Sloane had never seen Adrian look afraid of a cat before.
“He took Meatball?” she demanded.
Daniel nodded.
“One of Richard’s men got onto the property using Matteo’s old security clearance. We found the guard at the service gate unconscious.”
Sloane grabbed her coat.
Adrian caught her arm.
“No.”
She turned.
“If you say I’m staying here—”
“I was going to say we need a plan.”
“Oh.”
Adrian released her immediately.
“Richard doesn’t care about the cat.”
“I care about the cat.”
“That’s why he took him.”
Sloane understood.
Richard wasn’t threatening Meatball because the animal mattered to him.
He was testing how much Sloane mattered to Adrian.
Daniel’s phone buzzed.
A video appeared.
Meatball sat inside a carrier looking deeply annoyed rather than frightened.
Richard Vale appeared beside him.
He was in his sixties, silver-haired, elegant, almost grandfatherly.
“Sloane,” he said into the camera. “Bring the flash drive to the old Vale Conservatory at eleven. Come alone.”
He smiled.
“Your cat will be returned unharmed.”
Meatball chose that moment to hiss at him.
Richard looked irritated.
Sloane almost felt proud.
The video ended.
“You’re not going,” Adrian said.
“Yes, I am.”
“No.”
“We just had this conversation about control.”
“This is different.”
“It always is when you’re scared.”
Adrian stopped.
Sloane softened.
“I’m scared too.”
He looked at her.
“But Richard wants the drive. That gives us leverage.”
“He’ll kill you after he gets it.”
“Then we don’t give him the real one.”
Patrick O’Donnell joined them twenty minutes later.
Together, they built the plan.
Sloane would go to the conservatory carrying a duplicate drive.
Adrian’s men and Patrick’s would surround the property.
Sloane hated every part of it.
But she also knew Richard had spent years exploiting everyone’s assumptions.
He assumed Adrian would behave emotionally.
He assumed Patrick would remain suspicious.
And he assumed Sloane was only a frightened bookkeeper.
That last mistake belonged to her.
At 10:58 p.m., Sloane entered the abandoned conservatory.
Broken glass glittered beneath moonlight.
Plants had grown wild through cracked tile.
Meatball’s angry meow echoed somewhere inside.
“Meatball?”
“Sloane.”
Richard stepped from the shadows.
Two armed men accompanied him.
Meatball’s carrier sat on a table.
“You came.”
“You have my cat.”
Richard smiled.
“You really are exactly what Matteo said.”
Sloane’s chest tightened.
“What did Matteo say?”
“That you notice things.”
Richard held out his hand.
“The drive.”
Sloane raised it.
“Cat first.”
“You’re negotiating?”
“Yes.”
“You understand who I am?”
“I understand you kidnapped a fifteen-pound tabby because you couldn’t beat an accountant in Excel.”
One of the gunmen almost smiled.
Richard didn’t.
“The drive.”
“Tell me why.”
“Why what?”
“Why all of it?”
Richard sighed.
“Adrian stole what belonged to me.”
“Your brother chose him.”
“My brother was weak.”
“And Matteo?”
For the first time, Richard’s expression cracked.
Sloane saw it.
“You had your own son killed.”
“He failed me.”
“He was terrified of you.”
“He was disloyal.”
“No. He was your son.”
Richard’s eyes hardened.
“You know nothing about family.”
Sloane thought of Adrian.
Of the grief he had hidden after Matteo died.
Of Patrick holding his daughter’s hand when he thought nobody was watching.
Of Meatball waiting at the door every night when she came home.
“Maybe you don’t.”
Richard stepped closer.
“Give me the drive.”
Sloane tossed it.
He caught it.
Then a gunshot cracked outside.
Richard’s men turned.
Adrian’s voice echoed through the conservatory.
“Let her go.”
Richard smiled.
“I knew you’d come.”
Adrian emerged from the darkness.
Alone.
At least apparently.
“You always were predictable when something mattered,” Richard said.
Adrian’s eyes moved to Sloane.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Cat?”
“Offended.”
Meatball meowed angrily.
Adrian almost smiled.
Richard raised a gun.
“Enough.”
Everything stopped.
“You should have listened to your father,” Richard said.
Adrian’s face changed.
“My father?”
“He knew what I was.”
Sloane watched Adrian.
Richard continued.
“That’s why he chose you. Not because you were ready. Because he thought you were good.”
The word sounded like an insult.
“He thought the family needed somebody who understood restraint.”
Richard laughed.
“And look where restraint got you.”
Adrian said nothing.
“It made you weak.”
“No,” Sloane said.
Richard looked at her.
She continued.
“Restraint is why I’m alive.”
Richard’s gun shifted toward her.
Adrian moved instantly.
Gunfire erupted.
Sloane dropped behind the table.
Glass shattered.
Men rushed from both entrances.
Patrick’s people.
Adrian’s.
Richard tried to escape.
Sloane saw him heading toward a side door.
Then Meatball’s carrier tipped.
The latch opened.
The cat exploded out like an orange missile.
He ran directly between Richard’s legs.
Richard stumbled.
Adrian tackled him.
Within seconds, Richard was disarmed.
Daniel dragged him upright.
Richard stared at Adrian with pure hatred.
“You think this changes anything?”
“Yes,” Adrian said.
Richard smiled bitterly.
“You’ll always be what this family made you.”
Adrian looked toward Sloane.
Then back at his uncle.
“No.”
His voice was quiet.
“I get to decide what I become.”
Police sirens sounded in the distance.
Sloane frowned.
“Police?”
Patrick smiled.
“Anonymous tip.”
Adrian had made a decision.
Richard wouldn’t disappear.
He wouldn’t be executed.
He would face charges.
The financial evidence Sloane had collected connected him to fraud, extortion, conspiracy, attempted murder, and multiple kidnappings.
It was Adrian’s first step toward something different.
Maybe something better.
As officers approached, Sloane scooped Meatball into her arms.
“You okay?”
The cat licked his paw.
Adrian walked toward them.
Meatball immediately reached for him.
Sloane stared.
“You cannot be serious.”
Adrian took the cat.
“He missed me.”
“He has Stockholm syndrome.”
Adrian looked at her.
“You’re making that joke?”
Sloane started laughing.
She couldn’t stop.
The terror, exhaustion, and absurdity of the last several days finally broke through.
Adrian laughed too.
Then Sloane saw blood on his side.
Her laughter died.
“Adrian?”
He looked down.
The color drained from his face.
The bullet had hit him.
He took one step.
Then collapsed.
---