Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ronan
"Dad. Pedro, he... he really is..." The second Ryan left, Rose grabbed my hand, urgent. "Ryan left because of you, didn't she?"
I nodded.
Rose bit her lip. Her eyes went glassy. My chest clenched tight. I'd never been able to handle her tears.
"Dad," Rose poked my arm, looking thoroughly pissed off, "you two were together and kept me completely in the dark! You kept me and Ryan apart all these years!"
I rubbed my head, trying to explain. "Ryan and I were worried you wouldn't accept—"
"Dad!" Rose practically jumped up, tugging at my sleeve. "I've been waiting forever for Ryan to be my mom!" She sighed. "Dad, what you need to do right now is figure out how to keep Ryan from leaving."
"Got it, my little princess. Now you need to wash your face. You're all splotchy. Then Marco will take you back to rest." I felt helpless. This wasn't something I could fix overnight.
"I'm watching you work on this!" Rose shot me a look and headed to the bathroom.
The door clicked shut. I pulled out my phone and called Declan.
"Victoria and Nick," I said. "Every connection. From the beginning."
Silence on the other end for two seconds.
"Ronan, you sure about this?" Declan hesitated. "Everyone knows they're connected. Doesn't seem like much of a lead."
"I think Nick runs Night Owl."
My suspicion wasn't baseless. Before, I'd never given Victoria a second thought, never paid attention to her ties with Nick.
Not until Ryan mentioned Victoria using fake photos to trick her.
That's when the scattered pieces finally clicked.
Victoria alone never had the resources to stage all that, let alone help Ryan escape.
Only Nick, at the core of Night Owl, had that kind of power.
He helped Ryan for Victoria's sake. Even when he deliberately got close to Ryan back then, it was never genuine.
"You've got one week. I want a complete report."
"Yes, sir." Declan agreed.
A week later, Declan showed up right on schedule. The second he walked in, he pulled out a stack of documents thick enough to use as a brick. "Better sit down for this."
I opened the file.
"Starting from this point, Victoria and Nick built a dedicated encrypted communication channel." Declan stood by the desk, pointing to a line in the report. "Used a dark web email account that's long been deleted, ran it through three proxy layers to block tracking."
"Look here." He flipped to page three, pointing to a passage marked with a highlighter. It was an encrypted message from Nick to Victoria. "Dustin Miller. Ryan's ex. Junkie. Has private videos of Ryan. Can be exploited."
"Every time Dustin harassed her, Nick was pulling the strings." Declan turned a page. "Including when Dustin ambushed Ryan near the school—that wasn't spontaneous. The route, the timing, all Nick's doing."
"That car accident four years ago? Your hunch was right.
Wasn't an accident. And Helen? Victoria planted her in the manor through an intermediary.
" Declan continued. "The goal was to set it all up step by step.
Lure Ryan to the Red Hook docks, make her witness you dealing with Dustin, then use the body double lie to drive her away for good. "
"Last part, you might want that whiskey now."
"Confirmed. Nick took over Night Owl ten years ago. He's the boss. The Sterling family's rapid rise? All because he backed them." Declan took off his glasses and wiped them. "And he did have real feelings for Victoria. The intelligence leaks? That was Victoria's payback."
I closed the file. I'd let this man sit at my manor's dining table and drink my wine. Let him meet Rose. Even let him get close to Ryan. There wasn't a bigger fool on earth than me.
"Tell Marco to bring Victoria to Boston. There's something I need to tell her myself."
I dialed. Ryan picked up fast.
"Ronan? What is it?"
"We need to meet."
"No. I'm taking Pedro back to California."
"This is about Victoria."
"What do you mean?"
"I found out everything about four years ago." I took a deep breath. "You have a right to know the full truth."
"I can't leave Pedro alone."
"Bring him with you. Rose will watch him. Just one hour."
Long silence.
"When."
"Day after tomorrow. Afternoon."
"Send me the address."
Ryan arrived at one forty-five. She had faint shadows under her eyes—clearly hadn't slept well.
I had Declan get her a more comfortable sofa.
Pedro stayed at the hotel. Rose went over early.
Before the little girl left, she grabbed my sleeve and told me to do well, not to scare Ryan off again.
Made me want to laugh and cry at the same time.
"Let's just start."
Marco brought Victoria in. She wore a pale purple silk blouse with white pants, blonde hair draped casually over her shoulders, red lips drawn with precision. Obviously, being dragged from New York to Boston in two days had pissed her off. Every step landed heavy and sharp.
She saw me first. "Ronan, your people hauled me out of my house like a criminal. Didn't even let me change. You better have one hell of a reason."
Then she spotted Ryan on the sofa. "Look who's here."
"Four years and Miss Clark's doing pretty well for herself?" She laughed lightly. "Then again, you've always been good at climbing up, haven't you?"
"Shut up." I cut her off cold.
Victoria flipped her hair but said nothing more.
"Miss Victoria Romanova." Declan stepped forward. "The following is excerpted from a comprehensive investigation into your personal communications, financial transactions, and associated contacts over the past week. If you have objections, please raise them after I finish reading."
Victoria's smile froze. As Declan recited everything she'd done, sentence by sentence, the color drained from her face bit by bit.
She finally snapped, lunged forward, and ripped the documents from Declan's hands, tearing them to shreds. "This is all fabricated."
"You've always wanted to kick me out of the manor. From day one, you couldn't stand me."
"Victoria. You want to know how Natasha died?"
"You got tired of her and killed her yourself, didn't you?"
I shook my head. "Natasha wasn't innocent, Victoria."
"After Natasha married me, when I wouldn't give her core authority, she secretly joined Night Owl," I said. "She had one goal—to kill me."
"She planned an assassination attempt. It failed. She was killed in the firefight."
Victoria's lips trembled. Her hands balled into fists at her sides. "You're lying... Natasha wouldn't... she wouldn't..."
She stepped back and knocked over the chair behind her. "She... she just wanted to restore the family. She wouldn't join some assassin organization. You're lying!"
"Maybe you don't know yet. Your partner Nick? He's the head of Night Owl. He knew about Natasha all along. You're the only one who was kept in the dark."
"No! No!" She screamed, grabbed the letter opener from the corner of the desk, and lunged at me.
I sidestepped, caught her wrist, twisted it outward. The blade clattered to the floor.
Marco stepped over immediately, took Victoria from me, and locked her arms from behind. Victoria sagged in Marco's grip, blonde hair falling across her face, words dissolving into incoherent mumbling.
"Natasha... Natasha... Natasha..."
"Take her. Find a place to hold her." Marco carried Victoria out the door. The study went quiet.
I turned around. Ryan's face had gone completely white. One hand covered her mouth, the other clutched the sofa arm, her whole body shaking uncontrollably. My heart seized. I crossed to her in three strides and gripped her shoulders.
"Ryan, look at me. Breathe."
I crouched in front of her. "Ryan. I'm not going to kill her."
She looked up at me. A film of moisture over her eyes.
"I promise you." I met her gaze head-on. "She'll face appropriate consequences. I won't dirty my hands again. Please trust me."
After a long moment, her breathing gradually steadied. Some color returned to her face.
"I believe you're telling the truth, Ronan."
I reached for her hand. She gently pulled away and stood up.
"But... I need time to process everything that happened today. This is insane. I have to get back to California. Pedro's waiting."
I stood, stepped aside. "Declan, see Ryan out."
"The car's ready. We can leave anytime."
Ryan grabbed her bag, opened the door, and walked out. Didn't look back.
She didn't say never again. She just said she needed time.
For me, that was the best answer I could hope for.