Chapter 4 - The Lie Beneath the Blood
Gabriel did not deny it.
That was what shattered her.
Sheree backed away from the computer.
“You killed him.”
“No.”
“Your company paid him.”
“Yes.”
“And two days later he was dead.”
“Yes.”
“Stop saying yes!”
Her hand struck Gabriel across the face.
The sound cracked through the room.
Anthony stepped forward.
Gabriel lifted one hand.
Everyone stopped.
Sheree’s chest rose and fell violently.
“You knew his name.”
Gabriel looked directly at her.
“Yes.”
Another wound.
“You knew who I was from the beginning?”
“Not in the alley.”
“When?”
“The next morning.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I was trying to verify what happened.”
“You watched me stitch you together knowing your family might have murdered mine.”
“My family didn’t kill Marcus.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
That answer silenced her.
Gabriel approached the computer.
“Your brother worked for me.”
Sheree stared.
“He was a city accountant.”
“He was both.”
Gabriel opened another encrypted file.
Marcus Carter appeared in an employee photograph.
Younger.
Smiling.
Alive.
Sheree gripped the desk.
“Marcus discovered someone laundering money through city redevelopment contracts using my shipping companies. He came to me.”
“You expect me to believe you were worried about illegal money?”
“No. I was worried someone was stealing mine.”
Despite everything, Sheree almost laughed.
Gabriel continued.
“Marcus became an informant for me. The payment was protection money. He planned to leave Chicago.”
“He never told me.”
“He was protecting you.”
Sheree’s eyes burned.
“Then why did he die?”
“Because someone inside my organization discovered him first.”
Gabriel’s voice had changed.
There was guilt there.
Real guilt.
“I promised Marcus I would get him out. I failed.”
Sheree turned away.
For six years she had blamed strangers.
A random robbery.
A cruel city.
Bad luck.
Now her brother’s death had a face.
Maybe several.
“Who killed him?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then find out.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“No.”
She turned.
“What?”
“You’re leaving.”
Sheree laughed bitterly.
“Yesterday I wasn’t allowed to leave.”
“Yesterday you were leverage. Now you’re connected to evidence that can destroy half the people who want me dead.”
“So?”
“So I’m sending you away.”
“I want the truth.”
“I want you alive.”
“I didn’t ask what you want.”
Something flashed in Gabriel’s eyes.
“Marcus once said exactly the same thing.”
Sheree froze.
Gabriel walked to a safe and removed a photograph.
Marcus stood beside him.
Gabriel looked perhaps twenty-seven.
Her brother had an arm around his shoulders.
They were laughing.
Sheree touched the photograph.
“You were friends.”
Gabriel said nothing.
That silence answered everything.
Later that night, Sheree packed.
Not because Gabriel ordered her to.
Because she could no longer breathe inside his penthouse.
Anthony arranged a secure apartment outside the city.
At midnight, Sheree entered the private elevator.
Gabriel appeared before the doors closed.
“You forgot this.”
He held out the fleece blanket from her apartment.
Sheree stared at it.
“You kept it?”
“You saved my life with it.”
“It was twelve dollars.”
“That doesn’t make it worthless.”
Their eyes met.
Sheree took the blanket.
“You should’ve told me about Marcus.”
“Yes.”
“I hate you for that.”
“I know.”
The elevator doors began closing.
Gabriel stopped them with his hand.
“Sheree.”
“What?”
“If something feels wrong, trust it. Don’t wait for proof.”
She frowned.
“Why?”
“Because the person who betrayed Marcus knew him personally.”
The doors closed.
Forty minutes later, Anthony’s convoy reached an isolated house near Lake Geneva.
Sheree entered with two guards.
The house seemed secure.
Quiet.
Warm.
She carried her bag upstairs.
Then she noticed something on the nightstand.
A photograph.
Marcus.
Not the photograph Gabriel had shown her.
This one showed Marcus standing outside St. Jude’s.
Beside him was Dr. Nolan Pierce.
And beside Nolan—
Anthony Russo.
Sheree’s blood chilled.
Footsteps sounded downstairs.
She quietly locked the bedroom door.
Her phone vibrated.
Gabriel.
She answered.
“Where’s Anthony?”
“He left twenty minutes ago. Why?”
Sheree stared at the photograph.
“Because he’s in a picture with Marcus and Nolan.”
Silence.
Then Gabriel said one word.
“Run.”
The bedroom door exploded inward.
Sheree screamed.
A masked man charged.
She swung the bedside lamp into his face and ran for the bathroom.
Another man appeared in the hallway.
Sheree slammed the bathroom door and locked it.
The window overlooked the frozen lake.
Second floor.
Too high.
The door shook under a violent impact.
Gabriel’s voice remained on the phone.
“Sheree, listen to me.”
“They’re inside.”
“Window.”
“I’ll break my legs.”
“Maybe.”
“That’s your plan?”
“Do you want a better plan or a faster one?”
The door splintered.
Sheree opened the window.
Freezing air struck her face.
She climbed onto the ledge.
Then headlights swept across the yard.
Black SUVs tore through the gates.
Gunfire erupted downstairs.
Sheree heard shouting.
The bathroom door burst open.
A masked man grabbed her.
She fought.
Then a shot cracked.
The man collapsed.
Gabriel stood behind him.
Blood dotted his white shirt.
His gun lowered.
For a moment neither moved.
Then Sheree crossed the room and threw herself against him.
Gabriel caught her.
His arms closed around her tightly.
“I told you to run.”
“I was working on it.”
He buried his face briefly against her hair.
Then Anthony entered.
Sheree stiffened.
Gabriel felt it.
His gun rose.
Anthony stopped.
“What the hell?”
Sheree pointed toward the photograph.
Anthony saw it.
His face drained of color.
“That picture isn’t what you think.”
Gabriel’s voice became lethal.
“Then you have approximately ten seconds to tell me what it is.”
Anthony slowly raised his hands.
“Nolan Pierce wasn’t working for your enemy.”
He looked at Sheree.
“He was working for Marcus.”
Sheree stared.
Anthony swallowed.
“And Marcus Carter wasn’t murdered six years ago because he discovered your traitor.”
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed.
May you like
Anthony finished quietly.
“He was murdered because he discovered who really built the Moretti empire.”
