Chapter 5 - The Woman Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Gabriel stared at the screen until Adrian reached over and took the phone.
“It's her.”
“No,” Gabriel said.
“It looks like her.”
“She died.”
Celeste's car pulled in behind us.
She got out before anyone could stop her.
“What happened?”
Gabriel stepped from the car.
He held the phone toward her.
She looked.
Then she sank against the hood.
That was answer enough.
Gabriel stared at his mother.
“You knew.”
Celeste shook her head.
“I suspected.”
“You knew.”
“I never saw her.”
“Mother.”
“She called once.”
Gabriel looked as if she had struck him.
“When?”
“Six months after the crash.”
Adrian swore.
Gabriel's voice became dangerously calm.
“My wife called you after I buried her?”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing.”
“She made me promise.”
“Why?”
Celeste's eyes filled.
“Because she believed Victor would kill Leo if he knew she survived.”
Gabriel paced away.
I had never seen grief become anger so quickly.
He turned back.
“The body.”
“Victor's people handled the recovery.”
“You identified her.”
“I identified jewelry.”
Gabriel laughed.
It sounded broken.
“You let me bury an empty coffin?”
“I thought she was dead at first!”
“And later?”
“I tried to protect you.”
“Stop saying that!”
The shout echoed across the mountain road.
Then Gabriel saw my face.
Saw Adrian.
Saw Celeste.
He lowered his voice.
“Everyone keeps protecting me by lying to me.”
Nobody answered.
I understood that feeling.
My mother had protected me with a false father.
Celeste protected Gabriel with a fake funeral.
Amelia protected Leo by disappearing.
Every lie had begun with love.
Every lie had become a wound.
Adrian spoke.
“Victor doesn't know she's alive.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“How do you know?”
“Because if he knew, he'd be hunting her instead of the boy.”
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
Celeste whispered, “She said she would contact me when it was safe.”
“It's been two years.”
“I know.”
“And you never told me.”
“I know.”
Gabriel looked away.
Then my phone rang again.
Victor.
I answered.
“You're late.”
“We're coming.”
“Good.”
“Is Leo safe?”
“For now.”
Then another voice came through the line.
A woman's voice.
Faint.
Distant.
“Gabriel?”
He grabbed the phone.
“Amelia?”
Silence.
“Amelia!”
The line cut.
Gabriel stared at the screen.
“She’s there.”
Adrian shook his head.
“Could be a recording.”
Gabriel's eyes burned.
“I know my wife's voice.”
We reached the lodge at eleven forty-eight.
It sat above an abandoned quarry.
No lights except one porch lamp.
No visible guards.
Too quiet.
Victor wanted us inside.
Gabriel looked at me.
“You stay behind me.”
“No.”
“Maya.”
“He asked for me.”
“He doesn't control this.”
“He has your son.”
That ended it.
We walked to the front door.
Adrian remained twenty yards back.
Celeste stayed in the vehicle, furious but unwilling to risk Leo.
Gabriel opened the door.
A living room.
Fire burning.
Victor DeLuca sat in an armchair.
Seventy.
Silver hair.
Tailored gray suit.
He looked more like a retired judge than a criminal.
Leo sat on a sofa nearby.
Not tied.
Not hurt.
But terrified.
I moved toward him.
Victor raised one hand.
“Slowly.”
Gabriel's voice became ice.
“You took my son.”
“I borrowed him.”
Gabriel stepped forward.
Victor smiled.
“You inherited your father's temper.”
“I inherited his company.”
“Because I allowed it.”
“Where's Amelia?”
Victor's smile disappeared.
“So Celeste finally told you.”
“Where is she?”
“Not here.”
“We heard her.”
“A recording.”
Adrian had been right.
Gabriel's fists clenched.
Victor looked at me.
“Maya Bennett.”
I stepped closer to Leo.
“Let him go.”
“Give me the key.”
“I don't have it.”
“That answer bores me.”
“My mother was buried with it.”
“No.”
Victor leaned forward.
“Your mother buried a copy.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
“The real key went to Amelia.”
Gabriel turned toward me.
Victor continued.
“Diane knew she was dying. She contacted Gabriel's wife. Gave her the key. Amelia found the ledger.”
“So Amelia had it the night of the crash,” Gabriel said.
“Yes.”
“Did you cause the crash?”
