Chapter 5 - ISABELLA CAME BACK WITH A WARNING
Gabriel stared at the frozen image until Rachel wondered whether he had forgotten anyone else was in the room.
Isabella.
Seven years after Gabriel had been told his wife died in a river, she appeared in grainy surveillance footage sitting inside a gray sedan while Lucia DeLuca helped Sophie into the back seat.
Alive.
Older.
Thinner.
But alive.
Gabriel touched the screen.
Rachel had watched him do the same thing when he first saw Sophie’s proof-of-life video.
This time, there was something different in his face.
Hope hurt more than grief.
Because hope could still be taken away.
“Trace the vehicle,” Gabriel said.
Marco was already working.
Caroline stood near the wall.
Gabriel looked at her.
“You knew Lucia was alive?”
“No.”
“Isabella?”
“No.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I disappeared because Victor learned I had contacted Sophie.”
Gabriel stepped closer.
“When?”
“Five years ago.”
“The same time you faked your death.”
“Yes.”
“What contact?”
Caroline hesitated.
“She sent me a drawing.”
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed.
“Sophie?”
“Yes. Through Teresa.”
“Where is it?”
Caroline opened her coat.
From an inside pocket, she removed a folded piece of paper protected in plastic.
The drawing showed a house.
Three women.
One little girl.
Above them was a large yellow sun.
Written in a child’s handwriting:
ME, GRANDMA, AUNT LUCY, MOMMY.
Gabriel’s knees almost weakened.
“Mommy.”
Caroline nodded.
“I thought it meant Teresa had encouraged Sophie to imagine Isabella.”
“You knew better.”
“I suspected.”
“And said nothing.”
“I didn’t know where they were.”
Gabriel turned away.
Rachel understood why he was struggling not to explode.
Every person in the room had apparently known one fragment of the truth.
No one had trusted him with enough pieces to save his own family.
Marco spoke from the computer.
“Found the car.”
“Where?”
“Traffic camera heading north.”
“How far?”
“Thirty-seven minutes ago.”
“Destination?”
“Unknown.”
Rachel saw a road sign in the footage.
Route 22.
Something stirred in her memory.
“My mother had a cabin.”
Caroline looked at her.
“No.”
Rachel turned.
“You took me there twice.”
“That property was sold.”
“Where?”
“Near Pawling.”
Gabriel looked at Marco.
“Check everything around Pawling.”
Caroline shook her head.
“Lucia wouldn’t go there.”
Rachel stared at her.
“You said you didn’t know she was alive.”
“I didn’t.”
“But you know where she wouldn’t go.”
Caroline closed her eyes.
Rachel stepped closer.
“Enough.”
Her voice shook.
“Thirty-one years of enough.”
Caroline looked at her daughter.
“If Lucia survived, she would never choose any place connected to me.”
“Why?”
“Because she hates me.”
Rachel waited.
Caroline finally answered.
“I gave you away.”
Silence.
Rachel’s chest tightened.
“To protect me?”
Caroline shook her head slowly.
“No.”
Rachel had expected every terrible truth except that.
“Then why?”
“Because I was afraid.”
Caroline sank into a chair.
“When Lucia came to me, she had Victor’s files. Names. Payments. Evidence of murders. She wanted to expose everything.”
“She was pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“And you were her nurse?”
“Her friend.”
“What happened?”
“Victor found us.”
Caroline’s voice dropped.
“He gave me a choice.”
Rachel felt cold.
“What choice?”
“Tell him where Lucia was hiding, or he would kill Thomas.”
Rachel stared.
“You told him.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel looked toward Caroline with disgust.
Caroline continued through tears.
“I warned Lucia immediately afterward, but she knew I had broken.”
“So she ran.”
“Yes.”
“With me?”
“She had already given birth.”
Rachel’s throat closed.
“What happened to her?”
“She left you with me and disappeared before Victor arrived.”
“Why me?”
