Chapter 7 - The Lawyer's Secret
His name was Richard Sloan.
For twelve years, Sloan had managed the Caruso estate.
He was respectable.
Clean.
Untouchable.
And according to Vincent, he was the man who had financed Gabriel.
We found him at his Manhattan office.
He wasn't surprised to see us.
“I wondered when you'd come.”
I sat across from him.
“Where's Gabriel?”
Sloan smiled.
“Dead.”
Silence.
“What?”
“He collapsed an hour ago.”
I didn't believe him.
“Proof.”
Sloan slid a medical report across the desk.
Gabriel had suffered cardiac failure.
But there was no body.
No hospital record.
No death certificate.
A fake.
I stood.
“Where is he?”
Sloan smiled.
“Closer than you think.”
The office doors locked.
Gas began filling the room.
Dante broke the window.
We escaped.
Sloan disappeared.
But he left one thing behind.
A photograph of my mother.
Pregnant.
Standing beside Gabriel.
I stared.
My mother had known.
She had known Gabriel was alive.
And she had known about Julian.
When I returned to the hospital, my mother was waiting.
She had been living quietly in a nursing home.
I confronted her.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
She cried.
“Because I was afraid.”
“Everyone was afraid.”
“I thought I could protect you.”
“You let me bury Julian.”
“I thought he was dead.”
“Did you know about Grace?”
“Yes.”
My anger broke.
“How long?”
“Since before she was born.”
“Why?”
“Because Gabriel believed Grace could save him.”
I looked at her.
“How?”
“He needed a compatible donor.”
“That's not a reason to destroy a family.”
“No.”
She reached for my hand.
“But there was another reason.”
“What?”
“Gabriel wasn't sick naturally.”
I frowned.
“He was poisoned.”
“By whom?”
She looked at Vincent.
Vincent stood in the doorway.
He spoke quietly.
“Me.”
Silence.
“You poisoned Gabriel?”
“Slowly.”
“Why?”
“Because he killed your father.”
I froze.
“My father died from a heart attack.”
“No.”
Vincent looked at me.
“Gabriel murdered him.”
“Why?”
“Your father tried to expose him.”
The entire history of my family had been built on lies.
My father's death.
Julian's death.
My sister's death.
Everything.
Then the hospital alarm sounded.
Julian's room.
We ran.
The room was empty.
The window was open.
A nurse lay unconscious.
On the bed was a note.
ONE BROTHER WASN'T ENOUGH.
I looked at Vincent.
“Gabriel.”
“No.”
Vincent shook his head.
“Gabriel is dead.”
“Then who took Julian?”
A voice came from behind us.
“Someone who has been waiting a very long time.”
I turned.
Richard Sloan stood at the end of the corridor.
He smiled.
“Your father wasn't the only man who wanted your family destroyed.”
He held up a phone.
A live video showed Julian.
And beside him stood Gabriel.
Alive.
My blood turned cold.
Sloan laughed.
“You see, Marco?”
He pointed toward the screen.
“Your uncle isn't dying.”
May you like
Gabriel looked directly into the camera.
“He's just getting started.”
