Chapter 7 - The Betrayal Sophie Never Saw Coming
Vincent was gone.
The memory card was gone.
And so was the car.
Gabriel stood in the driveway.
"Find him."
His guards scattered.
Sophie felt numb.
"Maybe he took it."
Gabriel shook his head.
"If he wanted to betray us, he wouldn't have warned me about Thomas."
"Then where is he?"
Gabriel looked toward the woods.
"I don't know."
An hour later, Vincent called.
He was standing outside an abandoned warehouse.
"I have the card."
Gabriel answered.
"Where is Sophie?"
"With you?"
"No."
Silence.
Gabriel's face changed.
Sophie had disappeared.
They found her scarf near the east gate.
A second phone lay in the mud.
Gabriel's voice became dangerously quiet.
"Lock down the estate."
The search lasted twenty minutes.
Then they found a hidden vehicle beneath a bridge.
Inside was a note.
Come alone.
Gabriel did.
He entered the warehouse.
Sophie was tied to a chair.
Lucy sat beside her.
Both were frightened but unharmed.
Thomas stepped from the shadows.
"Hello, Gabriel."
Gabriel raised his gun.
"Let them go."
Thomas smiled.
"You always were predictable."
"You're finished."
"No."
Thomas held up the memory card.
"I'm holding your family's future."
Gabriel stared at it.
"Give it to me."
Thomas laughed.
"You still don't understand."
He looked at Sophie.
"She does."
Sophie stared back.
"What?"
Thomas walked closer.
"Your mother."
Sophie frowned.
"My mother is dead."
"I know."
"Then what does she have to do with this?"
Thomas smiled.
"Everything."
He explained that Sophie's mother had once worked for the DeLucas.
Not as a maid.
As an accountant.
She had discovered the financial network Carlo was investigating.
She had copied documents.
Then she disappeared.
Sophie stared.
"My mother?"
Thomas nodded.
"She wasn't killed by cancer."
Sophie felt the room tilt.
"What did you say?"
Thomas continued.
"She was poisoned."
Gabriel's face hardened.
"Why tell her now?"
"Because she deserves the truth."
Sophie whispered:
"Who killed her?"
Thomas smiled.
"Your father."
Sophie stared.
"My father disappeared."
"He ran."
"Why?"
"Because he was afraid."
Sophie felt tears fill her eyes.
Thomas leaned closer.
"Your mother had evidence."
Gabriel interrupted.
"Enough."
Thomas turned.
"You're the last person who should say that."
He pointed toward Lucy.
"Your family's story is almost identical to mine."
Sophie looked at her sister.
Thomas continued.
"Your mother trusted Carlo."
"Then why would my father kill her?"
"He didn't."
Thomas smiled.
"I lied."
Gabriel's eyes narrowed.
"Thomas."
"The truth is more interesting."
Thomas admitted that Sophie's mother had been killed by one of the same people involved in Carlo's murder.
But he refused to say who.
"Give me the card."
"Not yet."
"What do you want?"
Thomas looked at Gabriel.
"The empire."
"You'll never get it."
"I already own half of it."
Gabriel froze.
Thomas laughed.
"Through shell companies."
Then Sophie understood.
Thomas didn't need to kill Gabriel.
He only needed Gabriel arrested.
With Gabriel gone, Vincent disgraced, Isabella discredited, and Elena declared incompetent, Thomas could seize control.
Suddenly gunfire erupted outside.
Thomas turned.
Gabriel moved.
He tackled Thomas.
The memory card flew across the floor.
Sophie kicked it under a table.
Lucy screamed.
Gabriel fought Thomas brutally.
Thomas pulled a knife.
Gabriel caught his wrist.
"Where is the truth?"
Thomas smiled.
"You already know."
Gabriel stopped.
"What?"
"Look at Sophie."
Gabriel turned.
Thomas whispered:
"Her mother didn't die because she knew too much."
He smiled.
"She died because she was Elena's daughter."
Silence.
Sophie stared.
"What?"
Thomas continued.
"Your mother wasn't who you thought."
He pulled a photograph from his pocket.
It showed a young Elena holding a baby.
Sophie stared.
The baby had the same distinctive birthmark Sophie carried near her shoulder.
Sophie could barely breathe.
Gabriel looked at the photograph.
"No."
Thomas smiled.
"Ask Elena."
Sophie shook her head.
"No."
Gabriel looked at her.
"Sophie..."
Thomas escaped through a side door.
Gabriel wanted to chase him.
But Sophie stood frozen.
"Gabriel."
He turned.
"Is it true?"
He didn't answer.
Because he didn't know.
But suddenly everything about Elena's affection toward Sophie made sense.
The feeding.
The trust.
The strange recognition.
Sophie whispered:
"Why did she know my name before I told her?"
Gabriel's face went pale.
Then the warehouse doors opened.
Elena stood there.
Alone.
She looked toward Sophie.
May you like
And whispered:
"Because you are my granddaughter."
