Chương 12
“He forged the transfer documents.”
Dominic looked at him.
“You disappeared because of real estate?”
Gabriel’s expression hardened.
“I disappeared because when I challenged him, he put two men in a car outside my apartment and told me what would happen if I stayed.”
Sophia looked at Dominic.
He did not defend his father.
Gabriel continued.
“I left New York.”
“For twenty years?”
“Not continuously.”
“Seven years ago you came back.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To prove what Daniel did.”
Dominic looked toward Michael’s files.
“Peter Vale helped you.”
“At first.”
“And Michael?”
Gabriel glanced at Sophia.
“Michael was supposed to install a secure line here.”
Sophia’s face tightened.
“He told me it was electrical work.”
“It was.”
“That is not what you meant.”
“No.”
Gabriel’s voice softened.
“He discovered Daniel had been routing payments through Vale Security.”
Dominic frowned.
“For what?”
Gabriel did not answer.
Dominic’s patience ended.
“For what?”
Gabriel looked directly at him.
“For your wife.”
The room went silent.
Dominic did not move.
Sophia felt something change in him before his face showed anything.
“Elena?”
“Yes.”
“What payments?”
Gabriel’s gaze flicked toward the document pouch.
“Surveillance.”
Dominic stared.
“My father had Elena followed?”
“For months.”
“Why?”
“Because she found out something about the family accounts.”
Dominic’s breath slowed.
“What?”
“Ask your father.”
“He’s dead.”
Gabriel’s mouth twisted.
“So is Michael.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“That answer is going to cost you.”
“No.”
Gabriel raised the remote.
“That is why we are finally here.”
Sophia moved between them again.
“Both of you stop.”
Neither man looked at her.
She slammed her palm against the metal locker.
The sound cracked through the room.
“My daughter is in a locked room while you two argue about dead men.”
That got their attention.
Sophia pointed at Gabriel.
“You want the watch.”
Then at Dominic.
“You want the children.”
She looked at the document pouch.
“And apparently the truth is sitting in that cabinet.”
Her voice trembled.
“So stop performing family history and make a trade.”
Gabriel stared at her.
For the first time, he looked almost amused.
“Michael did marry well.”
Sophia’s eyes flashed.
“Say one more nice thing about my husband and I will hit you.”
Gabriel’s amusement disappeared.
Dominic almost smiled despite himself.
Then Vincent’s voice crackled over the radio.
“Dominic.”
“What?”
“We have movement.”
“Where?”
“South entrance.”
Gabriel turned.
The armed man near the wall did too.
Dominic saw genuine surprise.
“Who?”
Vincent said, “Unknown vehicle.”
Gabriel’s face tightened.
Dominic looked at him.
“You expecting someone?”
“No.”
“Then who is?”
The answer came as headlights swept briefly across the broken windows.
A vehicle engine died outside.
The armed man lunged for his pistol.
Dominic kicked it away.
Gabriel backed toward the corridor.
Sophia grabbed the document pouch.
Dominic saw her.
“Take it.”
Gabriel snapped, “Leave that.”
Sophia held it against her chest.
“No.”
Footsteps sounded somewhere beyond the office.
Several people.
Fast.
Gabriel’s control finally cracked.
“This is wrong.”
Dominic looked at him.
“What is?”
Gabriel stared toward the corridor.
“They’re early.”
Sophia’s stomach dropped.
“You said you weren’t expecting anyone.”
“I wasn’t expecting them now.”
Dominic pulled his pistol.
Gabriel’s thumb tightened over the remote.
“Do not.”
Dominic lowered the muzzle slightly.
“Who are they?”
Gabriel looked at him.
“Men who have spent seven years making sure Michael’s files stayed buried.”
Dominic’s voice went cold.
“You brought us into a building they were watching.”
“I thought I had another hour.”
Sophia stared at him.
“You thought?”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
“I was wrong.”
The first shot came from the front office.
Glass shattered.
Everyone dropped.
The armed man beside Gabriel crawled behind the workbench.
Dominic pulled Sophia down beside the steel locker.
Gabriel flattened against the doorway.
Another shot struck the corridor wall.
Vincent’s voice burst through Dominic’s radio.
“Contact south side.”
Dominic answered.
“Protect the children.”
“Already moving.”
“No breach.”
“Understood.”
Sophia pressed the pouch beneath her body.
Dominic looked at her.
“You stay here.”
She gave him a furious look.
“If you say that one more time, I’m going to assume you’re stupid.”
“This isn’t negotiable.”
“Neither is my daughter.”
A shadow moved across the corridor.
Dominic fired once.
The shadow vanished.
Gabriel shouted, “Stop shooting.”
Dominic stared at him.
“You want me to ask nicely?”
“They need the files intact.”
“Then they won’t burn the building.”
“That is not what I mean.”
Sophia looked at Gabriel.
“What do they need?”
Gabriel did not answer.
Dominic aimed at him now.
“What do they need?”
Gabriel’s eyes flicked to the pouch.
“Names.”
“What names?”
“People Daniel paid.”
Sophia clutched the pouch tighter.
“For Elena?”
“For more than Elena.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“Police?”
“Some.”
“Judges?”
Gabriel’s silence answered.
“Politicians?”
More silence.
Sophia whispered, “That’s why Michael died.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“No.”
Her face twisted.
“Don’t.”
“He died because he copied something he was supposed to destroy.”
“What?”
Gabriel looked toward the wooden box on the bottom shelf.
Sophia followed his gaze.
The box.
She crawled toward it.
Gabriel said, “Wait.”
She ignored him.
Dominic covered the doorway while she reached inside the locker.
The wooden box was heavier than it looked.
She opened it.
Inside lay an old external hard drive wrapped in plastic and a folded envelope.
Her name was written across the front.
Sophia stopped.
Michael’s handwriting was unmistakable.
The crooked S.
The long tail on the p.
Her fingers began to shake.
Gabriel closed his eyes briefly.
Dominic looked back.
“What is it?”
Sophia held up the envelope.
“It’s for me.”
Another shot struck the metal doorframe.
Dominic fired twice toward the corridor.
A man cursed outside.
Sophia tore open the envelope.
The paper inside was folded three times.
She recognized the cheap yellow legal-pad sheet Michael used for everything from grocery lists to electrical measurements.
Soph,
If you are reading this, then I failed to get out clean.
Her vision blurred.
She forced herself onward.
Gabriel is telling some of the truth, but not all of it.
May you like
Do not trust Daniel.
Do not trust Peter.
