Chương 13
And if Gabriel ever comes back for the watch, it means he has run out of better options.
Sophia looked up.
Gabriel stared at the letter.
Dominic’s voice came quietly.
“Keep reading.”
She swallowed.
The drive has copies of the payments, but the important file is labeled E.M.
Dominic’s face changed.
Sophia continued.
Daniel had Elena followed because she found out Ethan was being used to move ownership after his death.
Do not let them tell Dominic until he sees the documents himself.
He will want to believe his father before he believes me.
Dominic looked away.
The sentence hit because it was true.
Sophia read the final lines.
I did bad work for frightened men because I thought money would fix our life.
Then I got scared and tried to fix what I had helped break.
I am sorry you got the worst version of me at the end.
Tell Lily I loved her before I knew who she would become.
Sophia stopped reading.
For several seconds, gunfire, radios, footsteps, and the humming emergency lights all seemed impossibly far away.
Then Gabriel said, “He was supposed to leave that with me.”
Sophia looked at him.
“No.”
“He promised.”
“No.”
“He changed the plan.”
“Because he didn’t trust you.”
Gabriel’s expression hardened.
“I was trying to protect him.”
“You failed.”
The words landed harder than any shout could have.
Gabriel looked down.
Dominic took the hard drive from the box.
“What is E.M.?”
Gabriel did not answer.
Dominic held up the drive.
“What is it?”
Gabriel’s eyes shifted toward him.
“Ethan Moretti.”
Sophia stared.
Dominic’s face emptied.
Gabriel continued.
“Your father intended to transfer controlling ownership of three companies to Ethan through a trust.”
“Why?”
“Because the trust would activate under conditions that cut you out.”
Dominic’s voice turned dangerously quiet.
“What conditions?”
“Your death.”
Sophia felt cold spread through her body.
Dominic did not blink.
Gabriel looked toward the corridor.
“Daniel built a succession plan around a child because he no longer trusted you.”
“My father died seven years ago.”
“Yes.”
“Before Ethan could even walk.”
“Yes.”
“Then why does it matter now?”
Gabriel looked at the watch.
“Because Daniel’s plan never died with him.”
Dominic stared.
The implication arrived slowly and horribly.
“Someone has been maintaining it.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Peter?”
“He was only one piece.”
“You said he died.”
“He did.”
“Who replaced him?”
Another burst of gunfire interrupted them.
The armed man near the workbench shouted, “They’re coming through.”
Gabriel looked at Dominic.
“This is no longer about the watch.”
Dominic grabbed the hard drive.
“It never was.”
Gabriel reached for Sophia’s arm.
“Give me the letter.”
She pulled away.
“No.”
“It contains information that can identify—”
“It contains my husband’s last words.”
Gabriel stopped.
He looked at the page in her hand.
For once, he had nothing to say.
Vincent’s voice came through the radio again.
“Dominic, we have the children.”
Sophia’s knees nearly gave out.
“Alive?”
Dominic demanded.
“Alive.”
Sophia covered her mouth.
Vincent continued.
“Ethan’s awake.”
“And Lily?”
“Awake and furious.”
A sound escaped Sophia that was half laugh, half sob.
Dominic closed his eyes for one second.
Only one.
Then he opened them.
“Get them out.”
“North exit blocked.”
“River side?”
“Clear for now.”
Gabriel snapped, “No.”
Dominic looked at him.
“What?”
“They’ll be waiting at the river access.”
“You said clear.”
“They want the drive.”
Vincent heard him through the radio.
“Who said that?”
Dominic ignored the question.
Gabriel pointed toward the floor.
“There’s a service tunnel.”
Sophia stared at him.
“What tunnel?”
“Michael built an emergency conduit access between this building and the old pump station.”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“You expect me to believe you forgot to mention an escape route?”
“I expected to control the building.”
“You’re doing excellent work.”
Julian’s voice suddenly came through the radio.
“I found the pump station.”
Dominic froze.
“Why are you on this channel?”
“Because Vincent gave me a radio.”
Vincent immediately said, “I did not.”
Julian continued, “Technically one of his men dropped it.”
Dominic shut his eyes.
“Where are you?”
“Northwest corner by the rail spur.”
“Stay there.”
“I found a locked steel hatch.”
Gabriel looked sharply at Sophia.
“The brass key.”
She opened her hand.
The key lay against Dominic’s blood-spotted handkerchief.
Gabriel nodded.
“That opens the tunnel.”
Dominic reached for it.
Sophia closed her fist.
“I’m going with you.”
“No.”
“Dominic.”
He looked at her.
She held his gaze.
“My child is at the other end.”
He glanced toward the corridor, where footsteps were getting closer.
Then at the hard drive in his hand.
Then at Gabriel.
“Fine.”
Sophia blinked.
“That was disturbingly easy.”
“We’re evolving.”
Gabriel almost laughed.
Dominic did not.
He raised the radio.
“Vincent, take the children to the tunnel.”
“Copy.”
“Julian, open the hatch when Sophia reaches you.”
“Got it.”
Dominic looked at Gabriel.
“You’re coming.”
Gabriel’s expression tightened.
“Why?”
“Because if this goes bad, I want the man with answers close enough to regret it.”
Gabriel considered that.
Then he nodded.
They moved toward the rear corridor as another shot punched through the office glass behind them.
Sophia ran with Michael’s letter inside her sweatshirt, the brass key in one hand, and the certainty that the dead had not finished rearranging the lives of their children.
The tunnel entrance was hidden beneath a steel maintenance panel at the rear of the building, and Julian had already forced enough rust from the frame to expose the keyhole.
Sophia reached him first.
He saw her face and stopped trying to make a joke.
“Kids are coming.”
She pushed the brass key into the lock.
It turned halfway, caught, then moved with a grinding snap.
The hatch opened onto a narrow concrete passage descending beneath the rail yard.
Cold air moved through it.
Julian looked past Sophia at Dominic and Gabriel.
“I assume the gray-haired kidnapping enthusiast is family.”
“Unfortunately,” Dominic said.
Gabriel gave Julian a tired look.
May you like
“You were always the charming one.”
Julian stared at him.
