Chapter 4 - The Room Behind the Wine Cellar
Claire didn't move.
The stranger looked nothing like the father she had imagined.
She had never seriously imagined one at all.
Thomas Bennett had always occupied that place.
Whatever biology said seemed irrelevant until the moment Gabriel Cross stood in the doorway.
He was perhaps sixty-five.
Tall.
Controlled.
His expensive coat was damp from mist outside.
The scar on his cheek disappeared into his gray beard.
His eyes rested on Claire with unsettling familiarity.
“You have Evelyn's expression when you're angry.”
Claire's stomach turned.
“Don't talk about her.”
Gabriel smiled faintly.
“I suppose Thomas trained you well.”
Thomas stepped forward.
“You shouldn't be alive.”
Gabriel looked amused.
“People have been saying that about me for years.”
Adrian appeared behind them.
The atmosphere changed.
Gabriel recognized him immediately.
“Victor's boy.”
“Gabriel Cross.”
“You know me?”
“My father kept files.”
Gabriel's gaze drifted to Adrian's pendant.
“And apparently he kept sentimental things too.”
Claire tightened her grip on her own pendant.
“Are you my biological father?”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Yes.”
Thomas said, “Don't believe anything he tells you.”
Claire didn't look away from Gabriel.
“Prove it.”
He reached slowly into his coat.
Adrian's hand moved.
Gabriel stopped.
“Relax. I'm old, not suicidal.”
He removed an envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Evelyn holding newborn Claire.
Gabriel stood beside her.
There was also a hospital bracelet.
BABY GIRL CROSS.
Claire stared.
“Why did Mom give me to Thomas?”
Gabriel's smile disappeared.
“Because she discovered what I was.”
“What were you?”
“A man with enemies.”
Thomas laughed harshly.
“You financed Blackthorn.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“I built Blackthorn.”
Claire's blood chilled.
“You were part of the network.”
“I was the network.”
Natalie stepped backward.
Adrian's voice became dangerously quiet.
“You laundered money through charities.”
“Among other things.”
“And my father?”
“Victor worked for me.”
Thomas snapped, “Victor tried to destroy you.”
“Eventually.”
Gabriel sighed.
“Men become moral when they realize mortality applies to them.”
Claire stared at him.
“You killed my mother.”
“No.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No. I expect you to discover the truth.”
Gabriel walked into the house.
Adrian blocked him.
“You don't move unless Claire allows it.”
Gabriel raised an eyebrow.
“You've become protective quickly.”
Adrian didn't answer.
Claire said, “Let him in.”
Thomas turned.
“Claire.”
“I need answers.”
Gabriel entered.
They returned to the hidden room.
Gabriel looked at the photographs.
“This isn't mine.”
Claire frowned.
“You've been watching me.”
“No.”
“Then who has?”
Gabriel removed one recent photograph.
“Someone trying to find me.”
“Why?”
“Because Evelyn hid something before she died.”
“The evidence?”
“Not exactly.”
He pulled a chair from the desk.
“Sit.”
Claire remained standing.
Gabriel smiled.
“Definitely Evelyn's daughter.”
“Talk.”
He nodded.
“In the late eighties and early nineties, Blackthorn began as a legitimate security contractor. Then politics, money and organized crime became convenient partners. We protected shipments. Politicians. Bankers. People who paid enough not to ask questions.”
“And Mom?”
“She was an accountant.”
Thomas said, “For a charity.”
Gabriel nodded.
“She discovered money moving through the foundation into Blackthorn accounts.”
“So she investigated you.”
“She confronted me.”
“And then?”
Gabriel looked at Claire.
“I fell in love with her.”
Thomas's fist tightened.
Gabriel noticed.
“Don't worry, Thomas. She stopped loving me long before she met you.”
Claire said, “Then I was born.”
“Yes.”
“Did Mom leave because of me?”
“No. She left because she discovered I ordered an informant's death.”
The room went silent.
Claire swallowed.
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
No excuse.
No hesitation.
Natalie whispered, “God.”
Gabriel looked at Claire.
“Your mother disappeared the same night. Months later she contacted Victor. He helped her build a case against me.”
“Why would Victor betray you?”
“Because the informant was his younger brother.”
Adrian went still.
“My uncle Daniel.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Victor spent years pretending loyalty while collecting evidence.”
Adrian's jaw clenched.
“How did Daniel die?”
Gabriel looked at him.
“I gave the order.”
Adrian lunged.
Claire grabbed his arm.
“Adrian.”
He stopped.
Barely.
Gabriel didn't flinch.
“If you want revenge, you'll have to wait. You need what I know first.”
Adrian stepped back.
Claire asked, “Did you kill Mom?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
Gabriel looked toward Thomas.
Thomas stiffened.
“Don't.”
Gabriel smiled without humor.
“You've lied long enough.”
Claire turned to Thomas.
“What does he mean?”
Thomas's face collapsed.
