Chapter 7 - A Traitor Inside Gabriel's House
Emma turned toward Gabriel.
"What happened to my father?"
"Not now."
"That's not an answer."
"Sophie has been taken."
"And whoever took her thinks you know something about Thomas."
Gabriel's face closed.
Emma stepped closer.
"Tell me."
Gabriel dismissed everyone except Luca.
Then he opened a locked drawer.
Inside was an old police report.
Thomas Brooks.
Fatal elevator accident.
Gabriel turned to the final page.
A witness name had been redacted.
Gabriel Moretti.
Emma looked up.
"You were there?"
"Yes."
Her face drained.
Gabriel spoke before she could.
"I was twenty-five. My father sent me to retrieve a ledger Thomas had stolen."
"Stolen?"
"Evidence. Names. Accounts. Murders. Thomas planned to give it to federal prosecutors."
"You confronted him."
"Yes."
"And he died."
"Not because of me."
Emma's eyes filled.
"How?"
"Adrian arrived."
Gabriel remembered it clearly.
Thomas refusing to surrender the ledger.
Adrian demanding it.
A struggle.
An elevator door forced open.
Thomas falling backward into the shaft.
Gabriel had tried to grab him.
He missed.
"My father covered it up," Gabriel said.
"And you let him."
"Yes."
The word hurt because it was true.
Emma slapped him.
Luca moved.
Gabriel raised one hand.
"No."
Emma's voice broke.
"You knew."
"I learned who you were only after the accident."
"But once you knew?"
"I should have told you."
"Yes."
"I was afraid you'd leave."
Emma stared at him.
"You don't get to make that choice for me."
"I know."
"No, you don't."
She walked away.
Then she remembered Sophie.
Pain could wait.
A child couldn't.
"Room 317."
Gabriel nodded.
The old Moretti Hotel had officially been demolished, but one underground level remained beneath a parking structure.
They entered before midnight.
Emma carried the key.
Gabriel followed despite the kidnappers' warning.
"You were told not to come."
"You expected me to obey?"
"For once, yes."
"Unfortunate timing."
They reached a rusted corridor.
317 stood at the end.
Emma inserted the key.
Inside was an office untouched for years.
A desk.
A safe.
An old tape recorder.
No Sophie.
Emma found an envelope addressed to her.
Thomas's handwriting.
Her hands trembled.
She opened it.
Emma,
If you're reading this, then I failed to keep this away from you.
Adrian Vale gave you his blood, but he never earned the right to be your father.
I did.
Emma stopped.
Gabriel stood silently behind her.
She continued.
The ledger is not hidden where Salvatore thinks.
I built Morning Grace so you would always have something clean standing above something terrible.
Emma looked up.
"Above."
Gabriel understood.
"The bakery."
The ledger was beneath Morning Grace.
The phone rang.
Sophie appeared on a video feed.
Alive.
Terrified.
Adrian Vale stepped behind her.
Older now.
Gray-haired.
But unmistakably the man from Emma's photograph.
"Hello, Emma."
She couldn't speak.
"I've waited a long time."
"Let Sophie go."
"Bring me the ledger."
"She's your family."
Adrian smiled.
"Family is leverage with a prettier name."
Emma felt something inside her harden.
Whatever fantasy might have existed about meeting her biological father died instantly.
"You don't deserve her."
"I didn't ask for judgment."
"No. You asked for the ledger."
Adrian's smile disappeared.
"Morning Grace. One hour."
The screen went black.
Gabriel checked his weapon.
Emma blocked him.
"He'll kill her if he sees you."
"He'll kill you if he doesn't."
"Then we'll both have to disappoint him."
Luca interrupted.
"There's another problem."
Security footage from Gabriel's townhouse had finally been restored.
Someone inside had disabled the cameras.
They watched the recording.
A familiar figure carried Sophie through a service corridor.
Emma stared.
Gabriel didn't move.
The traitor wasn't a guard.
It was someone Sophie trusted enough to follow willingly.
Gabriel whispered the name.
"Luca..."
Emma turned toward the man standing beside them.
May you like
Luca slowly reached inside his jacket.
And locked the door behind him...
