Before Dawn, a Silver Bracelet Forced Sebastian Cross to Choose His Ruin

When he tried to minimize his own role, Ortiz corrected him using files already recovered from the server.

When he blamed Dominic, Donnelly asked who had promoted him.

When he blamed the men before Dominic, she asked who had profited.

At three in the afternoon, Celia arrived.

Sebastian’s younger sister entered his room without knocking, crossed the floor, and slapped him.

The agents moved. Ortiz raised one hand to stop them.

Celia’s palm left a red mark on Sebastian’s cheek.

“You gave them the house,” she said.

He had expected questions about Ruby. “The house?”

“The FBI is carrying boxes through the front door. Reporters are at the lower road. Mrs. Alvarez called me from the pantry because she didn’t know whether she was allowed to leave.”

“She is allowed.”

“You employed her for seventeen years. She should not need federal permission to go home.”

Sebastian looked at Ortiz. “Make sure the household staff have transportation.”

Ortiz said, “Already arranged.”

Celia turned on her. “And you are?”

“Detective Ortiz.”

“The one who has been investigating him?”

“One of several.”

Celia looked back at Sebastian. “You finally made yourself popular.”

She sat in the chair Donnelly had vacated and pressed both hands against her face.

For a moment, she seemed to forget anyone else was present.

Then she lowered them.

“Where is Ruby?”

“Pediatric floor.”

“Why aren’t you with her?”

“Because I’m not permitted.”

Celia’s anger returned. “You own three senators.”

“Not anymore.”

Ortiz coughed into her coffee.

Celia stared at him. “What did you do?”

“I gave them everything.”

“Why?”

He almost said because of Ruby, but the answer had begun to feel too easy. Ruby explained the moment. She did not excuse the years before it.

“Because it was mine to give,” he said.

Celia’s eyes filled, though her voice stayed hard. “You think one honest morning fixes you?”

“No.”

“Good.”

She stood.

“I am going to see my niece. Then I am taking her somewhere without armed men, marble floors, or adults who use the word business when they mean blood.”

Sebastian swallowed. “She should go with you.”

“I know.”

“Celia.”

She stopped at the door.

“Tell her I’ll see her when they allow it.”

Celia looked over her shoulder. “Tell her yourself later. You delegated enough.”

After she left, Ortiz remained silent for almost a minute.

Then she said, “Your family communicates vividly.”

“My mother threw plates.”

“Growth.”

Sebastian laughed once, and the movement pulled at his stitches.

By evening, the hospital parking lot was full of satellite vans. News reports named Dominic as a person of interest in Ruby’s abduction, though authorities had not yet released details. Other reports described an “unprecedented data transfer” from Cross-controlled properties. Commentators who had spent years calling Sebastian a businessman began using different nouns.

His attorneys continued calling.

He turned off the phone an agent had temporarily returned for approved contacts.

Ruby visited after dinner.

Celia brought her in wearing yellow hospital pajamas and carrying a paper cup of apple juice. A bruise had appeared near her temple. Without the party dress and the missing shoe, she looked younger than she had in the warehouse.

Sebastian started to rise.

Ruby climbed into the bed before he could.

She examined the bandage on his arm.

“Did Uncle Dom do that?”

“Yes.”

“He said you were bad.”

Celia stood near the window. Ortiz had stepped into the hallway but left the door open.

Sebastian looked at Ruby’s hands.

“What did you say?”

“I said he was a liar.”

He waited.

Ruby twisted the straw wrapper around one finger.

“Then you said you killed people.”

Celia turned from the window.

Sebastian could have softened it. He had softened things all her life. Bad men became business rivals. Bribes became favors. Armed guards became drivers. Her mother’s fear became tiredness until the day she left the estate and never returned.

“I have hurt people,” he said. “I told other people to hurt them too.”

Ruby looked at his face as if deciding whether he remained the same shape.

“Why?”

“Because it made me powerful. And because after a while I was afraid of what would happen if I stopped.”

“That’s stupid.”

“Yes.”

Celia folded her arms, but some of the tension left her shoulders.

Ruby sipped her juice.

“Are you going to jail?”

“I may.”

“For how long?”

“I don’t know.”

“Can I come?”

“No.”

“I don’t mean stay.”

“I know.”

She leaned against him carefully, avoiding his injured arm.

After a while, she said, “Theo doesn’t have a house.”

“I heard.”

“Micah says houses don’t keep you safe.”

Sebastian looked through the doorway toward the agents.

“Sometimes they don’t.”

“Can they live with us?”

Celia made a small sound.

Sebastian said, “It isn’t that simple.”

“You always say that when the answer is no.”

“I say it when other people are allowed to decide.”

Ruby frowned. “Who?”

“Social workers. A judge. Micah and Theo.”

“And Ranger.”

She drank the rest of her juice.

“Can you help without being the boss?”

The question had no cruelty in it. That made it harder.

“I can try.”

Ruby nodded, apparently satisfied with the smaller promise.

Before leaving, she touched the red mark on his cheek.

“What happened?”

“Your aunt was upset.”

Celia said, “Your father walked into a door.”

Ruby looked between them.

“That’s not true.”

“No,” Sebastian said. “It isn’t.”

For the first time that day, Celia smiled.

Warren survived surgery.

The bullet had passed below the edge of his vest, missed his liver, and damaged enough tissue to make the surgeon use the phrase fortunate outcome several times. Warren disliked the phrase as much as Micah did.

The next morning, Warren woke to find Micah in a wheelchair beside his bed and Theo asleep in a chair with his knees tucked beneath the oversized hoodie.

“How did you get in here?” Warren asked.

Micah raised one shoulder. “Door.”

“There is an officer outside.”