Chapter 4 - THE LETTERS THAT NEVER REACHED HIM
“Someone used my name to steal from children.”
Gabriel read the accusation again.
The Ashford Family Foundation had funded music lessons, school instruments, and emergency assistance for struggling families across New York.
Isabella had helped build those programs.
Before Lily was born, she had spent entire weekends teaching piano to children who couldn't afford lessons.
Gabriel remembered how proud she'd been of their first scholarship concert.
And now someone had accused her of stealing from the very children she'd tried to help.
“How much?” he asked.
Isabella looked away.
“According to that letter, two hundred eighty thousand dollars.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“That's impossible.”
“That's what I said.”
“Why didn't you fight it?”
“I tried.”
She pointed toward the envelope.
“There were names on the board I trusted. People who had eaten dinner in our home. Nobody would speak to me.”
Gabriel remembered the months following Isabella's supposed death.
Meredith had taken over the foundation.
She had told him there were irregularities in the accounts but assured him they were minor bookkeeping problems.
He had signed whatever she placed before him.
He had been too consumed by grief to ask questions.
And now he understood that his grief had become someone else's opportunity.
“Who discovered the missing money?” he asked.
“I did.”
Gabriel looked up.
“Before Lily was born?”
“Yes.”
Isabella shifted against her pillow.
“Meredith asked me to review the scholarship accounts. Several large payments had been transferred into a development company instead of the schools.”
“Which company?”
“North Point Development.”
Gabriel frowned.
He knew the name.
North Point had managed several affordable housing properties connected to the foundation.
“Meredith told me those properties were struggling,” he said.
“They were. But she was moving money from restricted scholarship funds to cover expenses she wasn't authorized to pay.”
“Did you confront her?”
“I asked for an explanation.”
“What did she say?”
“That everything would be corrected.”
Isabella's eyes filled with tears.
“Three days later, she told me you wanted to postpone our wedding.”
Gabriel went still.
“I never said that.”
“I know that now.”
He rose from the chair and paced toward the window.
For years, he had blamed himself for not being present when Isabella went into labor.
He'd been at a major business negotiation in Boston when Meredith told him Isabella had been rushed to the hospital.
He flew home immediately.
But by the time he reached Manhattan, Meredith claimed Isabella and their newborn daughter had died after an emergency transfer.
She said the hospital couldn't release information because Isabella had requested privacy before the complications.
Gabriel had been furious.
He demanded records.
Meredith promised to obtain them.
Then she'd produced a memorial notice and insisted Isabella's family wanted no further contact.
He had accepted that explanation.
Because he had trusted her.
Because he had been exhausted.
Because believing Meredith was easier than confronting the terrible possibility that something wasn't right.
Now that failure sat heavily on his shoulders.
“Why Carter?” he asked gently.
Isabella looked confused.
“Lily's last name.”
She smiled sadly.
“It was my grandmother's name. I started using it when Lily was a baby.”
“To hide?”
“To keep Meredith from finding us.”
Gabriel sat down again.
“Was she threatening you?”
“Not in words I could report.”
Isabella looked toward the door.
“She would remind me that Lily needed medical care. That you owned half the buildings in Manhattan. That nobody would believe an unemployed music teacher over the people running your foundation.”
Gabriel felt sick.
“And then?”
“Then Lily was born. I was exhausted, frightened, and trying to keep her safe.”
She paused.
“Meredith came to the hospital with your silver watch.”
Gabriel stared.
“My father's watch?”
Isabella nodded.
“The one with the cracked face.”
Gabriel instinctively reached toward his wrist.
He hadn't seen that watch in five years.
Meredith told him Isabella had taken it when she disappeared before the alleged emergency.
“She said you gave it to her,” Isabella continued. “She said you wanted me to understand that it was over.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
His father had given him that watch on his eighteenth birthday.
He had given it to Isabella the night he proposed.
She knew he would never have used it to end their relationship.
But Meredith had made it appear as though he had.
A soft knock came from the door.
Dr. Patel stepped inside.
“I'm sorry to interrupt.”
Gabriel stood.
“Is something wrong?”
“Isabella's condition has worsened. We've scheduled additional imaging and are preparing for possible valve surgery.”
Isabella looked down at her hands.
Gabriel reached toward her, then stopped.
“Can I help?”
She studied him.
“Don't make promises you can't keep.”
“I won't.”
“Then help me clear my name.”
Gabriel nodded.
“I will.”
Isabella reached for his hand.
“There's something I haven't told you.”
He leaned closer.
“When I discovered the missing money, I wrote down the account numbers. I was afraid the records would disappear.”
“Where?”
“In my piano music.”
Gabriel frowned.
“The song Lily played?”
Isabella nodded.
“The original handwritten score. I left it inside the music folder at your house.”
Gabriel remembered that folder.
It had rested beside the grand piano for years.
“Meredith has been organizing the annual charity performances,” Isabella whispered.
Gabriel suddenly understood.
The same woman who had tried to stop Lily from playing had controlled the music folder for five years.
May you like
Isabella gripped his hand.
“Gabriel, if Meredith finds those pages before you do, the last proof I kept may disappear.”
