Chapter 14 - MICHAEL CROSS
I did not bring the boys.
I was angry, not insane.
Salvatore sent them to another protected section of the estate with his daughter and six guards.
Then he looked at me.
“You are not going to Terminal Seventeen.”
“Yes, I am.”
“No.”
“Gabriel is there.”
“That is exactly why you shouldn’t.”
I picked up my coat.
Salvatore blocked the doorway.
“He sent you here to protect you.”
“He sent me here because he knew I would protect the boys.”
“And now?”
“Now I’m going to make sure their father survives long enough to explain himself.”
Salvatore almost smiled.
“You still love him.”
“No.”
“You answered too quickly.”
“Move.”
He moved.
Not because I convinced him.
Because he decided to come.
Adam met us ten minutes from the terminal.
His face was hard.
“My people stay outside until we confirm Gabriel’s location.”
“No.”
I said.
He looked at me.
“You are not in charge of the federal operation.”
“I am in charge of whether I walk into that building.”
Adam sighed.
“Now I understand why Gabriel looks tired.”
“Good.”
We compromised.
Agents surrounded the terminal.
Salvatore’s people watched the waterfront.
I entered with Adam.
No visible weapons.
No boys.
The terminal smelled like rust, oil, and river water.
A single light illuminated the center.
Gabriel sat in a chair.
His hands were not tied.
Blood marked his white shirt near the shoulder.
I ran toward him.
He stood.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“Graze.”
“You said bring the boys.”
“No.”
I stopped.
“What?”
“That wasn’t me.”
I looked at his phone.
Gone.
Then a voice came from the darkness.
“She learns quickly.”
Michael Cross stepped into the light.
The resemblance was frightening.
He was older than Gabriel.
Broader.
A scar ran across one side of his face.
He looked at me.
“Claire.”
“You know me?”
“I know everything about you.”
Gabriel moved slightly between us.
Michael smiled.
“Still playing protector.”
“What do you want?”
Gabriel asked.
Michael’s smile vanished.
“My life.”
“You have one.”
“No.”
He pointed at Gabriel.
“You have mine.”
Silence.
Michael continued.
“You got the name.”
“The house.”
“The company.”
“The mother who remembered you.”
“The uncle who trained you.”
“I got a basement.”
Gabriel stared.
“What?”
Michael laughed.
“You really don’t know.”
“No.”
“Vincent didn’t kill me.”
“Then what did he do?”
“He raised me somewhere else.”
“Why?”
“To see which one of us became stronger.”
My skin crawled.
Nathan Cross believed competition made sons strong.
Vincent apparently believed it too.
Michael looked at Adam.
“And little Adrian got lucky.”
Adam’s face hardened.
“My name is Adam.”
“Your name was Adrian.”
“Not anymore.”
Michael smiled.
“See?”
“He got a family.”
“You got an empire.”
“I got Vincent.”
Gabriel said quietly.
Michael’s expression twisted.
“Yes.”
“And I got him too.”
The bitterness was enormous.
Gabriel took a step closer.
“Why pretend you were dead?”
“I didn’t.”
“Who did?”
“Vincent.”
“Why?”
“To free himself from scrutiny.”
“From our mother?”
“Yes.”
“From our father?”
“Yes.”
“Who was the body?”
Michael looked at Salvatore.
“Your brother’s driver.”
Salvatore went still.
Michael continued.
“Similar age.”
“Similar build.”
“Face damaged.”
Salvatore’s fists clenched.
“You knew.”
“I was seven.”
The anger drained slightly.
Of course.
Michael had been a child.
“What did Vincent do to you?”
Gabriel asked.
Michael’s eyes changed.
“Don’t pretend you care.”
“I’m not pretending.”
“You didn’t look for me.”
“I didn’t know you existed.”
“You always say that.”
Gabriel flinched.
The same accusation applied to his sons.
Michael knew it.
He smiled.
“Interesting feeling, isn’t it?”
Gabriel said nothing.
Michael walked closer.
“You have children now.”
“Yes.”
“Three sons.”
Gabriel’s body tightened.
“Leave them out of this.”
“They’re already in it.”
“No.”
Michael laughed.
“Still giving orders.”
Gabriel’s voice dropped.
“What do you want?”
Michael removed a document from his coat.
The original Cross Heritage Trust.
“Their signatures.”
“They’re five.”
“Not theirs.”
Michael looked at me.
“Yours.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
“Transfer your parental trust rights.”
