Chapter 9 - The Last Lie of Gabriel Vale
Claire Bennett had not been kidnapped.
She had walked out of the federal facility voluntarily.
And the person who convinced her to leave had been wearing her own face.
At 11:18 p.m., twenty-seven minutes before the operation at St. Catherine's, a woman dressed in a federal employee's jacket had entered Claire's secured waiting room.
Claire had been sitting beside the window, watching rain slide down the glass.
When the door opened, she looked up.
And forgot how to breathe.
The woman standing before her looked like her reflection.
Only older somehow.
Not in years.
In suffering.
“Elise?”
The woman nodded.
Claire rose slowly.
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then Elise crossed the room and wrapped her arms around her sister.
Claire began sobbing.
She had imagined this moment since seeing the photograph at the bank.
But she had never expected the overwhelming familiarity of holding someone she'd forgotten.
Elise smelled faintly of lavender.
The scent triggered a memory.
Two little girls beneath a blanket.
One frightened of thunder.
The other whispering that everything would be all right.
“You used to hold my hand,” Claire whispered.
Elise began crying.
“You remember?”
“Only pieces.”
Elise held her tighter.
“I never forgot you.”
Claire pulled back.
“Where have you been?”
“It's complicated.”
“Were you with Gabriel?”
Elise's expression changed.
“We don't have time. Evelyn needs us.”
Claire looked toward the door.
“Roman is trying to rescue her.”
“I know. But Gabriel is expecting him.”
“Then we should call—”
“He'll kill Evelyn if he sees federal agents.”
Claire hesitated.
Elise took her hand.
“I can get us inside through the old maternity entrance. But we have to go now.”
Claire stared into the face she'd spent her entire life missing.
She wanted to believe her.
That desire was stronger than fear.
And so she followed.
At 11:58 p.m., Roman Vale entered St. Catherine's Hospital through the front entrance.
He carried no weapon.
Adrian and the federal tactical team remained outside, monitoring his position through a concealed transmitter.
Rebecca Sloan had warned him against entering alone.
Roman had answered with a question.
“What would you do if someone had your mother?”
Rebecca had said nothing.
Now Roman walked through the abandoned hospital beneath flickering fluorescent lights.
His footsteps echoed across the tiled floor.
The place smelled of mildew, old antiseptic, and rainwater.
At the elevators, a security camera rotated toward him.
A speaker crackled.
“Sixth floor, Roman.”
Gabriel's voice.
Roman entered the elevator.
As the doors closed, he remembered being eight years old, standing beside his father at a hunting lodge.
Gabriel had placed a rifle in his hands.
“Never hesitate,” he'd said. “Hesitation gets people killed.”
Roman had believed him.
For most of his life, he'd lived by that rule.
Now he understood something Gabriel never had.
Sometimes the strongest decision was not to pull the trigger.
Sometimes it was to let the truth survive.
The elevator opened.
At the far end of the corridor, a door stood ajar.
Roman approached.
Inside was a hospital room.
And beside the window sat Evelyn Vale.
His mother.
Alive.
Her silver hair was pinned loosely behind her head. Her face was thinner, and her hands trembled slightly in her lap.
But her eyes were exactly as he remembered.
“Roman?”
His name broke something inside him.
For twenty-three years, he'd imagined hearing that voice again.
Now he couldn't speak.
Evelyn rose unsteadily.
“My boy.”
Roman crossed the room.
He fell to his knees before her.
And for the first time since he was eighteen, the most feared man in Blackridge cried without trying to stop himself.
Evelyn held his face between her hands.
“Oh, Roman.”
He pressed his forehead against hers.
“I buried you.”
“I know.”
“I thought you were gone.”
“I know, sweetheart.”
“Why didn't you come back?”
Tears slid down her cheeks.
“Because every time I tried, Gabriel found me.”
Roman looked up.
“I'm here now.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“You shouldn't have come.”
A slow clap sounded from the doorway.
“Well,” Gabriel Vale said, “isn't this touching?”
Roman turned.
His father stood beneath the fluorescent light wearing a charcoal suit and carrying a cane.
He was seventy-three.
Older.
Thinner.
But unmistakably Gabriel Vale.
Two armed men stood behind him.
Roman rose slowly.
“You.”
Gabriel smiled.
“Hello, son.”
Roman stared at the man who had shaped his entire life.
“You let me bury my mother.”
“She was becoming inconvenient.”
“You made me believe I killed Silas.”
“Silas was a traitor.”
“He saved her.”
Gabriel's smile faded.
“He interfered with family business.”
Roman stepped toward him.
“You trafficked children.”
Gabriel sighed.
“Such an ugly phrase.”
“That's what it was.”
“It was an arrangement. Families with money wanted children. Institutions had children. Everyone benefited.”
“Except the children.”
Gabriel's expression hardened.
“You sound like your mother.”
“Good.”
For the first time, Gabriel looked genuinely angry.
He tapped his cane against the floor.
“You think morality makes you powerful? I built everything you inherited.”
“You built it on stolen lives.”
“I built it so you would never have to be weak.”
Roman looked at Evelyn.
She was trembling.