“I was driving.”
Silence.
Claire couldn't understand the sentence.
“Driving what?”
“The car.”
Her heart stopped.
“The car Mom died in?”
Thomas nodded.
Natalie whispered, “Dad?”
Thomas sank into a chair.
“She wasn't alone when the crash happened.”
Claire felt dizzy.
“You told us she was driving.”
“I lied.”
“Why?”
“Because someone forced us off the road.”
Claire stared.
“You survived.”
“Yes.”
“And Mom?”
Thomas's eyes filled.
“She was trapped.”
Claire covered her mouth.
“I tried to get her out.”
His voice broke.
“The engine caught fire. I tried.”
Claire turned away.
Twenty-four years of grief rearranged itself.
“Who forced you off the road?”
Thomas looked at Gabriel.
“We thought it was him.”
Gabriel said, “It wasn't.”
“Prove it.”
Gabriel opened another folder.
Inside were Blackthorn vehicle logs.
“The car used in the attack belonged to a subdivision I didn't control.”
Adrian examined the paperwork.
“Who did?”
Gabriel looked at Natalie.
Everyone followed his gaze.
Natalie shook her head.
“Why are you looking at me?”
“Because your husband does.”
Claire froze.
“Natalie's husband?”
Natalie laughed.
“Daniel? That's ridiculous.”
Gabriel placed a document on the desk.
Daniel Mercer.
Natalie's husband of eleven years.
Board member.
Vale-Bennett Children's Foundation.
Secret director.
Blackthorn Holdings.
Natalie grabbed the paper.
“No.”
Claire stared.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
Thomas looked horrified.
Gabriel continued.
“Daniel's father was one of my partners. After Evelyn began building her case, the Mercer family helped bury it.”
Natalie shook her head.
“Daniel was a teenager.”
“So were you.”
“What does that mean?”
Gabriel looked at Claire.
“Your sister wasn't merely left behind the night Evelyn took you to Bellhaven.”
Natalie turned white.
“Stop.”
Claire stared.
“What happened?”
“Stop talking.”
Gabriel continued.
“Natalie followed your mother.”
Thomas stood.
“Gabriel.”
“She hid in the back of Samuel's vehicle.”
Natalie's eyes filled.
Claire turned to her.
“You were here?”
Natalie whispered, “I wanted Mom to take me too.”
“What did you see?”
“I don't remember.”
Gabriel laughed softly.
“You remember.”
“Shut up.”
“You saw Evelyn give Victor the second piece of evidence.”
Natalie screamed, “I SAID SHUT UP!”
Everyone froze.
Her breathing became ragged.
Claire stepped closer.
“Natalie.”
Her sister began crying.
Not elegant tears.
Not controlled ones.
“I saw them argue.”
“Mom and Victor?”
“No.”
Natalie shook her head.
“Mom and someone else.”
“Who?”
“I couldn't see his face.”
Gabriel said, “You heard his name.”
Natalie looked terrified.
Claire took her hand.
“Tell me.”
Natalie whispered, “Mercer.”
Claire's stomach dropped.
“Daniel's father?”
“I think so.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Richard Mercer.”
Adrian looked through the files.
“Richard died fifteen years ago.”
“Officially,” Gabriel said.
Claire laughed bitterly.
“Apparently nobody in this family stays dead properly.”
A sound came from upstairs.
Glass breaking.
Adrian immediately turned off the room light.
“Someone's here.”
Gabriel drew no weapon.
He simply moved into the shadows.
Footsteps crossed the kitchen above.
More than one person.
Adrian whispered, “Stay behind me.”
Natalie grabbed Claire's hand.
For the first time since childhood, Claire held on.
A voice called from upstairs.
“Natalie?”
Natalie froze.
She knew that voice.
“Daniel.”
Her husband descended the staircase.
He appeared at the hidden doorway.
Perfect tuxedo.
Perfect hair.
Calm smile.
He looked at the group.
Then at Gabriel.
Then at Claire's pendant.
“Natalie,” he said gently, “come here.”
Natalie didn't move.
Daniel's smile disappeared.
“Now.”
Claire stepped in front of her sister.
Daniel stared at Claire.
“You really have become inconvenient.”
Adrian moved beside her.
Daniel laughed.
“So Victor's son found Evelyn's daughter.”
Claire's blood ran cold.
Daniel reached into his coat.
Not for a weapon.
For another silver pendant.
He held it up.
It matched Claire's exactly.
Except for the initials engraved on the back.
N.E.B.
Natalie stared at it.
Her lips parted.
Claire whispered, “That belongs to Natalie.”
Daniel smiled.
“No, Claire.”
He looked directly at Natalie.
“It belonged to the daughter Evelyn intended to take with her that night.”
Then Natalie suddenly gasped.
A memory had returned.
She looked at Claire and whispered, “Mom didn't choose you.”
May you like
Her eyes filled with horror.
“She was trying to save both of us.”
