Chapter 9 - The Woman Behind the Second GunVictoria survived.
The bullet missed her heart by four inches.
She was rushed into surgery while federal agents locked down the hospital.
Cole refused to leave.
Neither did I.
Michael and Travis went with Donnelly to recover Sophie.
Three hours after the shooting, Michael called.
“We have her.”
I closed my eyes.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Bring her here.”
“Nora.”
His voice changed.
“She knows who took her.”
My stomach tightened.
“Who?”
“A woman named Evelyn Cross.”
Samuel Cross’s wife.
The second gun.
The hidden partner.
Everything shifted.
By evening, Sophie was sitting inside a protected hospital room.
The first time I saw her, I knew.
Same nose as Mom.
Same stubborn chin as me.
Dark blond hair.
Brown eyes.
She looked between Michael and me as though reality had become unreasonable.
“So.”
Her voice shook.
“You’re both really my family.”
Michael smiled.
“Unfortunately.”
I hit his arm.
Sophie laughed.
Then started crying.
I hugged her.
Awkwardly at first.
Then like I had known her my entire life.
Maybe blood recognizes blood faster than the mind does.
“I thought my biological parents were dead.”
“They are,” I whispered.
She pulled back.
“Were they good people?”
I looked at Michael.
“Yes.”
He nodded.
“Complicated. But good.”
Sophie wiped her face.
“The woman who took me said Thomas Bennett ruined her family.”
“Evelyn Cross?”
“Yes.”
“What did she want?”
“The Last Round.”
Michael glanced at me.
“She thought I had it.”
“Why?”
Sophie looked confused.
“She said my mother gave it to me.”
Of course.
Raymond had known Sophie existed.
Maybe he believed Elaine sent evidence with her.
“What else?”
“She kept talking about her son.”
Donnelly entered.
“What son?”
Sophie swallowed.
“Daniel.”
Donnelly stopped.
Michael noticed.
“You know him.”
Donnelly sat.
“Daniel Cross was an undercover agent.”
“Was?”
“He died seven years ago.”
“How?”
“Inside Raymond’s fight network.”
My skin chilled.
Another dead child.
Another parent built from grief.
Donnelly continued.
“Daniel was investigating trafficking. His cover was exposed. He was killed during a private fight.”
“By Raymond?”
“We believed so.”
Sophie shook her head.
“Evelyn said Thomas got him killed.”
Donnelly’s face changed.
“Thomas was already dead when Daniel died.”
“Then she was lied to,” I said.
Michael cursed.
“By Cross.”
Samuel had used his own son’s death to manipulate his wife.
A family poison spreading through another generation.
My phone rang.
Cole.
“Mom’s awake.”
We went to her room.
Victoria looked pale but furious.
Good sign.
Cole sat beside her.
She held his hand.
Something between them had changed.
The truth had hurt.
But lies had hurt more.
Victoria looked at Sophie.
“You’re Elaine’s daughter.”
Sophie nodded.
Victoria cried quietly.
“I held you once.”
Every one of us froze.
“What?” Sophie whispered.
“At the hospital.”
Victoria’s voice shook.
“Elaine called me because she was terrified. Raymond had threatened her.”
“You knew?”
“I knew she planned an adoption. I didn’t know where.”
Sophie sat.
“Did my father know?”
“No.”
A tear rolled down Victoria’s cheek.
“Thomas arrived after you were gone. Elaine told him you died.”
Sophie’s face crumpled.
I reached for her.
Victoria continued.
“He stood in the hospital hallway for an hour holding a pink blanket.”
Michael turned away.
I could barely breathe.
Our father had mourned a living daughter.
Another cruelty Raymond had created without firing a gun.
Cole squeezed his mother’s hand.
“Who shot you?”
“I never saw.”
I placed the brass glove on her blanket.
“Does this mean anything?”
Victoria stared.
“That belonged to Daniel Cross.”
Donnelly’s head snapped up.
“What?”
“Thomas gave brass gloves to several young fighters and investigators he trusted.”
Michael stared.
“Daniel trained with Dad?”
“Briefly.”
Donnelly looked stunned.