“Because she believed I would protect you after what I had done.”
Rachel laughed bitterly.
“She trusted the woman who betrayed her.”
“She trusted Thomas.”
That silenced Rachel.
Caroline looked at her.
“Your father—Thomas—stood between Victor’s men and your crib with a hunting rifle. He told them they would have to kill him first.”
Rachel began crying despite herself.
Thomas Bennett.
The man who taught her to ride a bicycle.
Who worked overtime when she needed braces.
Who cried at her high school graduation.
He had not been her biological father.
He had been something better.
He had chosen her knowing the danger.
“What happened to Lucia after that?”
“We believed she fled Europe.”
“And Isabella?”
“She helped create new records for you.”
Gabriel spoke.
“That is why Isabella was on Rachel’s birth records.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel looked at Rachel.
“She knew who you were.”
“For her entire life?”
“Yes.”
Rachel’s anger shifted.
“Then Isabella knew me?”
“She followed you from a distance.”
“What?”
Caroline wiped her face.
“Birthday cards. Anonymous scholarship money. Medical bills when Ben was born.”
Rachel stared.
“I thought the hospital charity covered those.”
“It was Isabella.”
Gabriel looked at her.
That revelation hurt him too.
His wife had carried an entire secret family history beside him.
And never told him.
Marco suddenly turned.
“I have the car again.”
Everyone moved toward the monitors.
The gray sedan entered a private road north of Pawling.
Marco zoomed in.
A sign stood beside iron gates.
BLACKTHORN FARM.
Gabriel frowned.
“I know that property.”
Marco looked at him.
“So do I.”
“Who owns it?”
Marco searched.
The corporate registration appeared.
Bellweather Holdings.
Another shell company.
Then the beneficial owner.
Isabella Moretti DeLuca.
Gabriel stared.
His wife had owned the property for twelve years.
Including years before the bridge.
“We’re going.”
Marco nodded.
Caroline said, “I’m coming.”
“No,” Rachel answered.
Caroline looked at her.
Rachel’s expression hardened.
“You stay with Ben.”
“Rachel—”
“You want to protect someone? Start with your grandson.”
Caroline’s eyes filled.
She nodded.
Two hours later, Gabriel, Rachel, Marco, and six trusted guards approached Blackthorn Farm.
No exterior lights.
No visible guards.
A farmhouse sat beyond an orchard.
Gabriel stopped the vehicles a quarter mile away.
They continued on foot.
As they approached, a porch light came on.
Gabriel raised one hand.
Everyone froze.
The front door opened.
Sophie stepped outside.
Alone.
“Daddy?”
Gabriel forgot every tactical plan.
He ran.
Sophie ran too.
Rachel watched the distance disappear between them.
Gabriel dropped to his knees on the wet grass.
His daughter crashed into him.
For the first time since Rachel had known him, Gabriel openly broke.
He buried his face in Sophie’s hair.
She wrapped both arms around his neck.
“I’m sorry,” she cried.
“No.”
He held her tighter.
“No, baby. Never apologize.”
“I wanted to come home.”
“I know.”
“Grandma said I couldn’t.”
“I know.”
“Mom said—”
Gabriel pulled back.
“Mom?”
Sophie looked toward the house.
Gabriel slowly stood.
Isabella appeared in the doorway.
No one moved.
Rachel recognized her immediately.
Seven years had changed her.
Her dark hair was threaded with gray.
A scar crossed one side of her face.
She walked with a slight limp.
But the photograph had not lied.
Gabriel whispered, “Isabella.”
She began crying.
He did not move toward her.
Not yet.
Too much stood between them.
Sophie held his hand.
“Daddy.”
Isabella came down one step.
“I’m sorry.”
Gabriel’s voice was quiet.
“You watched me bury you.”
“I know.”
“You watched me bury our daughter.”
“I know.”
“Seven years.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying you know.”
She flinched.
Rachel saw Gabriel regret the sharpness immediately.
