Chapter 8 - The Night Sophie Disappeared
Gabriel drew first.
Luca didn't reach for a gun.
He removed a second phone.
"Watch."
Gabriel kept his weapon aimed at him.
The video showed Luca carrying Sophie.
Then another angle showed why.
A gunman had been waiting inside Sophie's bedroom.
Luca had moved her through the service corridor to escape.
But a second team intercepted them downstairs.
"They took her from me," Luca said.
"Why disable the cameras?" Gabriel demanded.
"Because I didn't know which security feed Adrian controlled."
Gabriel lowered the gun slightly.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because one of your senior men gave him access."
"Who?"
Luca displayed a financial transfer.
The recipient was Gabriel's uncle, Carlo Moretti.
Gabriel's face changed.
Carlo had helped raise him.
He had also spent years complaining that Gabriel was destroying the empire Salvatore created.
The betrayal made brutal sense.
They headed for Morning Grace.
Emma entered first.
The bakery was dark.
Adrian waited behind the old counter.
Sophie sat nearby.
Unhurt.
Emma's knees nearly weakened from relief.
"Emma!"
Adrian held up a gun.
"No reunions yet."
Emma placed the Room 317 key down.
"The ledger is beneath this building."
"I know."
"Then why do you need me?"
"Thomas designed the compartment."
Adrian smiled.
"He trusted sentimental things. Your birthday. Your mother's name. Your first recipe."
Emma looked around.
Thomas had built a lock only she could solve.
She remembered Morning Grace's first recipe.
Cinnamon bread.
Margaret's recipe.
The proportions were 3-1-7.
Emma found three loose tiles behind the original oven wall.
One.
Three.
Seven.
A mechanism clicked.
A section of floor opened.
Inside sat a metal box.
Adrian's eyes changed.
Twenty years of hunger appeared in them.
"Open it."
Emma did.
The ledger lay inside.
So did a cassette tape.
Adrian reached for the book.
Emma grabbed Sophie.
Gunfire erupted from the back.
Gabriel.
Adrian fled through a basement door with the ledger.
Gabriel could have chased him.
Instead he went to Sophie.
That choice told Emma everything about the man he was trying to become.
Sophie threw herself into his arms.
"Daddy!"
Gabriel held her so tightly she squeaked.
Emma watched.
Then Gabriel looked at her.
No words passed between them.
None were necessary.
Police contacts loyal to Gabriel secured the building.
Carlo disappeared.
Adrian had the ledger.
But Emma had the tape.
They played it.
Thomas's voice filled the empty bakery.
"My name is Thomas Brooks. If this recording is being heard, Adrian Vale has probably found the ledger."
Emma closed her eyes.
Thomas continued.
"The ledger is real. But it isn't the only evidence."
Gabriel leaned closer.
"Salvatore ordered murders. Adrian arranged payments. Victor Hale collected copies."
Victor again.
Thomas explained that Victor had planned to expose Salvatore.
But Adrian discovered the plan.
Victor vanished.
Thomas took the ledger.
"And if Adrian believes the book can protect him," Thomas said, "he's wrong."
A pause.
"The final evidence is with Margaret."
Emma froze.
Her mother.
They raced to the private clinic.
Margaret's room was empty.
The nurse lay unconscious.
On the bed was a cinnamon roll.
Still warm.
Emma stared at it.
Gabriel touched the plate.
Underneath was a message.
YOUR MOTHER REMEMBERED.
Emma's phone rang.
Margaret's number.
She answered.
"Mom?"
For several seconds there was silence.
Then Margaret whispered:
"Emma, listen to me. Your father didn't die because of the ledger."
Emma gripped the phone.
"Why did he die?"
Margaret began to answer.
A door slammed somewhere beside her.
She gasped.
Then a man's voice said:
"Enough."
The call disconnected.
Emma stared at the screen.
A location arrived seconds later.
It was from Margaret's phone.
Gabriel looked at the address.
He knew it immediately.
May you like
It belonged to the one man everyone had believed dead for fourteen years.
Victor Hale...
