Chapter 9 - The Woman He Chose to Believe
Emergency lights flickered on.
Doors locked automatically.
Gabriel's voice filled the room.
"One person at your table has been working for me."
Gideon scanned every face.
"Tell me who."
Gabriel laughed.
"Where's the fun in that?"
The speakers went silent.
Chaos followed.
Gideon restored order within seconds.
Nobody left.
Weapons surrendered.
Phones collected.
Norah watched him transform.
The sick man was disappearing.
The leader had returned.
But she noticed his hands.
They trembled.
Not from poison.
From the revelation about his mother.
Norah followed him into his study.
"You okay?"
"No."
The answer surprised her.
Gideon sat.
"My entire life may be built on a lie."
"That doesn't make your life a lie."
He looked at her.
"My father killed my mother."
"We don't know that yet."
"My brother saw it."
"According to Anthony."
Gideon stared.
"You don't trust him."
"I trust evidence."
A faint smile.
"That's becoming inconveniently attractive."
Norah blinked.
"Did you just flirt with me?"
"Possibly the poison damaged my judgment."
She laughed despite herself.
Then the seriousness returned.
"Gideon, find Gabriel before deciding what happened."
"You're defending him?"
"I'm defending the truth."
He looked at her for a long moment.
"That's why I trust you."
Norah's heart moved strangely.
Rafael interrupted.
"We found the leak."
A senior lieutenant named Daniel Crane had transmitted the dinner plans.
Crane was brought inside.
He confessed quickly.
Gabriel had his son.
Another hostage.
Another person forced to betray Gideon.
Norah saw the pattern.
Gabriel wasn't simply buying people.
He was using their families.
"He wants everyone around you to become untrustworthy," she said.
Gideon nodded.
"So I'm isolated."
"And easier to manipulate."
Crane gave them a location.
An abandoned medical facility outside the city.
Gideon prepared to go.
Norah blocked the door.
"No."
He stared at her.
"Are we doing this again?"
"Yes."
"It's a trap."
"I know."
"And you're walking into it."
"Also yes."
"Then I'm coming."
"No."
She folded her arms.
"Try stopping me."
Gideon looked at Rafael.
Rafael suddenly found the ceiling fascinating.
Gideon sighed.
"Fine."
The facility was empty.
Almost.
In the basement, they found a room filled with medical equipment.
Gideon's records covered the walls.
Every symptom.
Every dosage.
Every physician.
Gabriel had orchestrated everything.
But on a desk was something stranger.
A video.
Gideon pressed play.
His father appeared.
Older.
Frightened.
"If Gideon ever sees this, then Gabriel survived."
Gideon froze.
His father continued.
"I did terrible things to protect this family. But I did not kill their mother."
Norah watched Gideon.
"The person who killed Elena was Anthony."
Gideon's eyes widened.
The recording continued.
"Gabriel saw him do it. Anthony knew that. The boat accident was meant to silence Gabriel. I tried to save him, but Soren reached him first."
Gideon stepped backward.
Norah caught his arm.
Anthony had lied.
Again.
Rafael's phone rang.
Estate security.
He answered.
His face went pale.
"What?"
Norah knew before he spoke.
"Anthony's gone."
"Where's Natalie?" Norah asked.
Rafael didn't answer.
"Rafael."
"She's gone too."
Norah's phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
A photograph arrived.
Natalie tied to a chair.
Anthony standing behind her.
Then a message.
BRING GIDEON ALONE.
May you like
A second message appeared.
OR YOUR SISTER DIES.
