Chapter 8 - The Traitor UnmaskedThe next morning, the digital forensics team working in the estate’s underground server room finally decrypted the black-box data recovered from the downed mercenary’s encrypted comm-link.
Boon walked into Ronan’s private study, slamming a dossier down onto the mahogany desk.
Ronan was standing by the window, a cup of black coffee in his hand. Marin sat nearby, reading a book while Murphy slept at her feet.
"We got the transmission origin," Boon said, his voice tight with suppressed rage. "The call was routed through a satellite phone registered to a shell corporation in Zurich. But the voice signature analysis confirmed it 99.8%."
"Who?" Ronan asked without turning around, though his knuckles whitened around his coffee mug.
"Julian Vance."
Marin dropped her book. The name echoed in the silent room like a gunshot. Julian Vance—Ronan’s Vice President, his most trusted advisor, the man who had stood by his side at Fion’s funeral and shed fake tears into his handkerchief.
"Julian," Ronan whispered, a terrifying calm washing over his features. He turned slowly, his eyes burning with lethal ice. "He was the one who engineered Fion's car crash. He was the one who wanted the journal burned. And he was the one who tried to eliminate Marin."
"He called an emergency board meeting for tonight at the downtown headquarters," Boon added. "He plans to invoke the Syndicate's Article Nine—declaring you unfit to lead due to security failures, and taking full control of the Callahan empire."
Ronan let out a cold, dark laugh that chilled the room to its core. "Article Nine? How generous of him. Let's give him the meeting of his life."
Ronan turned his gaze toward Marin. He walked over, knelt down in front of her chair, and took her unbandaged fingertips in his large, warm hands.
May you like
"Marin," Ronan said softly. "Tonight, I finish this war. But I need you to stay here, locked down, where I know you're safe."
"No," Marin said, her eyes flashing with absolute determination. "I survived the fire, I survived the ambush, and I am not sitting here playing damsel in distress while you walk into a slaughterhouse. I’m going with you."
