Chapter 10 - THE WOMAN WHO WANTED MY SONS GONE
Glass exploded across the room.
Adam dragged Bell to the floor.
Gabriel pushed me behind the stone wall.
A second shot struck the window frame.
Then silence.
Federal agents rushed outside.
Gabriel stayed over me.
“Are you hit?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
He checked anyway.
“Gabriel.”
“I’m fine.”
Bell was alive.
The bullet had struck his shoulder.
Adam pressed cloth against the wound.
“Ambulance!”
Bell grabbed Adam’s sleeve.
“The key.”
Gabriel searched under the table.
Gone.
I looked toward the shattered window.
Then toward the priest who had been standing near the door.
He was gone too.
“Where’s Father Thomas?”
Adam asked.
No one answered.
Gabriel understood first.
“There was no sniper trying to kill Bell.”
“What?”
I said.
“The shot created chaos.”
He ran toward the hallway.
The priest’s robe was lying near a side exit.
The man we thought was a priest had taken the key.
Bell was rushed to the hospital.
Federal agents sealed the church.
Adam was furious.
Gabriel became quiet.
I knew which one worried me more.
On the drive back, I thought about Bell’s final warning.
Serena.
When we arrived, she was waiting outside Patricia’s building.
I nearly crossed the sidewalk and hit her.
Gabriel caught my arm.
“Not here.”
“Let go.”
He released me.
Serena saw my face.
“What happened?”
“You tell me.”
She frowned.
“Claire.”
“Bell said you wanted my sons.”
Her face changed.
Gabriel saw it.
“What does that mean?”
Serena looked around.
“Inside.”
“No.”
Gabriel stepped closer.
“Now.”
Serena exhaled.
“I don’t want to hurt them.”
“That is not what I asked.”
“I want what they control.”
My stomach turned.
“You knew about the trust.”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
Gabriel’s expression hardened.
“You lied again.”
“I never claimed otherwise.”
“Why do my sons matter to you?”
“Because Vincent promised me a portion of the Heritage Trust.”
Gabriel laughed without humor.
“For helping destroy my marriage?”
“For keeping you from producing heirs.”
The words landed like poison.
Gabriel stared at her.
Serena looked at me.
“But I failed.”
I wanted to tear the air apart.
“You followed me to Boston.”
“Yes.”
“You discovered I was pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“And what?”
“I told Vincent.”
“We know that.”
“He told me not to worry.”
“Why?”
“He said the pregnancy would be handled.”
Gabriel moved so quickly Serena stepped backward.
“What did he mean?”
“I didn’t know.”
“Do not lie.”
“I swear.”
Her voice cracked.
“I thought he meant money.”
“Money?”
“To convince Claire to disappear permanently.”
I stared.
“She already disappeared.”
“I know.”
Serena continued.
“Then Bell told Vincent there were three boys.”
“When?”
“A month after they were born.”
My blood went cold.
“Bell knew where we were.”
“Yes.”
“Did Vincent?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Bell lied.”
Everything shifted.
Anthony Bell had tracked me.
Then protected me.
“Bell told Vincent the babies died.”
I closed my eyes.
That explained five years of silence.
Vincent believed the heirs were dead.
Until recently.
Gabriel looked at Serena.
“How did he discover they were alive?”
She said nothing.
My eyes opened.
“You.”
“No.”
“You knew about the gala.”
“Yes.”
“You knew I was attending.”
Her silence answered.
I stepped toward her.
“You told him.”
“I didn’t know what would happen.”
“What did you think would happen?”
“I wanted leverage.”
“Against whom?”
“Gabriel.”
I laughed in disbelief.
Serena’s face hardened.
“You think I’ve enjoyed five years beside him?”
I looked at her.
“You fought to be there.”
“And I discovered what being there meant.”
“No sympathy.”
“I’m not asking for sympathy.”
She pointed at Gabriel.
“He never married me.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
“He never put my name on anything.”
“Good.”
I said.
Serena ignored me.
“Five years.”
“I attended his dinners.”
“His funerals.”
“His fundraisers.”
“I stood beside him in every photograph.”
“And legally, I am nothing.”
Gabriel stared.
“That was your grievance?”
“My grievance was that he replaced one prison with another.”
She looked at me.
“You escaped.”
“I stayed.”
“You chose to stay.”
“Yes.”
Her voice broke.
“And I wanted enough money to leave.”