Victor smiled without warmth.
“I caused many things.”
Gabriel stepped toward him.
Leo shouted.
“Dad!”
Gabriel stopped instantly.
Victor noticed.
“So that's his voice.”
His eyes glittered.
“I wondered.”
I looked at Leo.
He stared at Victor.
Then at the fireplace.
Then at me.
“Maya.”
“Yes?”
He pointed behind Victor.
“Wall.”
Victor turned.
Just slightly.
Leo ran.
Gabriel caught him.
I moved behind them.
Victor stood.
“What did you say?”
Leo buried his face in his father's chest.
Victor looked at the wall.
A hunting photograph hung above a cabinet.
Gabriel followed Leo's gaze.
“What's there?”
Leo whispered something against his jacket.
“What?”
Leo lifted his head.
“Mommy put it there.”
Victor's expression changed.
Gabriel moved toward the photograph.
Victor stepped into his path.
“Don't.”
Everything stopped.
Gabriel stared at his uncle.
“So there is something.”
Victor smiled grimly.
“You think this is about a ledger?”
“What else?”
“A ledger can destroy careers.”
He looked toward Leo.
“But what Amelia hid can destroy names.”
Gabriel shoved the photograph aside.
Behind it was a small recessed safe.
Victor's calm finally cracked.
“Stop.”
Gabriel reached for the handle.
Locked.
Leo looked at me.
Then he looked at the silver watch on Gabriel's wrist.
“Mommy's numbers.”
Gabriel froze.
“What numbers?”
Leo touched the scratched glass.
A.M.
Then he rotated the watch.
On the back were four tiny digits Gabriel had never noticed.
Gabriel entered them.
The safe clicked.
Victor lunged.
Adrian entered the room.
“Don't.”
Victor stopped.
Adrian stood in the doorway.
No weapon.
Just rage.
“You killed my brother.”
Victor looked almost amused.
“Thomas made choices.”
“You murdered him.”
“He threatened the family.”
“No. He threatened you.”
Gabriel opened the safe.
Inside was a black notebook.
And a flash drive.
Victor closed his eyes.
Gabriel lifted the notebook.
“The ledger.”
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
Victor looked at Leo.
“You have no idea what that child saw.”
Gabriel's voice dropped.
“He saw you kill his mother?”
Victor said nothing.
Leo started shaking.
I knelt beside him.
“You're safe.”
He looked at me.
Then at Victor.
“He pushed car.”
Everyone froze.
Gabriel slowly turned.
Victor's face hardened.
“What did he say?”
Leo clung to me.
“He pushed Mommy's car.”
Gabriel stepped toward his uncle.
Adrian grabbed him.
“Not in front of Leo.”
Gabriel was trembling.
Then headlights swept across the windows.
Many vehicles.
Victor smiled.
“You should have brought more men.”
Gabriel looked outside.
Black SUVs filled the driveway.
For one terrible second, I thought Victor's people had arrived.
Then blue lights appeared behind them.
State police.
Dominic stepped through the front door.
“Gabriel.”
Victor's smile vanished.
Dominic held up a phone.
“We've been streaming everything from Maya's phone.”
I looked down.
He had activated it remotely before we left.
Victor stared at us.
For the first time, he looked old.
Officers entered.
He did not resist.
As they took him toward the door, he stopped beside me.
“You think this ends here?”
I said nothing.
He smiled.
“Ask Gabriel what else is on that drive.”
The officers moved him outside.
Gabriel looked at the flash drive.
Adrian looked at it too.
Celeste entered and hugged Leo.
This time, he allowed her.
I thought the danger was over.
Then Gabriel opened the drive on Dominic's laptop.
Folders appeared.
Financial records.
Photographs.
Audio files.
Then one folder caught my eye.
BENNETT — MAYA.
Gabriel clicked it.
A video loaded.
My mother appeared on screen.
She looked sick.
Thin.
But alive.
She stared directly into the camera.
“Maya, if you're watching this, then everything I tried to hide has finally found you.”
I covered my mouth.
My mother's recorded voice continued.
“Before you trust Gabriel DeLuca, you need to know what his father did the night Thomas died.”
Gabriel stopped breathing.
The video continued.
May you like
And then my mother said one sentence that changed everything.
“Thomas Vale wasn't the only man murdered that night.”