Then he looked back at Gabriel.
“You made me afraid of becoming you.”
Gabriel laughed.
“And yet you became exactly what I intended.”
“No.”
Roman stepped closer.
“You taught me how to survive. She taught me why survival matters.”
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
“Bring them in.”
One of the armed men opened the adjoining door.
Claire entered first.
Elise followed.
Roman's breath caught.
Claire was unharmed, but her face was pale.
“Roman.”
He moved toward her.
Gabriel raised one hand.
“Not another step.”
The armed guard shifted his pistol.
Roman stopped.
Claire looked at Evelyn.
The older woman pressed a hand against her mouth.
“Ellie?”
Claire's eyes filled.
“Are you Helen?”
Evelyn nodded.
“I'm so sorry.”
Claire took a step forward.
“You sent me to Vale House.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I believed Roman had finally broken away from Gabriel's people. I needed someone I trusted to find the records hidden there.”
Claire shook her head.
“You could have told me.”
“I should have.”
“Did you know about Elise?”
Evelyn looked toward the other sister.
“Yes.”
Claire's voice cracked.
“Then why did you leave us apart?”
Evelyn began crying.
“Because I couldn't save both of you at once.”
Elise looked away.
Roman noticed.
Something was wrong.
Elise had been watching Gabriel with an expression that wasn't entirely fear.
It was guilt.
Roman looked at her.
“What did he promise you?”
Elise stiffened.
Gabriel smiled.
“Ah. Finally.”
Claire turned toward her sister.
“Elise?”
Elise's eyes filled.
“He told me you were dead.”
Claire shook her head.
“No.”
“He showed me records. Photographs. A grave.”
Gabriel's smile widened.
“And when she discovered you were alive, she became very cooperative.”
Elise began shaking.
“He said he'd kill you if I didn't help him.”
Roman looked at Gabriel.
“You used one sister against the other.”
“Family loyalty is remarkably effective.”
Elise suddenly stepped between Claire and the armed guard.
“No more.”
Gabriel frowned.
“Elise.”
She raised her chin.
“I did what you asked. I got her here. I brought you the ledger.”
Roman stared.
“The ledger?”
Elise reached inside her coat and removed the small metal case she'd taken from the bank.
Gabriel extended his hand.
“Give it to me.”
Elise hesitated.
Then she opened the case.
Inside lay a black notebook.
Roman recognized the old-fashioned binding.
Evelyn gasped.
“Thomas's ledger.”
Gabriel took one step forward.
“Hand it over.”
Elise looked at Roman.
And suddenly smiled through her tears.
“You were right about one thing, Gabriel.”
His eyes narrowed.
“What?”
“You taught me how to lie.”
She threw the notebook toward Roman.
Gabriel lunged.
Roman caught it.
At the same instant, Elise slammed the metal case into the armed guard's wrist.
His pistol struck the floor.
Claire grabbed Evelyn and pulled her behind the bed.
A gunshot exploded.
The overhead light shattered.
Roman tackled Gabriel against the wall.
They crashed into a medical cart.
Gabriel swung his cane.
Roman blocked it.
For one terrible moment, father and son struggled in the darkness.
Then Roman forced Gabriel to the floor.
He could have killed him.
He knew exactly how.
Gabriel looked up, blood running from his lip.
“Do it,” he hissed.
Roman tightened his grip.
“Do it, boy. Prove you're mine.”
Roman stared into his father's eyes.
Then he released him.
“No.”
He stood.
“I'm not yours.”
The corridor doors burst open.
Federal agents flooded the room.
“Hands where we can see them!”
Gabriel tried to rise.
Two agents restrained him.
Rebecca Sloan entered behind them.
She looked at Roman.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
Her eyes moved to Gabriel.
“Gabriel Vale, you're under arrest.”
Gabriel began laughing.
“You have no idea who you're dealing with.”
Rebecca removed a pair of handcuffs.
“I've spent five years trying to find out.”
She secured them around his wrists.
“And now we have plenty of time.”
At 1:24 a.m., Roman stood outside the hospital beside Claire.
Evelyn and Elise had been taken to a secure medical facility.
Both were alive.
Both were safe.
For the moment.
Claire stared at the rain.
“You could have killed him.”
Roman nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you?”
He looked toward the ambulance carrying his mother.
“Because I wanted her to see the man I became without him.”
Claire studied his face.
Then she reached for his hand.
Roman held it carefully.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Rebecca approached.
Her expression was grim.
“We have a problem.”
Roman turned.
“What?”
Rebecca held up the black ledger.
“Gabriel's name appears throughout the records. So do dozens of others.”
“Good.”
“Not exactly.”
She opened to the final page.
A handwritten notation appeared beneath a list of coded transfers.
Rebecca pointed to the signature.
“Someone authorized the last shipment six months ago.”
Roman frowned.
“Gabriel was in hiding.”
“Yes.”
“Who signed it?”
Rebecca looked at him.
“Your name.”
Roman stared at the page.
ROMAN VALE — AUTHORIZED DIRECTOR.
And beneath the signature was a photograph of a little girl.
A child no older than six.
May you like
On the back, someone had written:
The next heir.
