Chapter 6 - The Child Gabriel Wanted
Anna ran toward the open door.
Vincent caught her.
“Let me go!”
“You’ll get yourself killed.”
“He took my daughter!”
Michael pushed himself upright.
Blood ran from his temple.
“He came through the service entrance.”
Dominic shouted orders.
Vehicles moved immediately.
Vincent crouched beside Michael.
“Tell me everything.”
Michael looked at Anna.
“I didn’t know until Sofia.”
Anna stared.
“Know what?”
Michael struggled to stand.
“That Lily wasn’t biologically mine.”
Anna slapped him again.
“You knew?”
“Three months.”
“And you said nothing?”
“She is my daughter.”
His voice broke.
“Nothing changes that.”
Anna began crying.
Vincent understood him.
Blood suddenly seemed like the least reliable definition of family.
“What did you find?” Vincent asked.
Michael wiped blood from his face.
“Gabriel ran an illegal fertility program through the hospital network.”
Elena entered and froze.
“No.”
Michael nodded.
“He used his own genetic material.”
Anna looked sick.
“Why?”
“Control. Experiments. Legacy. I don’t know.”
Vincent’s disgust deepened.
“How many children?”
“Records suggest twelve.”
“Where are they?”
“Some with families who never knew.”
“And Lily?”
“Gabriel discovered Anna had access to Elena through me. He arranged the fertility treatment years later.”
Anna covered her face.
“He planned her?”
“Yes.”
Vincent looked toward the driveway.
Gabriel hadn’t taken Lily because she remembered a watch.
The watch had simply helped expose a child he already considered his property.
“Track him.”
Dominic held up his phone.
“We are.”
Lily’s shoe contained a tiny security tag.
Anna blinked.
“When did you put that there?”
Michael looked embarrassed.
“I became paranoid.”
Vincent almost smiled.
“Today, paranoia gets forgiven.”
The signal moved north.
Back toward Lake George.
Vincent, Michael, Dominic, and Elena left immediately.
Anna insisted on coming.
Vincent refused until she looked him directly in the eye.
“If that were Ethan, could anyone stop you?”
He handed her a vest.
“Stay behind me.”
The signal ended at the abandoned clinic.
Again.
This time the basement lights were on.
Vincent entered first.
“Gabriel!”
A child cried somewhere below.
Anna ran.
Michael followed.
They found Lily in the same room where Sofia had once been held.
She was unharmed.
Gabriel stood behind a glass partition.
Anna rushed to Lily.
Michael lifted the girl.
Gabriel watched.
“She has my eyes.”
Anna turned.
“You’re not her father.”
“Biology disagrees.”
“Biology can go to hell.”
Michael held Lily tighter.
“She’s mine.”
For the first time, Gabriel looked angry.
Vincent stepped closer to the glass.
“You lost.”
Gabriel smiled.
“Did I?”
Federal sirens approached.
Vincent had transmitted the location before entering.
Gabriel glanced upward.
“You always need someone else to save you.”
“No.”
Vincent looked toward Anna and Michael.
“I finally learned I don’t have to do everything alone.”
Gabriel’s smile disappeared.
Agents entered through the upper level.
Gabriel reached for something.
Dominic fired through the glass.
The shot struck Gabriel’s shoulder.
He fell.
Alive.
Within minutes, he was handcuffed.
Anna carried Lily outside.
Michael walked beside her.
The little girl touched his face.
“Daddy hurt?”
“I’m okay.”
She kissed his cheek.
Gabriel watched from the ground.
Something in his expression finally broke.
Lily never looked at him.
Vincent crouched beside Gabriel.
“You created twelve children because you wanted a legacy.”
Gabriel glared.
“And?”
“You should have learned what family actually means.”
Agents pulled Gabriel away.
By sunset, the nightmare appeared finished.
Salvatore was in custody.
Gabriel was in custody.
Federal investigators possessed Maria’s records.
Sofia was safe.
Ethan was safe.
Lily was back with the only father she had ever known.
Vincent returned to the mansion.
The ruined birthday cake was gone.
Ethan stood in the ballroom doorway.
“Can we redo my birthday?”
Vincent laughed for the first time in what felt like years.
“Yes.”
“With Sofia?”
“Especially Sofia.”
“And Lily?”
Vincent looked toward Anna.
“Definitely Lily.”
Ethan smiled.
“Good.”
Then his expression became serious.
“Dad?”
“What?”
“I found something under my chair.”
Vincent’s smile disappeared.
Ethan handed him a small envelope.
His name was written across the front.
VINCENT.
Inside was a key.
And a note.
If Gabriel is arrested, go to locker 318 at Grand Central Station.
Come alone if you want to know why Elena really disappeared.
Vincent looked toward his wife.
She had not seen the note.
He folded it.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
Vincent forced himself to nod.
But the handwriting bothered him.
He had seen it before.
Not Gabriel’s.
Not Salvatore’s.
His mother’s.
Hours later, Vincent stood before locker 318.
He inserted the key.
The lock clicked.
Inside was a single video camera.
He pressed PLAY.
Maria Moretti appeared on the screen.
“If you’re watching this, Vinnie, then Gabriel and your father have finally lost.”
Vincent stared.
Maria continued.
“But there is one truth Elena never told you.”
His chest tightened.
“It concerns the night Ethan was born.”
The video flickered.
Then Maria said:
“Elena did not choose to leave you.”
Vincent leaned closer.
“She was forced to disappear by someone you still trust.”
Footsteps sounded behind him.
May you like
Vincent turned.
Someone he knew was walking directly toward the locker.
