Chapter 9 - The Man Who Survived The Fire
I found Thomas Vale standing in my father’s old study.
That alone was impossible.
Nobody entered that room without permission.
Nobody touched anything inside.
Not because of security.
Because of respect.
That room belonged to a dead man.
My father had been gone for eleven years.
But somehow, the secrets he left behind were still alive.
Thomas stood near the bookshelf.
Older than the photograph.
Tired.
A man carrying the weight of a lifetime.
When he turned around, I understood something immediately.
He was not there to fight.
He was there because he had already lost everything.
“Gabriel Moretti.”
His voice was quiet.
I stared at him.
“You know my name.”
He almost smiled.
“I knew your name before you knew what it meant.”
I hated that answer.
Everyone seemed to know things about my family except me.
“Who are you?”
Thomas looked around the room.
“I was your father’s accountant.”
I said nothing.
“That is not what the records say.”
“No.”
“Because the records were changed.”
“By who?”
His eyes moved toward the fireplace.
“Your father.”
That surprised me.
“My father erased you?”
Thomas nodded.
“He saved me.”
The answer made no sense.
“Explain.”
Thomas walked toward the desk.
“Your father knew someone inside the family was moving money.”
“Vincent?”
“No.”
“Celeste?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Thomas looked directly at me.
“The person you never considered.”
I felt anger rise.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“Because everyone knows the truth is the hardest thing for you to accept.”
I stepped closer.
“Careful.”
Thomas did not move.
“Your father had one weakness, Gabriel.”
“What?”
“He believed family could be saved.”
The words stayed with me.
Because that sounded familiar.
Too familiar.
Ewan.
My father.
Both of them believed people could change.
I had spent years believing that was weakness.
Maybe I was wrong.
---
Thomas opened an old briefcase.
Inside was a collection of documents.
Original documents.
Not copies.
Not altered versions.
Real records.
“The ledger.”
My eyes moved to the papers.
“The one Ewan was searching for.”
Thomas nodded.
“Your father hid it before he died.”
“Why?”
“Because he discovered something.”
“What?”
Thomas looked at me.
“The Moretti empire was being used by someone else.”
I frowned.
“Used?”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“To build something larger.”
He placed a document on the desk.
A list of companies.
Several names.
Several accounts.
Then one name repeated again and again.
Vandermark Holdings.
My expression changed.
“No.”
Thomas watched me.
“Your fiancée’s family was not just connected to yours.”
“They were controlling parts of it.”
I stared at the page.
“No.”
“You loved her.”
It was not a question.
“Yes.”
“Then I understand why you refuse to believe it.”
My hand tightened.
“Celeste did not know.”
Thomas looked at me.
“You still want to protect her.”
I hated that he was right.
Because even after everything...
A part of me still remembered the woman she was before this.
The woman who laughed with me.
The woman who held my hand when my mother collapsed.
The woman who promised she would stand beside me.
But then I remembered Delia lying injured on the floor.
And that part of me became silent.
---
“Tell me about Pier 44.”
Thomas became still.
For the first time, he looked afraid.
“The fire was supposed to kill three people.”
“Who?”
“Your brother.”
“Who else?”
“Me.”
I stared.
“You survived.”
“Barely.”
“How?”
“Ewan found me before the fire spread.”
My jaw tightened.
“Then why did everyone believe only six people died?”
“Because the person who arranged the fire controlled the investigation.”
“Who?”
Thomas looked toward the door.
Like he expected someone to be listening.
Then he whispered:
“Your mother knows.”
I looked back at him.
“She wrote it.”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t she tell me?”
“Because she was threatened.”
“By who?”
Thomas did not answer.
He did not need to.
The silence was enough.
---
That evening, my mother’s notebook revealed another page.
A page I had missed.
The handwriting was weaker.
Almost impossible to read.
But one sentence was clear.
Celeste came to see me before Ewan died.
My hands froze.
I read it again.
Celeste came to see me.
Before Ewan died.
I closed my eyes.
Because suddenly I remembered.
The first time I met Celeste.
Seven years ago.
She was not introduced through friends.
She was introduced through my family.
My uncle.
My father’s old connections.
Everyone told me she was perfect.
Too perfect.
I turned the page.
My mother had written:
She asked about Ewan.
She asked about the documents.
She asked where he kept the evidence.
I felt sick.
Because this meant Celeste was not a woman who discovered a secret.
She was searching for one.
---
At midnight, I found Celeste in the garden.
She was standing beneath the snow.
Alone.
For a moment, she looked exactly like the woman I fell in love with.
Not a villain.
Not an enemy.
Just Celeste.
“Gabriel.”
I stopped.
“How long?”
She knew immediately what I meant.
Her face changed.
“Long enough.”
The answer hurt.
“How long have you known about Ewan?”
She looked away.
“Since before I met you.”
My chest tightened.
“Why?”
“Because I was trying to find the truth.”
“You were lying to me.”
“Yes.”
She admitted it.
No excuses.
No denial.
That somehow hurt more.
“Did you love me?”
The question escaped before I could stop it.
Celeste looked at me.
And for the first time...
She looked broken.
“Yes.”
The answer came immediately.
“I loved you.”
“Then why?”
“Because I was sent to find the ledger.”
The snow continued falling.
“By who?”
She closed her eyes.
“Gabriel.”
“Who?”
When she opened them again, I saw fear.
Real fear.
Not for herself.
For me.
“The person who ordered me to get close to you…”
She whispered.
“Was your mother’s doctor.”
I froze.
Adrian Voss.
Again.
Always Adrian Voss.
“But there is something you don’t know.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
Celeste stepped closer.
“Adrian did not kill Ewan.”
A pause.
“He was trying to save him.”
The world shifted.
“Then who did?”
Celeste looked toward the estate.
Toward the room where my mother had spent four years silent.
And she said the name I never expected.
“Your father.”
I stared at her.
“No.”
“Your father ordered the meeting at Pier 44.”
“No.”
“He knew Ewan was going to expose everything.”
“Stop.”
“He chose the family over his son.”
I felt something break inside me.
May you like
Because there was only one truth worse than discovering an enemy.
Discovering the enemy was someone you loved.
