Chapter 13 - The Name on the Recording
The archive contained almost nothing about Gabriel.
That frightened Adrian.
Powerful men leave records.
Invisible men leave gaps.
Victor was brought back under federal supervision.
When Adrian showed him the photograph, Victor went white.
“You know him.”
“Yes.”
“Who is he?”
“The reason Dominic became what he became.”
Gabriel had been Richard's oldest half brother.
Brilliant.
Patient.
Cruel.
He believed the Marlowe empire belonged to him.
Dominic created Halcyon partly under Gabriel's influence.
Then Gabriel disappeared.
“Dead?” Sophia asked.
Victor shook his head.
“We assumed.”
Adrian laughed without humor.
“Apparently my family has a problem staying dead.”
Emma had seen him upstairs.
That meant Gabriel had entered the mansion during a federal operation without being detected.
Adrian checked Richard's letter.
One corner had been torn away.
Why?
UV examination revealed invisible writing.
A sequence of numbers.
Coordinates.
They led to the old western garden.
Beneath the oak tree.
The same tree where Adrian had proposed to Sophia.
They dug.
A metal case lay beneath the roots.
Inside was Richard's final recording.
His face appeared.
“If you've found this, Gabriel is alive.”
Adrian felt Sophia's fingers tighten around his.
“Dominic believes he built Halcyon. He didn't. Gabriel did.”
Richard coughed.
“My oldest brother never wanted the organization. He wanted the people who controlled it.”
The archive was not merely evidence.
It was Gabriel's target list.
Dominic had been a distraction.
A visible villain protecting an invisible one.
“Gabriel will wait until Dominic falls,” Richard continued. “Then he will come for whoever possesses the archive.”
Adrian.
A sound came from outside.
Daniel entered.
“Federal convoy carrying Dominic was attacked.”
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
“Did he escape?”
“No.”
Daniel paused.
“Someone tried to kill him.”
Gabriel was cleaning up.
Adrian went to Dominic.
His uncle lay handcuffed to a hospital bed.
For the first time, he looked old.
“Gabriel,” Adrian said.
Dominic closed his eyes.
“So you finally found him.”
“Where?”
“You think I know?”
“You worked for him.”
Dominic laughed bitterly.
“So did your father.”
Adrian stiffened.
“Explain.”
“Gabriel taught us both. Richard escaped. I didn't.”
For the first time, Dominic's hatred looked different.
Not smaller.
But understandable.
“Why didn't you expose him?”
“Because fear becomes habit.”
Dominic looked toward the window.
“And because he had my son.”
Adrian stared.
“You have a son?”
“Had.”
Gabriel had taken the boy decades earlier.
Dominic never saw him again.
Every crime Dominic committed afterward had been partly driven by the promise that his son was alive.
“Was he?”
“I don't know.”
Adrian saw the tragedy without excusing the crimes.
Dominic had become a monster while chasing someone he loved.
That did not erase his victims.
It explained the chain.
“Where would Gabriel go?”
Dominic looked at him.
“Home.”
“The estate?”
“No.”
“The first Marlowe house.”
Adrian knew it.
An abandoned property near the Hudson.
Before Adrian left, Dominic spoke again.
“Adrian.”
He turned.
“If Gabriel offers you someone you love in exchange for the archive, understand something.”
“What?”
“He will actually give them back.”
Adrian frowned.
“That's how he owns you.”
At the old Marlowe house, they found no Gabriel.
Only a tape recorder.
Adrian pressed play.
A man's voice spoke.
“Hello, Adrian.”
Calm.
Cultured.
Older.
“I watched Emma point beneath that table.”
Adrian's blood ran cold.
Gabriel had been at the engagement party.
“You looked where a child told you to look. Richard would not have.”
A pause.
“Perhaps there is hope for you.”
Adrian clenched his jaw.
The recording continued.
“I have something that belongs to your family.”
A door opened on the tape.
A man's frightened voice spoke in the background.
Dominic's son.
Alive.
Then Gabriel said:
“Bring me the archive tomorrow night, and I will return your cousin.”
Adrian looked at Luca.
Sophia.
Victor.
Clara.
Nobody spoke.
Then the front door of the abandoned house creaked open behind them.
Slow footsteps entered.
A familiar voice said:
“You won't need to wait until tomorrow.”
May you like
Adrian turned.
And the man standing in the doorway had his father's face.
