Chapter 11 - THE TRAITOR BESIDE THEMEveryone looked at Marcus.
He didn’t move.
Ethan stared at the man who had protected his family for seven years.
Marcus slowly raised his hands.
“I didn’t kill Claire.”
The detective stepped closer.
“Do you carry?”
“Yes.”
“Remove it.”
Marcus surrendered his weapon.
Lena pulled Noah closer.
Ethan’s voice became cold.
“Tell me I’m wrong.”
“You are.”
“Daniel said someone in my security team helped Margaret.”
“Yes.”
Ethan’s eyes narrowed.
“How do you know that?”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“Because Claire knew.”
Silence.
Ethan grabbed Marcus by the shirt.
“You knew?”
“I knew she suspected someone.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“She told me not to.”
Ethan slammed him against the SUV.
“My wife is dead!”
“I know!”
“Then start talking!”
Marcus shoved Ethan away.
“Six months ago Claire came to me. She thought her movements were being leaked.”
“By who?”
“My deputy.”
Ethan stopped.
“Ryan?”
Marcus nodded.
Ryan Bell.
Ethan’s security operations director.
A man with access to travel schedules.
Vehicle maintenance.
Home cameras.
Everything.
“Why didn’t you fire him?”
“Because Claire wanted proof.”
“So you used my wife as bait?”
Marcus’s face twisted.
“No. I tried to protect her.”
“You failed.”
The words hit hard.
Marcus looked away.
“Yes.”
Ethan immediately regretted saying it.
But he couldn’t take it back.
The detective interrupted.
“Where is Ryan now?”
Marcus checked his phone.
His expression changed.
“What?”
“Ryan accessed Ethan’s townhouse security system twelve minutes ago.”
Lena looked at Noah.
“We were just there.”
Marcus swore.
Then another alert appeared.
Ryan had accessed the backup cloud server.
Claire’s remaining files.
“He’s deleting them,” Ethan said.
Marcus shook his head.
“No.”
“He’s trying.”
Ethan had installed an independent archive after his father’s death.
Every deletion request created a mirrored copy.
He pulled out his phone.
“We can see what Ryan wants erased.”
Files populated.
Security logs.
Vehicle records.
Payments.
One video.
Claire speaking to Ryan in the townhouse garage.
“Margaret knows,” Claire said.
Ryan answered, “Then stop.”
“I can’t.”
“She’ll destroy you.”
Claire stepped closer.
“You switched my car last Thursday.”
Ryan went still.
“You think I didn’t notice?”
The video ended.
Another clip appeared.
Dated the morning Claire died.
Ryan entered the garage at 5:14 a.m.
He opened the hood of Claire’s SUV.
The camera angle did not show exactly what he did.
But he remained there eleven minutes.
Lena whispered, “That’s enough.”
“No,” Ethan said.
“It proves he touched the car. Not that he cut the brake line.”
Marcus’s phone rang.
Ryan.
Marcus answered on speaker.
“Where are you?”
Ryan laughed softly.
“Too late.”
“For what?”
“You should ask Ethan where Lena is.”
Everyone looked at Lena.
Ryan continued.
“Because Margaret doesn’t need the documents anymore.”
A pause.
“She only needs the surviving daughter.”
May you like
The restaurant lights suddenly went out.
Lena felt someone grab her from behind.