“To whom?”
“Me.”
Gabriel laughed coldly.
“No.”
Michael ignored him.
“If Claire signs, and Gabriel recognizes me as family trustee, Vincent loses.”
Adam frowned.
“And you gain control.”
“Yes.”
“So this is about money.”
Michael looked insulted.
“No.”
“It is about ownership.”
“Of what?”
“Everything Nathan built.”
Gabriel stared at him.
“Why?”
“Because it was supposed to be ours.”
“Then take my share.”
I looked at Gabriel.
Michael did too.
“What?”
Gabriel continued.
“My personal shares.”
“My voting control.”
“My legitimate companies.”
“Take them.”
Michael’s face changed.
Gabriel stepped closer.
“But you will not touch my children’s trust.”
Silence.
Michael seemed almost offended.
“You’d give up Cross Freight?”
“For them?”
“Yes.”
“Everything?”
“Yes.”
I stared at Gabriel.
Five years ago, I would not have believed him.
Now I did.
Michael’s eyes narrowed.
“You think that makes you better than me?”
“No.”
“You think fatherhood redeemed you?”
“No.”
Gabriel’s answer was immediate.
“It made me understand what I should have become years ago.”
Michael’s jaw tightened.
A door opened behind him.
Vincent entered.
He applauded slowly.
“Well done.”
Gabriel’s entire body changed.
Michael turned.
“You weren’t supposed to come.”
Vincent smiled.
“And yet here I am.”
Adam reached toward his coat.
Vincent lifted one hand.
Red laser dots appeared across all of us from hidden positions above.
“Please don’t.”
Adam stopped.
Vincent looked at Gabriel.
“You finally met Michael.”
Gabriel’s voice was cold.
“You raised him.”
“I improved him.”
Michael flinched.
I noticed.
Vincent continued.
“Unfortunately, resentment makes men impatient.”
Michael turned.
“You said this was my inheritance.”
“It is.”
“You said Claire could transfer it.”
“She can.”
Vincent smiled at me.
“After Gabriel dies.”
My blood went cold.
Michael looked at him.
“That wasn’t the deal.”
Vincent sighed.
“Michael.”
“You never were good at reading the fine print.”
Something changed in Michael’s face.
For the first time, he realized he had been used.
Again.
Vincent raised one hand.
A gunman above us shifted his aim.
The laser moved from Gabriel.
To Michael.
Michael stared.
“You’re going to kill me too.”
Vincent looked almost sad.
“I only ever needed one Cross son alive.”
Gabriel whispered,
“And now you need none.”
Vincent smiled.
“Exactly.”
Then the terminal lights went out.
Gunfire erupted.
I dropped.
Someone grabbed me.
I fought.
“Claire.”
Gabriel.
He pulled me behind a steel barrier.
Adam shouted orders.
Federal agents stormed the entrances.
Salvatore’s men fired from outside.
The chaos lasted less than two minutes.
Then silence.
Emergency lights flickered on.
Vincent was gone.
Michael was gone.
Adam was alive.
Salvatore was alive.
Gabriel was beside me.
Then I saw the blood.
Not on his shoulder.
Lower.
His hand pressed against his side.
“Gabriel.”
“I’m fine.”
“You are not fine.”
He sank to one knee.
I caught him.
For the first time since our divorce, Gabriel Cross collapsed into my arms.
“Stay awake.”
He looked at me.
“Did you bring the boys?”
“No.”
A weak smile touched his mouth.
“Good.”
“Don’t talk.”
“Claire.”
“Stop.”
“I need you to know something.”
“No.”
He grabbed my hand.
“If I don’t—”
“You will.”
He looked into my eyes.
“I never stopped loving you.”
I froze.
Five years.
Five years of anger.
Five years of imagined responses.
None prepared me.
I leaned closer.
“Then stay alive long enough for me to be furious about that sentence.”
His eyes closed.
“Gabriel.”
No response.
“Gabriel!”
Paramedics rushed toward us.
As they lifted him, his phone suddenly vibrated on the floor.
The screen lit.
A live video.
My sons.
Inside Salvatore’s supposedly secure estate.
Owen was crying.
Noah held Eli’s hand.
Behind them stood Serena.
She looked directly into the camera.
Then she whispered,
“Claire, I’m sorry.”
A man stepped into frame.
Vincent.
He placed one hand on Owen’s shoulder.
And smiled.
May you like
“I found the heirs.”
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