Chapter 7 - FIFTY-NINE SECONDS
“Move!”
Gabriel’s voice tore through the warehouse.
Claire lifted Lucy into her arms.
The timer dropped.
00:54.
Daniel stared at it as though his own invention had betrayed him.
Salvatore grabbed his son.
“Can you stop it?”
“I don't know.”
“You built it!”
“I didn't build this part.”
Gabriel turned.
“What?”
Daniel looked toward Richard’s body.
“He changed the detonator.”
00:47.
Teresa shouted, “River tunnel!”
Gabriel cut her restraints.
Vanessa swayed near the entrance.
Marco’s men were approaching despite the risk.
Gabriel pointed toward the drainage opening.
“Everyone out.”
Claire ran.
Lucy clung around her neck.
“Mommy, I'm scared.”
“I know, baby.”
“Are we going to die?”
“No.”
Claire did not know if that was true.
But mothers were allowed to lie when the truth could wait.
00:39.
Salvatore dragged Daniel toward the tunnel.
Daniel resisted.
“The building is wired to the east supports. If it goes, the tunnel collapses.”
Gabriel grabbed him.
“Then give me another exit.”
“Loading bay!”
“Rigged?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Maybe.”
Gabriel shoved him forward.
“Wrong answer.”
Vanessa cried out behind them.
Her knees buckled.
Claire turned.
“Vanessa!”
Gabriel caught her.
Blood poured through her coat.
“Go,” Vanessa whispered.
Gabriel lifted her without hesitation.
Claire saw the surprise on Vanessa’s face.
Perhaps she had expected Gabriel to leave her.
He didn't.
Whatever she had done, he would not let a wounded woman die on the floor.
00:30.
They reached the tunnel opening.
Salvatore dropped through first.
Daniel followed.
Teresa climbed down.
Claire handed Lucy to Salvatore.
Then climbed.
Gabriel lowered Vanessa.
00:22.
Claire looked up.
“Gabriel!”
He was still above.
“What are you doing?”
“The door.”
“What door?”
“If the blast follows the tunnel, it kills all of us.”
He pulled a heavy steel hatch over the opening.
Claire understood.
He intended to close it from above.
“No!”
Gabriel looked down.
“Take care of Lucy.”
“Get in here!”
“There isn't time.”
Claire grabbed the hatch edge.
“Gabriel!”
His eyes met hers.
For less than a second, she saw something she had never expected from him.
Peace.
As though protecting people was easier than surviving for them.
Claire hated it.
“Don't you dare.”
Gabriel almost smiled.
“Bossy.”
She grabbed his wrist.
“You just found your mother.”
He looked toward Teresa below.
“You just found a sister.”
Claire tightened her grip.
“And you don't get to make us lose you in the same night.”
00:15.
Gabriel looked at the timer.
Then at the hatch.
Daniel shouted from below.
“The manual door!”
“What?”
“Left side! Yellow handle!”
Gabriel turned.
A rusted handle stood near the wall.
He pulled.
Nothing.
Again.
It moved.
A steel blast door began descending across the warehouse side of the tunnel.
00:09.
Gabriel jumped down.
Claire fell backward as he landed.
The blast door slammed shut.
00:03.
Gabriel grabbed Claire and Lucy.
Teresa covered her head.
The explosion came like the end of the world.
The tunnel shook.
Lights shattered.
Water burst through cracks.
Claire felt Gabriel’s body cover hers.
Then darkness.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Lucy cried.
That was the most beautiful sound Claire had ever heard.
“Lucy?”
“Mommy.”
“I’m here.”
Emergency lights flickered.
Gabriel sat up slowly.
Blood ran from a cut near his temple.
Teresa crawled toward him.
“Gabriel.”
He turned.
For the first time in eleven years, mother and son looked at each other without a locked door, telephone, recording, or grave between them.
Teresa touched his face.
Gabriel closed his eyes.
She began crying.
“So old,” she whispered.
Gabriel laughed weakly.
“You're one to talk.”
Then Teresa pulled him into her arms.
Claire looked away.
It felt private.
But Lucy didn't.
She crawled over and hugged both of them.
“Grandma Teresa?”
Teresa laughed through tears.
“Yes.”
“You look better than in the scary room.”
Everyone laughed.
Even Daniel.
The sound died quickly when Salvatore looked at him.
Daniel lowered his eyes.
He was still responsible.
Manipulated or not, he had kidnapped Lucy.
He had imprisoned Teresa.
He had built part of a bomb.
There would be consequences.
But for the first time, he looked less like a villain and more like a man realizing how completely his anger had been used.
Marco reached them ten minutes later.
Vanessa was rushed to surgery.
Richard Crowley survived the gunshot.
Barely.
Gabriel made certain he was treated.
Claire was surprised.
“Why save him?”
Gabriel looked at Richard being loaded into an ambulance.
