Chapter 10 - The Betrayal Within
The office grew deathly still.
The smell of cordite hung thick in the air.
Marcus lay motionless on the rug.
Tamson knelt beside him, pressing her hands against his jacket, but she already knew it was too late.
She looked up at Evander.
Evander's eyes were locked on Sabine.
For four years, Evander had trusted Sabine Lockidge as his closest advisor, his legal shield, the architect of his empire.
And all along, the poison had been growing from the inside.
"You sold out the family, Sabine," Evander said, his voice dangerously low.
"I saved the family, Evander," Sabine corrected, stepping toward the double doors while keeping his gun steady.
"Your father was soft. And you... you were getting distracted by old ghosts and sick mothers."
Sabine gestured with his pistol toward Tamson.
"This girl was supposed to stay in Ridgewood. But you let her in. You let her poke around."
"You framed Abel Hollis four years ago," Evander said, realization dawning with brutal clarity in his mind.
"You killed my drivers. You staged the crash to cover up your embezzlement of the transport division funds."
"Abel was a stubborn fool," Sabine admitted without a shred of remorse.
"He wouldn't look the other way. So we arranged a little rainstorm. And we blamed it on the Rallo name, knowing you'd take the blame and keep your mouth shut to protect your mother."
Evander's finger tightened on the trigger of his automatic.
"You used my family name to cover your crimes."
"And it worked brilliantly," Sabine smiled. "Until tonight."
Sabine backed up another step, his hand reaching behind him to grab the brass doorknob.
"Don't move, Evander. If I don't walk out of these doors in thirty seconds, your entire security detail will storm this room and put a bullet in both of you."
Tamson’s mind raced.
She looked at Sabine's gun, then at the heavy brass desk lamp beside her hand.
Sabine was distracted, watching Evander's weapon.
She didn't hesitate.
With a sudden, explosive burst of energy, Tamson grabbed the heavy brass lamp and hurled it directly at Sabine's face.
Crash!
The lamp struck Sabine’s shoulder, throwing his aim off just enough as he pulled the trigger.
The bullet slammed harmlessly into the wooden bookshelf behind Evander.
Evander fired instantly.
Bang!
The bullet caught Sabine in the right shoulder.
The lawyer screamed, dropping his weapon as he stumbled backward out the door into the hallway.
"Get him!" Evander roared.
Footsteps thundered down the hall as guards rushed toward the office.
Evander grabbed Tamson by the arm, pulling her behind the heavy mahogany desk just as a volley of submachine gun fire chewed through the office doorframes.
"Are you hit?" Evander demanded, his face inches from hers.
"I'm fine!" Tamson breathed heavily, her hands shaking.
"He's escaping!"
"He won't get past the gate," Evander said, his jaw set in stone.
He pulled a secondary magazine from his belt and slammed it into his pistol with a practiced, lethal click.
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For the first time since they met, Evander and Tamson weren't enemies.
They were allies trapped in a war zone created by the man they both trusted least.
