He Called Her a Traitor and Threw Her Out Into the Storm — Then Learned the Quiet Woman He Lost Was Born to a Mafia Dynasty.
PART 9
“Odalys was supposed to disappear,” Silas said. “You were supposed to blame her long enough for us to dismantle the family.”
“I did exactly what you expected.”
“Yes. That was the most disappointing part. She warned you, and you still chose me.”
The truth landed harder than the beating. Weston had spent his entire life believing ruthlessness protected him from betrayal. Instead, his ruthlessness had made betrayal easy.
Voss drew a revolver. “The Kade name ends here.”
Weston looked at Silas. “When he kills me, he kills you next.”
“Do not listen to him,” Voss said.
“You know I’m right,” Weston continued. “Odalys already turned your people. Voss cannot afford to leave anyone alive who can testify against him.”
Voss raised the revolver toward Weston’s forehead.
The warehouse lights went out.
Complete darkness swallowed the room. The metal doors crashed inward and bursts of white light filled the warehouse. Weston rolled behind a pallet as disciplined teams entered from three directions.
Within a minute, the warehouse fell silent except for alarms.
Amber emergency lights flickered on.
Everett Marchetti entered first. Odalys walked beside him.
Weston forgot the pain in his ribs.
She wore a midnight-blue suit over a black blouse, her hair drawn back from her face. Nothing remained of the careful uncertainty Priya had shown the world.
Yet Weston noticed the subtle fullness beneath her jacket. The way Everett’s men created a protective space around her.
A possibility struck Weston so suddenly that he could not breathe.
Odalys stopped before Marcus Voss. “My name is Odalys Marchetti.”
“Who do you think you are?”
“You built your last victory upon the assumption that a woman without a visible army must be helpless.”
“This is your war, old man?” Voss looked at Everett.
“No,” Everett said. “It is hers.”
One of Odalys’s men placed a leather case on the concrete and opened it — original bank records, photographs, audio transcripts, account ledgers.
She addressed Weston without looking at him. “The woman in the surveillance photographs was hired through a modeling agency in New Jersey. Silas paid her in cash. The transfers were routed through his aunt’s holding company. He accessed your penthouse security system at eleven forty-three on the night he claimed to be home.”
Silas had gone pale.
“I told you to investigate the man who benefited from my disappearance.”
“I know.”
“You chose not to.”
“I know.”
Silas moved toward her. “Odalys, listen to me. Weston was destroying everything. Voss offered stability.”
“You framed an innocent woman and endangered her unborn child. Do not speak to me about stability.”
Weston’s heart stopped.
*Unborn child.*