Chapter 5 - Declan’s Enemy Was Already Inside
Finn denied everything.
Too quickly.
Declan placed the 2024-B ledger on his desk.
Sophia stood beside him.
Finn remained across the room.
“What is refrigerated medical cargo?”
“Pharmaceutical supplies.”
“For whom?”
“Private hospitals.”
“Which?”
Finn hesitated.
Declan’s voice lowered.
“Wrong answer.”
Finn exhaled.
“Saint Agatha.”
Sophia’s stomach tightened.
Declan opened the ledger.
“Why are medical supplies moving through dock routes I use for weapons?”
“Because they require discretion.”
“From whom?”
“Regulators.”
The room went silent.
Declan stepped around the desk.
“You knew.”
Finn shook his head.
“I knew Saint Agatha moved unapproved compounds.”
“That is knowing.”
“I didn’t know patients were being enrolled through debt coercion.”
Sophia cut in.
“Elise’s treatment used one of those compounds.”
Finn looked at her.
For the first time, guilt appeared.
“I’m sorry.”
She laughed.
“Everybody is sorry after the invoice.”
Declan turned pages.
Millions had moved through shell importers.
Experimental immune compounds from overseas manufacturers.
Some never approved by the FDA.
Saint Agatha was conducting private trials for companies that wanted human data without regulatory delay.
Patrick Walsh had created the infrastructure.
After his death, Finn quietly maintained it because it generated revenue.
“You told me these shipments were specialty chemicals,” Declan said.
“They were.”
“For killing people.”
“For treating people.”
Sophia snapped.
“My sister died.”
Finn’s jaw tightened.
“So did patients in approved trials.”
“That is not the same and you know it.”
Declan looked at Finn.
“How much?”
Finn knew what he meant.
“Twenty million annually.”
Declan laughed once.
Not humor.
Disgust.
He had built an empire where twenty million dollars could enter unnoticed because there were too many dirty rivers feeding the same ocean.
“Who runs it now?”
Finn did not answer.
Declan struck him.
One punch.
Finn fell against a chair.
Sophia stepped between them.
“Stop.”
Declan’s eyes burned.
“Move.”
“No.”
“Sophia.”
“You asked who runs it. Let him answer.”
Finn wiped blood from his mouth.
“O’Connor.”
Declan went still.
The rival faction pushing into his docks.
Finn explained.
After Patrick died, Saint Agatha’s underground research network began failing.
Dr. Voss needed funding.
Finn arranged supply routes.
Then Liam O’Connor discovered the operation and offered larger contracts.
Finn started selling access to both sides.
Not because he switched loyalty.
Because he thought medical cargo was separate from syndicate business.
“It wasn’t separate,” Declan said.
“I know that now.”
“No.”
Declan’s voice dropped.
“You knew the day you hid it from me.”
Finn looked away.
Sophia understood.
This was not simply corruption.
It was betrayal intimate enough to wound Declan.
Finn had been beside him since he was eighteen.
Protected him after Patrick died.
Helped bury enemies.
Shared meals.
He was almost family.
And he had lied for years.
“What does O’Connor want?” Sophia asked.
Finn looked at her.
“The patient database.”
“Why?”
“Biotech leverage. Insurance fraud. Patent control.”
Declan’s expression hardened.
“And Margaret?”
“She stole part of it.”
Sophia understood the fire.
Mrs. Gable had not burned the estate to destroy evidence.
She burned one corridor as diversion while escaping with records.
“Where is she?”
Finn shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Declan stepped closer.
Finn raised both hands.
“I swear.”
Sophia asked,
“Who does?”
Finn looked at her.
“Tommy Sullivan.”
Of course.
The lender.
The man whose debt Declan purchased.
He had been more than a collector.
Sullivan recruited desperate families for Saint Agatha.
He knew Margaret.
He knew Elise.
And once Declan bought Sophia’s debt, Sullivan knew Sophia mattered.
“Why did he sell the debt?” Sophia asked.
Finn answered,
“He wanted you inside the estate.”
The room went silent.
Declan turned.
“What?”
Finn looked ashamed.
“Sullivan offered the debt deliberately after hearing you asked about her.”
Sophia felt nauseated.
Declan had thought he chose her.
Someone had guided him.
The collapse.
The debt.
The promotion.
Maybe even the discarded glass she tripped over.
“Was I set up to fall in that library?”
No one answered.
Sophia’s skin crawled.
Her exhaustion had been real.
But perhaps the location was not accidental.
Maybe someone wanted Declan to notice her.
To bring her closer.
To turn her into leverage.
Declan looked furious with himself.
“I should have seen it.”
Sophia shook her head.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“That’s exactly what men like you always think.”
“What?”
“That if something bad happens, it means you failed to control enough.”
His expression shifted.
“You didn’t create Sullivan. You didn’t create Saint Agatha.”
“My father did.”
“And you inherited it.”
“I profited from it.”
“Yes.”
She did not soften that.
“But the next choice is yours.”
Finn watched them.
Then said quietly,
“O’Connor plans to take the patient archive tonight.”
“Where?”
“Sullivan’s old warehouse.”
Declan reached for his gun.
Sophia grabbed the ledger.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
He reconsidered.
“You are not trained for this.”
“I’m trained to recognize Elise’s records.”
“We can photograph everything.”
“And if Margaret is there?”
Silence.
Sophia continued.
“She may talk to me.”
Declan hated it.
But agreed.
The warehouse smelled like cold metal and river water.
They entered through a side loading dock with six men.
No guards.
Too quiet.
Inside were rows of medical refrigeration units.
Sophia opened one.
Blood samples.
Thousands.
Patient numbers.
Elise’s number among them.
Her sister was still here.
Not alive.
But pieces of her had been stored, studied, monetized.
Sophia’s knees weakened.
Declan steadied her.
This time she did not pull away.
Then a voice echoed from above.
“You always were sentimental, Declan.”
Liam O’Connor stepped onto the catwalk.
Men appeared behind him.
And beside Liam stood Tommy Sullivan.
Smiling.
“Hello, Sophia.”
Her stomach turned.
Sullivan held a phone.
On its screen was a live video.
Mrs. Gable.
Tied to a chair.
Bleeding.
May you like
Sullivan smiled wider.
“Now we finally have everyone who matters.”
