Chapter 9 - THE LAST LIE
Evelyn did not deny it.
“My mother had an affair with him.”
Arthur stood across from her.
“You knew?”
“Since I was sixteen.”
“And Patrick?”
“Knew I wasn't biologically his.”
“Still raised you.”
“Yes.”
Her voice cracked.
“He was my father in every way that mattered.”
Arthur understood that more than he wanted to.
Evelyn had spent years close to Rourke pretending to be loyal while collecting evidence.
But there was one thing Patrick's recording revealed that she had concealed.
Rourke loved her.
In whatever damaged way a man like Vincent Rourke could love anyone, Evelyn was his weakness.
Arthur hated the obvious plan immediately.
“No.”
Evelyn smiled.
“Interesting coming from the man who volunteered to trade himself for Paige's mother.”
“That's different.”
“How?”
Arthur had no answer.
Paige did.
“It isn't.”
They arranged one final meeting.
Evelyn contacted Rourke and told him she possessed Patrick's original records and wanted to leave Chicago with him.
Rourke chose the abandoned river terminal.
Midnight.
Arthur positioned investigators nearby.
Thomas remained under protection.
Margaret stayed with Paige.
At 11:48, Evelyn entered alone.
Rourke emerged from the darkness.
For the first time, he looked old.
“You betrayed me.”
Evelyn's eyes filled.
“You killed the man who raised me.”
“He stole you from me.”
“He loved me.”
“I am your father.”
“No.”
The word echoed.
“Biology made you something. It didn't make you my father.”
Rourke's face hardened.
Then he saw movement.
Arthur.
“You.”
Arthur stepped into the light.
“This ends tonight.”
Rourke laughed.
“You think because you found a woman willing to touch you, you're healed?”
Arthur stopped.
“No.”
Rourke seemed surprised.
Arthur continued.
“I think I'm healing because I finally stopped pretending being afraid was the same thing as being strong.”
Rourke raised a gun.
Paige saw it from behind the observation wall.
Everything happened too quickly.
Evelyn stepped between them.
Arthur lunged.
The gun fired.
Evelyn fell.
Arthur tackled Rourke.
The weapon slid across the concrete.
Arthur's hands closed around Rourke's throat.
Rourke laughed.
“There you are.”
Arthur tightened his grip.
“The real Arthur Gallagher.”
Paige ran in.
“Arthur.”
He did not hear her.
Rourke's face reddened.
“Arthur.”
Paige touched his shoulder.
His body froze.
Five years earlier, touch had transformed him into violence.
Now touch stopped it.
Arthur released Rourke.
Investigators rushed forward.
Rourke was arrested.
Arthur turned to Paige.
She was crying.
“You came.”
“Obviously.”
“I told you—”
“If your next sentence is about staying somewhere safe, I'm leaving you here.”
Arthur almost laughed.
Then Evelyn groaned.
The bullet had struck below her collarbone.
She survived.
By sunrise, Vincent Rourke was in custody.
His organizations were dismantled over the following months.
Callahan cooperated.
Records led investigators to corrupt executives and officials.
Thomas testified.
Evelyn testified.
Arthur did too.
That decision surprised everyone.
Including Paige.
His attorney warned him that telling the truth about Gallagher Freight's darker operations could cost him everything.
Arthur signed the cooperation agreement anyway.
“Why?” Paige asked.
They stood in his office after midnight.
Arthur looked around at the empire he had spent nearly twenty years building.
“Because I'm tired of surviving things I should have ended.”
The legitimate divisions could remain if Arthur surrendered control of illegal operations and cooperated fully.
It would cost him millions.
Possibly most of his fortune.
Paige smiled.
“What?”
“You finally found something you're bad at.”
“Losing money?”
“Being a mafia boss.”
Arthur stared at her.
Then laughed.
Months passed.
The headlines eventually moved on.
Gallagher Freight & Harbor became simply Gallagher Harbor Logistics.
No hidden accounts.
No armed men behind conference-room doors.
No coded calendar entries.
Leo returned after recovering from his wound and complained that legitimate business was “criminally boring.”
Thomas rented a small house outside Chicago.
Arthur did not forgive him immediately.
Some weeks they spoke.
Some weeks they did not.
But they were trying.
Margaret had good days and bad ones.
On one good day, she recognized Arthur immediately.
“You're the handsome difficult man.”
Paige nearly choked.
Arthur looked delighted.
“I like your mother.”
“You're never allowed to hear that sentence again.”
Margaret touched Arthur's hand.
He looked down.
He did not pull away.
Then one afternoon, Paige entered Arthur's office carrying a resignation letter.
Arthur read it.
His face went blank.
“No.”
Paige blinked.
“That's not how resignation works.”
“I reject it.”
“You legally cannot.”
“I own the company.”
“That's also not how employment law works.”
Arthur stood.
“Why are you leaving?”
Paige smiled.
“Because dating my boss while managing his calendar is becoming ridiculous.”
Arthur stopped.
“Dating?”
Paige's smile disappeared.
“Arthur Gallagher, if after seven months of dinners, kissing and you sleeping at my apartment twice a week you have a different word for this relationship, choose your next sentence very carefully.”
Arthur stared.
Then reached into his desk.
Paige's eyes widened.
“No.”
Arthur walked around it.
“Arthur.”
He held a small velvet box.
“Absolutely not.”
His face fell.
Paige laughed.
“I mean absolutely not here.”
“What?”
“You are not proposing to me beside the printer I have personally unjammed thirty-seven times.”
Arthur looked offended.
“I had a speech.”
“Good. Save it.”
“For where?”
Paige picked up her coat.
“Somewhere that doesn't contain quarterly reports.”
Arthur slowly smiled.
He put the ring back into his pocket.
“Fine.”
They walked toward the elevator together.
The doors opened.
Arthur reached for Paige's hand.
Then stopped.
Not because he was afraid.
Because he wanted to ask.
Paige noticed.
She slipped her fingers through his.
And somewhere across Chicago, Vincent Rourke was awaiting trial, Thomas Gallagher was learning how to become a father again, and Margaret Bennett was holding onto memories for as long as they chose to stay.
But one final problem remained.
Arthur Gallagher had bought a ring.
May you like
And Paige Bennett had just told Chicago's most stubborn man that his first proposal attempt did not count.
Arthur took that personally.
