Chapter 4 - THE CHILD CATHERINE LEFT BEHIND
Gabriel stared at his father.
“Maternity?”
Anthony didn’t answer.
Gabriel stepped closer.
“My mother was forty-three.”
“She was pregnant,” Eleanor whispered.
Her face had gone white.
“You never told me.”
Anthony looked at her.
“I didn’t know until after the accident.”
Gabriel’s voice hardened.
“Pregnant by whom?”
Anthony’s eyes moved to Michael Bennett’s watch.
That was answer enough.
Gabriel turned away.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Anna understood why.
One secret had become three.
Catherine survived.
Michael Bennett was Gabriel’s biological father.
And Catherine had been carrying another child.
Gabriel faced Evelyn.
“You knew?”
“No.”
She looked genuinely stunned.
“I swear.”
Eleanor sank into a chair.
“She was pregnant.”
Lauren stood near the bookshelves, arms wrapped around herself.
Anna noticed something unexpected.
Tears.
Lauren quickly wiped them away.
Gabriel saw.
“Why are you crying?”
Lauren looked embarrassed.
“Because I know what comes next.”
“What does?”
“You decide every person in this room betrayed you.”
Gabriel’s expression remained cold.
“Didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
The answer surprised him.
Lauren continued.
“I found Eleanor. I opened the envelope. I gave your father page two.”
She swallowed.
“And I treated Anna horribly because I thought she had found enough to destroy everything before I understood what everything was.”
Anna stared at her.
Lauren turned toward her.
“That isn’t an excuse.”
“No,” Anna said. “It isn’t.”
“I know.”
For once, Lauren didn’t argue.
Gabriel looked at Anthony.
“What happened at St. Agnes?”
Anthony’s shoulders sagged.
“Catherine gave birth.”
“A boy or girl?”
“A girl.”
Gabriel’s eyes closed briefly.
A sister.
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
Gabriel’s restraint broke.
“You keep saying that!”
His voice cracked through the room.
Nobody moved.
Anthony flinched.
Gabriel immediately lowered his voice again.
“Twenty-seven years. You had twenty-seven years to find out.”
“I did find out.”
Gabriel stared at him.
Anthony reached toward his robe pocket.
He removed a folded piece of paper.
Not a legal document.
A child’s drawing.
Crayon on cheap paper.
A little girl had drawn three stick figures.
One tall woman.
One small girl.
And a dark-haired boy standing far away beneath a separate sun.
At the bottom:
MOMMY SAYS I HAVE A BROTHER NAMED GABE.
Gabriel sat down.
Anna had never seen him do anything slowly before.
Now it seemed his legs simply stopped holding him.
“How old was she?”
“Five when she drew it.”
“Her name?”
Anthony’s lips pressed together.
“Isabel.”
Gabriel stared at the drawing.
“Isabel what?”
“I never knew the surname they used.”
Eleanor stepped toward Anthony.
“You saw Catherine again.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Several times.”
Gabriel looked up.
“You saw my mother several times after you told me she was dead?”
Anthony’s eyes filled with shame.
“She made me promise not to bring you.”
“You agreed?”
“She was afraid.”
“Of you?”
Anthony looked toward Evelyn.
“Of my father.”
That changed the room.
Anthony continued.
“My father had discovered Catherine’s affair before I did. He believed Michael humiliated the family.”
“The Cadillac,” Gabriel said.
Anthony nodded.
“I believe my father sent men to stop Catherine from leaving. Rose Mercer died because they mistook her for Catherine.”
“Did you know that then?”
“No.”
“When did you learn?”
“Years later.”
Gabriel’s voice went flat.
“And you buried it.”
“I was already running the family. Exposing him would have brought police, enemies, everyone.”
“So you protected the DeLuca name.”
Anthony looked at his son.
“I protected you.”
“No. You protected the thing that made you powerful.”
Anthony had no answer.
Anna glanced at Lily’s name on her phone screen.
For the first time, she understood Gabriel’s anger differently.
She imagined somebody telling Lily that Anna was dead because the truth was inconvenient.
Her stomach turned.
Gabriel picked up Isabel’s drawing.
“Where did this come from?”
“Catherine mailed it.”
“To you?”
Anthony nodded.
“There were others.”
“Where?”
“I destroyed them.”
Eleanor slapped him.
The sound cracked through the library.
Anthony didn’t move.
Eleanor’s hand trembled.
“You stole both her children from her.”
“No.”
“You let Gabriel mourn her, then erased Isabel from existence.”
“I sent money.”
Eleanor stared at him with disgust.
“You sent money.”
