The Man Everyone Trusted
Chapter 05 - The Man Everyone Trusted
Victor asked Jax to meet him alone.
Jax refused.
Victor laughed.
“You were always stubborn.”
“Where is Emily?”
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“That depends on what you do next.”
Jax tightened his grip on the phone.
Victor wanted the photograph.
Jax did not understand why.
Then Nora looked again at the image.
She peeled gently at one corner.
The photograph was two layers thick.
Hidden between them was a tiny memory card.
Maria examined it.
It contained financial records, VIN numbers, shipping manifests and photographs.
Evidence of a stolen vehicle network operating for more than twenty years.
Caleb had collected it.
Emily had protected it.
Victor had spent nearly two decades looking for it.
Luke stared at Jax.
“Is that why they took my mom?”
Jax wished he could say no.
Instead, he said, “It might be.”
Maria contacted federal investigators.
Jax hated waiting.
But Nora stopped him from leaving.
“You rush in there angry, you give Victor exactly what he wants.”
Jax stared at her.
“When did you become an expert?”
Nora smiled sadly.
“When I married him.”
Silence.
Jax looked at her.
“What?”
Nora removed her wedding ring.
“I was Victor Kane’s first wife.”
Jax had known Nora for fifteen years.
She had never told him.
“He changed his name after we divorced,” she said.
“Why?”
“Because I testified against him.”
Jax stood.
“About what?”
Nora looked at Luke.
“About Caleb.”
The boy went pale.
Nora’s voice trembled.
“Seventeen years ago, I saw Victor force Caleb into the back of a truck.”
Jax stared at her.
“And you never told me?”
“I told the police.”
“No. You told strangers.”
“I was terrified.”
“You watched me search for my brother for seventeen years.”
Tears filled Nora’s eyes.
“I know.”
Jax stepped away.
The betrayal felt almost as sharp as losing Caleb again.
Then Luke spoke.
“Maybe she was scared like my mom.”
Jax looked at him.
May you like
The boy was right.
And Jax hated how much that hurt.
