
Empty.
Her heart sank.
“No.”
She crossed the room.
“What?” Elias asked.
“A flash drive.”
“What was on it?”
“I don’t know.”
“That seems important.”
“It was Damian’s.”
Elias went still.
Ava turned.
“He left it in a coat pocket two years ago. I found it doing laundry.”
“And you kept it?”
“I forgot about it.”
“Did you open it?”
“Once.”
“What did you see?”
“Folders with initials. Financial stuff. I thought it was school.”
Elias looked toward his security chief.
“Find whoever entered.”
Lily whispered, “Ava, what is happening?”
Before Ava could answer, a voice came from the doorway.
“Everybody needs to calm down.”
Damian.
Ava spun around.
He stood in the hall.
Alone.
Breathing hard.
“How the hell did you get here?” she demanded.
“I followed you.”
Elias stepped between them.
“Bad decision.”
Damian ignored him.
“Ava, listen to me.”
“You broke into my apartment?”
“No.”
“Someone did.”
“I came to warn you.”
“About what?”
Damian looked terrified.
Genuinely terrified.
Not embarrassed.
Not angry.
Terrified.
“You need to stop digging.”
Ava laughed.
“You stole my work.”
“Yes.”
The room went dead silent.
Damian swallowed.
“Yes, okay? I did.”
Ava stared at him.
He continued.
“But you don’t understand who these people are.”
“Victoria’s family?”
Damian’s face twisted.
“You think Victoria is running this?”
Ava didn’t answer.
Damian looked at Elias.
Then back at her.
“Her father doesn’t even know half of it.”
“Half of what?”
Damian stepped closer.
Elias blocked him.
Damian lowered his voice.
“The Harbor Foundation isn’t where the money ends.”
“Where does it end?”
Damian looked toward Lily.
“You really want your sister hearing this?”
Ava’s voice became deadly calm.
“Speak.”
Damian swallowed.
Then said the one name nobody expected.
“Sterling North.”
His own employer.
May you like
And one of Elias Vane’s largest business partners.
---