I almost laughed.
“You sold the existence of three children for an inheritance.”
“I didn’t think Vincent would hurt them.”
“You knew who he was.”
“I knew pieces.”
“You knew enough.”
Serena looked away.
Gabriel spoke quietly.
“Where is Vincent?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who took Bell’s key?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who is Father Thomas?”
“I don’t know.”
Gabriel’s phone buzzed.
A photograph.
The stolen key.
Placed on black velvet.
Underneath was a message.
THANK SERENA FOR THE DELIVERY.
Gabriel showed her.
Serena turned pale.
“I didn’t—”
He held up one hand.
“Leave.”
“Gabriel.”
“Leave.”
“You need me.”
“No.”
“I know Vincent’s offshore network.”
“Adam knows more.”
“I know his private accounts.”
“Marco can find them.”
“I know where the original trust is.”
Silence.
Gabriel turned back.
“Where?”
Serena swallowed.
“Safe-deposit vault under the Cross Heritage Foundation.”
“Why didn’t you tell me before?”
“Because I needed insurance.”
Gabriel stared at her.
“You keep treating information like currency.”
“It is.”
“Not anymore.”
He stepped closer.
“From now on, every secret you keep increases the chance that three children die.”
Serena’s face crumpled slightly.
Gabriel continued.
“You want redemption?”
“I don’t.”
“Yes, you do.”
She looked at him.
“You wouldn’t still be here otherwise.”
Serena said nothing.
“Then earn it.”
For the first time, Serena nodded without arguing.
We went upstairs.
The boys were drawing.
Owen ran to Gabriel.
“You came back.”
“Yes.”
“Did you find bad guys?”
“One.”
“Did you punch him?”
“No.”
Owen looked disappointed.
I sighed.
Gabriel smiled.
“Your mother is relieved.”
“I am.”
That evening, Adam arrived.
He had secured emergency access to the federal evidence archives.
The box linked to the key still existed.
But the stolen physical key was not actually required.
A judge could authorize opening it.
The box was stored under Gabriel’s mother’s maiden name.
Elena Marlowe.
The record showed one deposit.
Thirty-one years earlier.
One sealed videotape.
One handwritten statement.
One medical file.
Gabriel stared at the inventory.
“Open it.”
Adam shook his head.
“Tomorrow morning.”
“Why?”
“Judicial authorization.”
“I can—”
“No.”
Adam’s voice hardened.
“You’re not bribing a clerk.”
Gabriel almost smiled.
“I wasn’t going to.”
“I share your DNA.”
Adam said.
“I know when you’re lying.”
The boys laughed from the next room.
For one second, Gabriel and Adam looked like brothers.
Then Adam’s phone rang.
His daughter.
He answered immediately.
“Hey, sweetheart.”
His expression changed.
“When?”
He stood.
“Stay inside.”
Gabriel watched him.
“What happened?”
Adam ended the call.
“Someone left another package at my house.”
We drove there together.
Federal agents had already secured the street.
The package contained four dolls.
Three boys.
One girl.
Each wore a small paper tag.
Noah.
Eli.
Owen.
Sophie.
Adam’s daughter.
Beneath them was a typed note.
THE TRUST WAS NEVER MEANT FOR CHILDREN.
Gabriel picked it up.
There was another line on the back.
ASK CLAIRE WHAT SHE FOUND THE WEEK BEFORE HER DIVORCE.
Everyone looked at me.
I stopped breathing.
Gabriel frowned.
“What did you find?”
I had forgotten.
Or maybe I had forced myself to forget.
Three days before I saw Gabriel kiss Serena, I had found something in Nathan Cross’s library.
Not the Rotterdam accounts.
Something else.
A ledger.
A handwritten list of names.
At the time, none had meant anything.
Now one did.
Anthony Bell.
Another did too.
Vincent Cross.
And beside Vincent’s name was a word written in Nathan’s handwriting.
TRAITOR.
Gabriel stared at me.
“Where is that ledger?”
I swallowed.
“I took it.”
His eyes widened.
“Where is it?”
I looked toward the boys.
“Hidden.”
“Where?”
I whispered,
“In the one place nobody from the Cross family has ever been able to enter.”
Gabriel waited.
“My father’s house.”
And suddenly I knew exactly why Vincent had spent five years looking for me.
He had never been looking only for the boys.
May you like
He had been looking for what I stole.
---
