Chapter 9 - Emma Walked Into the Lion's Den
Victor Hale lived in a narrow brownstone in Brooklyn under another name.
Gabriel wanted Emma nowhere near it.
Emma ignored him.
"My mother is there."
"You are exactly what Adrian wants."
"And Margaret is exactly what I want."
They entered together.
No guards.
No weapons visible.
Margaret sat in the living room drinking tea.
Beside her sat an elderly man.
Victor Hale.
Emma rushed to Margaret.
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
Margaret looked annoyed.
"He makes terrible tea."
Victor smiled faintly.
"I've been told."
Gabriel remained standing.
"You kidnapped her."
"I rescued her."
"From whom?"
"Carlo."
Victor explained.
Carlo had ordered Margaret taken from the clinic.
Victor's people intercepted them.
Emma didn't trust him.
"Why?"
"Because Thomas saved my life."
Victor opened a drawer.
Inside was a photograph of Thomas.
"He helped me disappear."
"Why?"
"Because Salvatore ordered me killed."
Victor looked at Gabriel.
"Your father discovered I was gathering evidence."
Gabriel absorbed it without defense.
Victor turned to Emma.
"Thomas took the ledger. I took the recordings."
"Where are they?"
Margaret answered.
"With me."
Emma looked at her.
Margaret touched her own necklace.
Inside the pendant was a tiny key.
"Thomas gave it to me."
Her memory was suddenly clear.
"He told me I would know when Emma was strong enough."
Emma's eyes filled.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I wanted you to have a normal life."
Margaret smiled sadly.
"And because some days I forgot where I put my shoes."
Emma hugged her.
Victor explained the key opened a bank deposit box containing recordings, photographs, and payment records.
Enough to destroy Adrian and Carlo.
Perhaps enough to expose much of the old Moretti organization.
Gabriel understood the consequence.
Including crimes connected to his own family.
Victor watched him.
"If these records go public, the Moretti name falls with Adrian."
Gabriel looked toward Sophie, who was safe elsewhere.
"Then let it fall."
Emma studied him.
"Even yours?"
"If that's the price."
Victor nodded once.
Maybe for the first time, he saw Gabriel as something other than Salvatore's son.
They went to the bank the following morning.
The box was empty.
Margaret stared.
"No."
Victor examined the lock.
No damage.
Someone had used a key.
There had been two.
Thomas had one.
Margaret had the other.
Thomas's key disappeared after his death.
Adrian.
But Victor shook his head.
"If Adrian already had the evidence, he wouldn't need Margaret."
"Then who?" Emma asked.
Gabriel knew.
Carlo.
Carlo had been at Thomas's death scene after Gabriel left.
He could have taken the key.
Gabriel's phone rang.
Carlo.
Gabriel answered.
"Uncle."
"Bring Emma."
"No."
Carlo laughed.
"Still pretending you're different from your father?"
"I am."
"That's why you're losing."
"Where's Adrian?"
A pause.
Then Carlo said something unexpected.
"Adrian is dead."
Emma stared at Gabriel.
"What?"
Carlo continued.
"He just doesn't know it yet."
The call ended.
Minutes later, news broke.
A car had exploded near the Hudson.
Inside was a body believed to be Adrian Vale.
But Gabriel wasn't convinced.
Neither was Emma.
That evening, she returned to Gabriel's house.
Sophie ran into her arms.
Emma held her.
"You keep disappearing."
Sophie frowned.
"So do you."
"Fair."
"Can you stay?"
Emma looked at Gabriel.
He didn't answer for her.
That mattered.
"I'll stay tonight."
Sophie smiled.
After she slept, Emma found Gabriel alone.
"You let me choose."
"I'm learning."
"Slowly."
"Painfully."
Emma sat beside him.
"I hated you when you told me about my father."
"I know."
"Part of me still does."
"I know."
"But you went after Sophie instead of Adrian."
"That shouldn't earn praise."
"No."
She looked at him.
"But choices matter."
Their hands rested inches apart.
Gabriel slowly turned his palm upward.
Emma placed her hand in his.
Then the house alarm sounded.
A guard shouted downstairs.
Gabriel stood.
The front door was already open.
Someone had left a package inside.
No one had seen who delivered it.
Emma opened the box.
Inside was Adrian Vale's wedding ring.
And beneath it, written in blood, were five words:
YOUR REAL FATHER IS ALIVE.
May you like
Emma looked up.
Then someone knocked from inside the locked basement...
