Chapter 5 - THE MAN WHO DISAPPEARED
Gabriel went.
Not alone.
Claire was in the vehicle behind him despite every order he gave.
“You're impossible,” he told her.
“Drive.”
The meeting point was an abandoned church outside Queens.
Gabriel entered in his wheelchair.
Marcus stepped from behind the altar.
Emma was beside him.
Alive.
Eating crackers.
“Mr. Gabe!”
Gabriel's entire body loosened.
Marcus raised his hands.
“I didn't take her.”
Claire rushed forward and grabbed Emma.
Marcus explained.
Someone had tried to abduct Emma from the estate.
He had intercepted the car.
He disappeared after Pierce's murder because Pierce had called him twenty minutes before dying.
Pierce had finally decided to confess.
The initials M.V. did not mean Marcus Vale.
They meant Monteverde.
A shell corporation.
Marcus had spent three days tracing it.
Its owner was Vivian Cole.
Gabriel felt the room tilt.
“Vivian?”
“Her father owed your father millions. When you became engaged, she got access to your companies.”
Marcus showed him documents.
Vivian had built an illegal trafficking network through DeLuca shipping contracts.
Ethan discovered it.
Pierce helped cover up Ethan's murder.
Then Gabriel began discovering missing containers.
So Vivian arranged the ambush.
But Gabriel survived.
The bullet gave her another solution.
Keep him alive.
Keep him weak.
Marry him.
Gain control.
Gabriel stared at the papers.
“Pierce?”
“Blackmailed. Then guilty. He was going to confess.”
“And you?”
Marcus looked hurt.
“You thought it was me.”
“For about twelve hours.”
“I'm offended.”
“You looked relieved when I said I was getting worse.”
Marcus stared at him.
Then laughed bitterly.
“I was relieved because Pierce told me if your condition worsened, he'd finally convince you to leave New York for treatment. I wanted you out of the city.”
Gabriel almost smiled.
Almost.
Then a gunshot cracked through the church.
Marcus jerked backward.
Blood spread across his shoulder.
Vivian stood at the rear doors holding a pistol.
“You always were sentimental, Gabriel.”
Claire pulled Emma behind a pew.
Gabriel stared at the woman he had nearly married.
Vivian smiled.
“Look at you.”
She pointed the gun toward him.
“Still in the chair.”
Gabriel locked his hands around the armrests.
Then he stood.
His legs shook violently.
Vivian's face changed.
Gabriel remained upright.
Three seconds.
Four.
Five.
“You should have checked your pills,” he said.
Then Marcus tackled Vivian from behind.
The gun fired.
May you like
And the church went dark.
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