But Isabella understood.
“You have every right to hate me.”
Gabriel looked at Sophie.
“No. Not in front of her.”
Sophie tightened her grip on him.
Isabella glanced toward Rachel.
Her expression changed.
“You look like Lucia.”
Rachel’s breath caught.
“Where is she?”
Isabella looked toward the dark orchard.
“She left.”
“Why?”
“To draw Victor away.”
Gabriel immediately looked at Marco.
“Find her.”
Isabella shook her head.
“You won’t.”
“You don’t know my people.”
“I know Victor.”
Gabriel’s expression hardened.
“Then tell me everything.”
Inside the farmhouse, Isabella explained.
The bridge accident had been staged as an emergency escape after she discovered Victor’s plan to kill Sophie and gain control over the DeLuca trust.
But Victor had intercepted them.
Teresa arrived unexpectedly and managed to escape with Sophie.
Isabella was badly injured.
Lucia, who had secretly returned to America, rescued her.
They hid while Isabella recovered.
The plan had been to contact Gabriel within weeks.
Then Victor sent proof that he had surveillance inside Gabriel’s organization.
Photographs of Gabriel sleeping.
Security schedules.
Records of Sophie’s pediatrician.
He promised that if Isabella contacted Gabriel, Sophie would die first.
Gabriel’s face remained rigid.
“So you believed him.”
“Yes.”
“For seven years.”
“No.”
Isabella looked at Marco.
“For two.”
Gabriel followed her gaze.
Marco went pale.
“What?”
Isabella continued.
“Five years ago, I sent a message through Marco.”
Gabriel slowly turned toward his security chief.
Marco shook his head.
“I never received anything.”
“I sent it to the emergency channel Alessandro created.”
Marco frowned.
“That system was decommissioned.”
“Someone answered.”
“Who?”
Isabella looked toward Gabriel.
“The reply said Gabriel knew Sophie was alive.”
Gabriel’s face emptied.
Isabella whispered:
“It said he wanted us to remain hidden because Sophie’s return would threaten his control of the family.”
Gabriel looked sick.
“You believed I wrote that?”
“The authentication code was yours.”
Marco stepped toward the computer.
“Show me.”
Isabella brought out an old encrypted device.
Marco opened the archive.
There it was.
A message signed with Gabriel’s private security key.
STAY HIDDEN.
DO NOT CONTACT ME AGAIN.
SOPHIE IS SAFER DEAD TO THE WORLD.
Rachel watched Gabriel read it.
His face changed.
“I never sent this.”
Marco inspected the digital signature.
“It’s real.”
“Impossible.”
“Only three people ever had access to this key.”
“Me. You.”
Gabriel paused.
“And?”
Marco looked at him.
“Your mother.”
Sophie suddenly spoke.
“Grandma didn’t send it.”
Everyone turned.
“How do you know?” Gabriel asked gently.
Sophie looked frightened.
“Because I heard her fighting with the man who did.”
Gabriel crouched.
“What man?”
Sophie hesitated.
“He came to see us three years ago.”
“Victor?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Who?”
Sophie looked toward Marco.
Then pointed directly at him.
“His brother.”
Marco went white.
Gabriel stared.
Marco had one brother.
A man Gabriel had trusted with his finances for fifteen years.
Daniel Santoro.
At that exact moment, Gabriel’s phone rang.
Daniel.
Gabriel answered.
“What?”
Daniel’s voice was calm.
“Welcome home, Sophie.”
Gabriel’s eyes hardened.
Daniel continued:
“You have something that belongs to me.”
“What?”
“Rachel Bennett.”
Rachel froze.
Daniel laughed softly.
“Bring her to me before midnight.”
“Why?”
A pause.
Then Daniel said:
“Because Rachel isn’t merely Lucia’s daughter.”
May you like
Gabriel tightened his grip on the phone.
“She is the legal owner of everything you think belongs to you.”