Everything connected.
Thomas had trained more than fighters.
He had created a quiet network of people trying to expose Raymond.
Daniel Cross had been one of them.
Evelyn believed Thomas killed him.
But Thomas had been dead already.
Meaning Samuel Cross had rewritten history.
Donnelly immediately requested Daniel’s original case files.
What we found changed the investigation.
Daniel had discovered his father was Raymond’s federal contact.
The night he died, he had planned to expose Samuel.
Not Raymond.
Samuel had ordered his own son’s cover blown.
Evelyn had spent seven years grieving the wrong enemy.
“We tell her,” Sophie said.
Michael shook his head.
“She tried to kill Victoria.”
“She thinks she’s avenging her son.”
“That doesn’t excuse it.”
“No.”
Sophie met his eyes.
“But it might stop her.”
I agreed.
Donnelly arranged contact through a number found on Samuel’s phone.
Evelyn answered.
Her voice was calm.
“You found the girl.”
Sophie took the phone.
“My name is Sophie.”
Silence.
“You lied to me.”
“No.”
“Your husband did.”
Evelyn’s breathing changed.
“Samuel loved Daniel.”
“Samuel killed him.”
“No.”
Donnelly sent Daniel’s recovered report to a secure device linked to Evelyn.
“You should have a file,” Sophie said.
Silence.
We waited.
Thirty seconds.
A minute.
Then we heard Evelyn sob.
Not dramatic.
Not loud.
The sound of a person’s entire life collapsing.
“He knew.”
“Yes,” Sophie said gently.
“My husband knew Daniel was undercover?”
“Yes.”
“And he told Raymond?”
“Yes.”
Evelyn whispered, “Where is Samuel?”
“Federal custody.”
“Raymond?”
“Hospital custody.”
Long silence.
Then Evelyn said, “I can give you everything.”
Donnelly leaned forward.
“What everything?”
“Samuel kept a second ledger.”
My pulse jumped.
“Where?”
Evelyn gave an address.
A safe deposit vault.
Then she said something that froze the room.
“But you need to hurry.”
“Why?”
“Raymond has a son.”
Cole stared.
Michael whispered, “What?”
Evelyn continued.
“Nobody knows except Samuel.”
Cole’s face hardened.
“Who?”
“Adrian Maddox.”
Travis, who had just entered, stopped dead.
The color vanished from his face.
I noticed first.
“You know him.”
Travis didn’t answer.
“Travis.”
His voice was barely audible.
“Adrian is the third fighter in the photograph.”
My father’s old photograph had shown Cole beside two young fighters.
We had assumed Travis and Michael.
We were wrong.
Michael had not been in that photograph.
The third boy was Adrian.
Raymond’s secret son.
Travis sat slowly.
“He disappeared after Thomas died.”
Cole stared.
“My cousin.”
“Half brother,” Victoria whispered.
Everyone looked at her.
She closed her eyes.
“Raymond had an affair with Cole’s father’s sister.”
Cole looked physically ill.
Families.
Secrets.
Lies.
Again.
Evelyn’s voice continued through the phone.
“Adrian runs what remains of Round Three.”
“So Raymond wasn’t the top,” I whispered.
“No,” Evelyn said. “Not anymore.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
Travis did.
His expression told me before he spoke.
“He knows where we are.”
The hospital fire alarm began screaming.
Donnelly stood.
“Move!”
Smoke poured beneath the hallway door.
Not fire.
Smoke grenades.
Masked men appeared at both ends of the corridor.
Cole pulled Victoria’s bed toward the emergency stairwell.
Michael grabbed Sophie.
Travis took position.
I followed.
A man stepped from the smoke.
No mask.
Forty years old.
Dark hair.
Gray eyes.
A scar beneath his chin.
He looked at Cole.
Then at me.
“Thomas’s daughter.”
Adrian Maddox smiled.
“My father always said you would be trouble.”
Travis raised his gun.
Adrian looked at him.
“Hello, brother.”
Travis froze.
My head snapped toward him.
Adrian smiled wider.
“You never told them?”
May you like
Travis’s face went white.
“I’m Raymond’s son too.”
