Chapter 6 - The Man Who Wanted Us Gone
“Mia!”
I ran before anyone could stop me.
Vincent was behind me.
We found her at the top of the stairs.
Safe.
Barefoot.
Holding her stuffed rabbit.
“Mommy?”
I dropped to my knees and pulled her against me.
“Why did you leave the room?”
“The lights went bye-bye.”
Vincent crouched beside us.
“You okay?”
Mia nodded.
Then she touched his forehead.
“Your mad lines are back.”
He closed his eyes briefly.
“I'm beginning to regret meeting you.”
“No, you aren't.”
He looked at her.
“No. I'm not.”
Renzo appeared from downstairs.
“Mrs. Bell is fine. She tripped when the lights failed.”
“What happened to the system?” Vincent asked.
“Manual shutdown.”
“From where?”
Renzo hesitated.
“The security office.”
Only staff could access it.
The traitor Antonio warned about might still be inside the house.
Vincent moved everyone into one secure room while the system rebooted.
Nobody was allowed to leave.
Sofia sat beside me.
For the first time, I let her sit close to Mia.
Not touch.
Not yet.
But close.
Mia stared at her.
“You're Mommy's mommy.”
“Yes.”
“Did Mommy get time-outs?”
Sofia laughed through tears.
“Many.”
I stared at her.
“I did not.”
“You colored on my landlord's wall.”
“I was four.”
“You blamed the cat.”
“We didn't have a cat,” I remembered.
Sofia smiled.
“Exactly.”
A memory came back so vividly that I laughed.
Then cried.
She didn't reach for me.
I appreciated that.
Across the room, Vincent watched.
His expression was softer.
Then Renzo entered carrying Antonio's letter.
“We recovered the missing piece.”
“What missing piece?”
“The bottom was torn.”
He laid down a fragment.
Antonio's final sentence was complete now.
The person who helped Gabriel was—
A name followed.
THOMAS BELL.
Mrs. Bell gasped.
Samuel went white.
“My brother.”
Vincent stared.
Samuel explained.
Thomas had worked as Antonio's security chief.
He disappeared shortly after Sofia did.
Everyone assumed he had moved abroad.
But records showed a different truth.
Thomas had changed his name.
And he was still employed by Vincent.
As one of the estate's senior security consultants.
The man had access to everything.
Cameras.
Gates.
Schedules.
My employment information.
My address.
The photographs.
Vincent called security.
Thomas was gone.
His vehicle had left ten minutes before the lockdown.
“He knows we found the certificate,” Sofia said.
I looked at the document.
“He wants this?”
“He wants to destroy it.”
Vincent shook his head.
“Too late. Copies exist.”
“Then what does he want?”
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
Vincent looked at me.
I answered on speaker.
A man's voice.
“Elena.”
“Thomas?”
A pause.
“Your mother always was too clever.”
Sofia closed her eyes.
“What do you want?”
“Nothing complicated. Stop.”
“Stop what?”
“Let dead history remain dead.”
“My father is dead because of this history.”
“We don't know that.”
“You knew him.”
“Yes.”
“Did Gabriel kill him?”
Silence.
Then Thomas said, “Gabriel made decisions.”
That was enough.
My hand tightened around the phone.
Vincent stepped closer.
Thomas heard him.
“Vincent.”
“Thomas.”
“You should listen to your father for once.”
“My father left instructions to expose you.”
A bitter laugh.
“Antonio became sentimental.”
“No. He became ashamed.”
Silence.
Vincent continued.
“The records are already outside this house. You can't bury them.”
“I don't need to.”
The line disconnected.
Renzo's phone immediately buzzed.
He read the message.
Then looked at Vincent.
“What?”
“Gabriel's attorney just filed an emergency claim challenging Elena's ownership.”
Vincent almost looked relieved.
“Good.”
I stared.
“Good?”
“He's using courts instead of shadows.”
Renzo understood.
“And to challenge the certificate, he'll have to acknowledge it exists.”
For the first time, we had forced Gabriel into daylight.
The following days moved quickly.
Lawyers.
Statements.
Records.
I took leave from work, though Vincent insisted it was paid.
“You can't pay me for not working.”
“I can.”
“That's ridiculous.”
“I'm rich. We're often ridiculous.”
I stared.
He stared back.
Then Mia copied him.
Vincent sighed.
My daughter had somehow become the only person in the mansion immune to him.
She also became the bridge between my mother and me.
Mia asked questions adults were too frightened to ask.
“Why did Grandma go away?”
Sofia answered simply.
“Because Grandma was scared and made a choice she thought would keep Mommy safe.”
“Was it a good choice?”
Sofia looked at me.
“No.”
That answer mattered.
Weeks of legal review revealed the truth.
Gabriel had misappropriated assets.
Thomas had helped conceal records.
Daniel discovered it.
His death had never been conclusively linked to either man, but investigators reopened the old case based on newly discovered evidence.
I learned to live without immediate answers.
That was harder than discovering secrets.
One evening, Vincent found me in the kitchen.
Mia was asleep upstairs.
“You're not wearing your uniform,” he said.
“Observant.”
“You haven't worked in three weeks.”
“You told me not to.”
“I told you that you didn't have to.”
I looked at him.
“What's the difference?”
“One is an order. One is a choice.”
“And now?”
“Now I'm asking what you want.”
Nobody had asked me that in years.
“I don't know.”
“That's allowed.”
I smiled.
“You've changed.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Your daughter has damaged my authority.”
“She does that.”
He smiled.
Actually smiled.
It transformed his face.
“You should do that more,” I said.
His eyebrow rose.
“Oh no.”
“What?”
“Now you're doing Mia.”
He laughed.
The sound surprised both of us.
Then Renzo entered.
He wasn't smiling.
“Vincent.”
“What?”
“We found Gabriel.”
“Where?”
Renzo placed a photograph on the counter.
Gabriel was standing outside a courthouse.
Beside him stood Thomas.
But a third person was in the photograph.
Sofia.
I stared.
“That was taken today.”
Renzo nodded.
My mother had left the estate an hour earlier.
She told me she was going to meet her attorney.
My phone buzzed.
A message from Sofia.
I'M SORRY.
A second message arrived.
DON'T FOLLOW ME.
Then a third.
HE KNOWS WHAT HAPPENED TO DANIEL.
I looked toward Vincent.
He was already reaching for his coat.
May you like
Then my phone rang again.
This time, Gabriel himself was calling.
