Chapter 8 - THE BETRAYAL IN ARTHUR'S OFFICE
Rourke sat behind Arthur's desk.
That alone was an insult.
Around him stood six armed men.
Arthur entered with Leo.
Paige had been ordered to stay with Thomas.
She lasted four minutes before ignoring the order.
Again.
By the time she reached Gallagher Tower, Rourke was speaking.
“You've become sentimental.”
Arthur remained standing.
“You've become repetitive.”
Rourke smiled.
“I killed your father once. Apparently I'll have to do it properly this time.”
The hidden microphone caught every word.
In a surveillance van three blocks away, investigators listened.
Arthur needed more.
“Patrick killed him.”
“Patrick couldn't finish anything.”
Rourke stood.
“I ordered the crash. Patrick arranged it. Thomas somehow crawled out alive.”
There.
The confession.
Arthur's phone vibrated once.
Signal received.
But Rourke saw it.
His expression changed.
“You're recording me.”
Everything exploded at once.
One man reached for Arthur.
Arthur struck him.
Leo went for another.
Gunfire shattered the glass wall.
Paige entered the executive corridor just as employees began running toward the elevators.
She saw Evelyn.
“Where's Arthur?”
“Inside.”
Paige moved toward the office.
Evelyn grabbed her.
“You'll get killed.”
Paige looked at her hand.
“Apparently grabbing people without permission runs in your family.”
Evelyn released her.
Then both women heard a shot.
Inside, Leo fell.
Arthur caught him.
Rourke escaped through the private stairwell.
Arthur pressed his hand against Leo's side.
“Stay with me.”
Leo smiled weakly.
“You touched me.”
“Shut up.”
“Big day.”
“Leo.”
Paige rushed in.
Paramedics arrived minutes later.
Leo survived.
Rourke disappeared.
But the recording was enough.
Federal and state investigators moved against his companies before sunrise.
Accounts were frozen.
Warehouses searched.
Associates arrested.
The empire began collapsing.
Yet Rourke himself remained missing.
Arthur knew what that meant.
“He isn't running.”
Paige sat beside him at the hospital.
“What is he doing?”
“Finishing something.”
Arthur looked toward Thomas.
His father was speaking quietly with investigators.
Arthur understood.
Rourke had spent twenty years believing Thomas Gallagher was dead.
Now Thomas was the witness who could destroy everything.
“He'll go after my father.”
Thomas refused protection.
Arthur almost laughed at the absurdity.
“You don't get to disappear for twenty years and return just to be difficult.”
Thomas looked at him.
“You got that from your mother.”
Arthur froze.
Nobody mentioned Catherine Gallagher.
She had died when Arthur was fourteen.
Thomas smiled sadly.
“She would have liked Paige.”
Arthur looked across the hospital corridor.
Paige was helping Margaret button her coat.
“You don't know her.”
“I know what she did.”
“What?”
“She walked toward you when everyone else backed away.”
Arthur said nothing.
Thomas continued.
“Your mother did the same thing with me.”
That hurt in a different way.
Later, Arthur drove Paige home.
He stood outside her apartment.
“You should sleep.”
“So should you.”
“I don't.”
“I know.”
She opened the door.
Arthur remained in the hallway.
Paige looked at him.
“Three feet?”
“Habit.”
She reached out.
Arthur stepped forward.
Inside, they sat on the couch until nearly dawn.
Nothing dramatic happened.
Paige fell asleep against his shoulder.
Arthur stayed awake.
At first his body remained rigid.
Then slowly, almost imperceptibly, he relaxed.
Her hand rested over his.
For the first time in five years, Arthur Gallagher fell asleep while someone was touching him.
He woke to Paige's phone ringing.
Margaret's facility.
Paige answered.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
Arthur sat upright.
Paige listened.
Then looked at him.
“Mom disappeared.”
Arthur stood.
Again?
Then Paige received a text.
Not from Rourke.
From Margaret.
Three words.
I remember everything.
Below them was an address.
Arthur recognized it.
Patrick Doyle's grave.
They found Margaret standing alone in the cemetery.
She was holding a shovel.
Paige stared.
“Mom?”
Margaret pointed toward Patrick's grave.
“He lied about what was buried.”
Arthur looked at the headstone.
“What?”
“Patrick gave me something before he died.”
Margaret's voice was suddenly clear.
“He said if Rourke ever came back, dig beneath the angel.”
Arthur found a stone angel beside the grave.
Beneath its base was a waterproof container.
Inside was a second recording.
Patrick appeared on video.
Older.
Exhausted.
Alive only days before his death.
“I know Vincent will eventually come for Arthur.”
Patrick looked directly into the camera.
“But Vincent has one weakness.”
Arthur leaned closer.
Patrick spoke a name.
“Evelyn.”
Paige turned.
Arthur's face changed.
May you like
Because Evelyn Doyle was not Rourke's enemy.
According to Patrick, she was Vincent Rourke's daughter.