“Dead men don't confess.”
By afternoon, federal agents had become involved.
Crown Holdings touched too many banks and jurisdictions for the story to remain private.
Gabriel cooperated more than anyone expected.
So did Salvatore.
Daniel refused a lawyer until he had told investigators everything Richard had ever said to him.
At sunset, Claire sat beside Lucy in a private hospital room.
Her daughter had mild dehydration and bruised wrists.
Nothing worse.
Claire thanked every God she could name.
Lucy slept with her rabbit tucked beneath one arm.
Gabriel stood by the window.
Claire looked toward him.
“You can sit.”
“I’m fine.”
“You've been standing for twenty minutes.”
“I stand professionally.”
Claire smiled despite herself.
Gabriel looked surprised.
Then almost smiled too.
Claire studied him.
“My brother.”
His expression changed.
“That still sounds strange.”
“It feels strange.”
“Do you want a DNA test?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“You?”
“Yes.”
They sat in silence.
Gabriel looked toward Lucy.
“She was brave.”
“She talks when she’s nervous.”
“I noticed.”
“She told Daniel his warehouse smelled bad.”
Gabriel smiled.
“She’s definitely related to me.”
Claire laughed.
Then the door opened.
Teresa entered.
She wore hospital scrubs beneath a coat.
Doctors had examined her.
Malnutrition.
Effects from prolonged sedation.
But otherwise surprisingly healthy.
She looked at Claire.
“We need to talk.”
Gabriel stood.
Teresa said, “All three of us.”
Claire gently closed Lucy’s door.
They moved into the adjoining private room.
Teresa sat.
“I owe you both the truth.”
Gabriel folded his arms.
“That's a long debt.”
“I know.”
She looked at Claire.
“Your mother saved my life.”
Claire’s throat tightened.
“How?”
“The night everyone believed I died.”
Teresa looked toward the window.
“I was supposed to be in that car.”
Gabriel frowned.
“Whose body was found?”
“A woman named Margaret Hale.”
Claire stared.
“Who was she?”
“A Crown accountant.”
Teresa’s eyes filled.
“Richard killed her.”
Gabriel’s expression hardened.
“Then staged the crash.”
“Yes.”
“Why did Arthur identify her as you?”
“To buy me time.”
Gabriel stared.
“Arthur knew?”
“Yes.”
Gabriel’s face changed.
Arthur’s eleven-year lie suddenly carried another dimension.
Teresa continued.
“Elaine hid me.”
Claire whispered, “My mother?”
“For six months.”
“Where?”
“In your childhood home.”
Claire stood.
Impossible.
She remembered that year.
She had been twenty.
Her mother had kept the basement locked, claiming there was mold.
Claire covered her mouth.
“You were downstairs?”
“Yes.”
“And I never knew.”
“That was the point.”
Teresa’s voice softened.
“Elaine protected you by making sure you knew nothing.”
Claire sat again.
“What happened after six months?”
“Richard found us.”
Gabriel stepped closer.
“How?”
“Someone told him.”
Claire immediately looked toward Arthur.
Teresa shook her head.
“Not Arthur.”
“Who?”
Teresa looked toward Gabriel.
“Someone inside your household.”
Gabriel’s face darkened.
“Who?”
Teresa hesitated.
“Your wife.”
Gabriel frowned.
“I'm not married.”
“Not Vanessa.”
Teresa’s expression became painful.
“Your first wife.”
Gabriel stopped breathing.
Claire had heard little about Gabriel’s first marriage.
Only that his wife, Elena, died nine years earlier.
Gabriel whispered, “Elena?”
Teresa nodded.
Gabriel’s face lost all emotion.
“Elena died two years after you.”
“Yes.”
“You're telling me she worked for Richard?”
“She did more than work for him.”
Teresa opened her purse.
She removed an envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Elena Moretti stood beside Richard Crowley.
They were kissing.
Gabriel stared at it.
Claire looked away.
Teresa continued.
“Elena was feeding him information before Vittorio died.”
Gabriel’s voice became nearly inaudible.
“Why?”
“Because Richard promised her something.”
“What?”
Teresa hesitated.
“The Moretti estate.”
Gabriel stared.
“How?”
Teresa’s eyes lowered.
“By giving her an heir.”
Gabriel went still.
“I never had children with Elena.”
“No.”
Teresa looked toward Lucy’s room.
“But Elena did have a child.”
Gabriel stared.
“What are you saying?”
Teresa’s voice broke.
“She had a son seven months after she supposedly died.”
The room became silent.
Gabriel’s face turned pale.
“My son?”
Teresa nodded.
“Biologically, yes.”
Gabriel stopped moving.
Claire whispered, “Where is he?”
Teresa looked at him.
“I don't know.”
Gabriel stared at his mother.
May you like
Teresa added:
“But Richard does.”
