Chapter 5
Damien refused to believe her.
For thirty seconds.
Then he asked the question everyone asks when loyalty collapses.
“Why would he do that?”
Sloane’s answer was simple.
“Because you’re expendable.”
Cruel.
Probably true.
She explained Sebastian’s real structure.
If I survived phase one and accepted the replacement vehicle, I would be intercepted on the road and forced into a private meeting.
Not killed immediately.
Pressured.
Threatened.
Shown a list of captains prepared to withdraw support unless I restored old Moreau routes I had closed.
If I agreed, I returned alive.
If I refused—
Sloane stopped.
Damien finished for her.
“The car.”
She nodded.
The original vehicle would be destroyed afterward.
Evidence staged to suggest sabotage.
Damien’s fingerprints.
Damien’s equipment case.
Damien’s messages.
A disgruntled cousin angry about losing garage control.
Clean family explanation.
Sebastian becomes grieving uncle.
Then temporary stabilizer.
I almost admired the efficiency.
Almost.
Damien sat down hard on the bench.
“My father told me he was fixing the family.”
Ruth looked at him.
“No.”
She spoke quietly.
“He was fixing the story.”
That was the difference.
Sebastian did not need truth.
Only a version people could repeat.
Then Rafe brought in the garage driver.
Ethan Cole.
He had been told to take the night off unexpectedly.
By Sebastian.
Another piece.
My usual driver removed.
Damien creates mechanical failure.
Unknown vehicle collects me.
Tracker follows me.
If things go badly, damaged car becomes the public family explanation.
Rafe asked:
“What do you want done?”
I looked at Ruth.
Not because she decided for me.
Because twenty years earlier she had stood in almost the same garage while Sebastian tested an earlier version of the same game.
“Where would he take me?”
She thought.
Then:
“The old vineyard.”
Sebastian’s property outside the city.
Private.
Remote.
Still used for family dinners.
I smiled slightly.
“Good.”
Damien looked up.
“You’re going?”
“Yes.”
Sloane stared.
“That’s what he wants.”
“No.”
I adjusted my cuff.
“He wanted me stranded and confused.”
Then looked at her.
May you like
“I’m arriving informed.”
Different thing entirely.