Gabriel stood.
“Enough.”
Everyone went quiet.
He turned toward Lauren.
“How did you find Eleanor?”
“Through your father’s bank records.”
“Why were you looking?”
Lauren hesitated.
“Because your father asked me to sign a prenuptial agreement.”
Gabriel frowned.
“What does that have to do with Eleanor?”
“He had a private account nobody in the family office knew existed. I thought he was hiding assets.”
Anthony looked irritated.
Lauren ignored him.
“I followed the payments. They ended six months ago.”
“When my father had his stroke.”
“Yes.”
“And you went to Baltimore.”
“Yes.”
Eleanor added quietly, “She arrived expecting a blackmailer.”
Lauren gave a small, ashamed nod.
“I wasn’t polite.”
Anna almost laughed.
That sounded like Lauren.
“But Eleanor showed me Catherine’s photograph and the ring. I realized something was wrong.”
“So why hide her from me?”
Lauren’s face tightened.
“Because Anthony told me Catherine abandoned you voluntarily.”
Gabriel looked at his father.
Anthony didn’t deny it.
Lauren continued.
“He said Catherine chose Michael and her new baby over you. He said if I brought Eleanor here, I’d destroy the only good memory you had of your mother.”
“And you believed him?”
“I believed enough to hesitate.”
Gabriel looked disappointed rather than angry.
Somehow that seemed to hurt Lauren more.
Anna’s phone buzzed.
She jumped.
A message from her sister.
Lily’s fine. She wants her purple inhaler bag tomorrow. Also she says you promised pancakes.
Anna exhaled.
Gabriel noticed.
“Is she safe?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Then Evelyn suddenly leaned toward Isabel’s drawing.
“Wait.”
She took it from Gabriel.
In the corner was a tiny blue shape.
A necklace.
Evelyn’s hands began shaking.
“What?”
Gabriel asked.
“Catherine’s medal.”
“What medal?”
“A silver St. Christopher necklace. Her mother gave it to her when she was sixteen.”
Eleanor touched her throat instinctively.
“She never took it off.”
Evelyn pointed to the little girl in the drawing.
“Isabel is wearing it.”
Gabriel looked at Anthony.
“Did Catherine ever tell you where they lived?”
“No.”
“Anything?”
Anthony shook his head.
Then Eleanor spoke.
“She told me once that if she ever had to disappear again, she would go somewhere Michael talked about.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Where?”
“Lancaster County.”
“Why?”
“Michael’s mother came from there.”
Gabriel picked up the train ticket.
Philadelphia to Harrisburg.
“Not Lancaster.”
“No,” Anna said.
Everyone looked at her.
She studied the faded ticket.
“It may not have been the final destination.”
Gabriel’s eyes sharpened.
Anna turned it over.
There was handwriting on the back, nearly erased.
Red coat. Platform 6. Ask for Samuel.
Evelyn whispered, “Samuel Bennett.”
“Michael’s brother?” Gabriel asked.
“Yes.”
Eleanor stood.
“He owned a repair shop outside Lancaster.”
Gabriel reached for his phone.
Then stopped.
“No.”
Lauren frowned.
“What?”
“No calls. No family employees. Nobody outside this room knows what we found.”
Anna understood.
Someone had threatened Lily.
Someone had copied her staff code.
Someone had known about the envelope.
They still didn’t know who.
Gabriel looked at Anna.
“Your daughter shouldn’t stay at your sister’s tonight.”
Anna stiffened.
“Don’t tell me where Lily should be.”
“I’m not.”
His voice softened.
“I’m saying whoever sent those messages knew where she was.”
Anna’s anger vanished.
“How?”
“I didn’t tell anyone.”
“Neither did I.”
Lauren looked toward the hallway.
“Staff schedules.”
Anna turned.
The household office kept emergency contacts.
Including her sister’s address.
Evelyn’s face changed.
“Only three people have unrestricted access.”
“Who?” Gabriel asked.
“Me. Lauren.”
She paused.
“And Martin.”
Anna knew the name.
Martin Hale.
Anthony’s personal driver and estate manager.
He had worked for the DeLucas for twenty-nine years.
Gabriel looked toward his father.
Anthony had gone pale.
“What?”
Gabriel demanded.
Anthony whispered, “Martin’s father drove for my father.”
The room froze.
“The Cadillac?” Evelyn asked.
Anthony nodded.
Gabriel’s eyes hardened.
“Where is Martin now?”
Nobody answered.
Then Anna looked through the window.
The black sedan that had brought Eleanor was still outside.
May you like
But the driver’s door was open.
And the car was empty.
