Chapter 3 - The Woman in the Security FootageBy Monday morning, Bradley Jenkins had disappeared.
His office was empty.
His apartment was empty.
His phone was disconnected.
Gabriel's security team found his car abandoned near O'Hare.
Inside was a folder.
Nora's name appeared on the first page.
Gabriel read it once.
Then again.
“Who has access to this?”
His security chief answered:
“Only three executives.”
“Names.”
“Victor Hale. Margaret Sloan. Robert Pierce.”
Gabriel frowned.
“Margaret is legal.”
“Yes.”
“Robert is finance.”
“Yes.”
“And Victor?”
“COO.”
Gabriel looked at Nora.
“Someone inside my company hired Bradley.”
She nodded.
“Could it be Victor?”
“It could.”
“Would he have motive?”
“Rotterdam.”
Gabriel nodded.
The acquisition was worth hundreds of millions.
If it succeeded, Moretti Urban Holdings would dominate a logistics corridor connecting three major European hubs.
Several competitors wanted it.
Including an investment group linked to Victor's old employer.
Nora analyzed the documents again.
“There.”
Gabriel leaned over.
“What?”
“This transfer.”
“To whom?”
“Another shell company.”
“Name?”
“Coleman Advisory.”
Gabriel's expression changed.
“That's my mother's maiden name.”
Nora looked at him.
“Is your mother involved?”
“My mother died.”
“I'm sorry.”
He looked away.
Nora realized she had stepped into something personal.
Then Gabriel said:
“She died eight years ago.”
“How?”
“Car accident.”
Nora looked at him.
“Accident?”
“Yes.”
Something in his voice made her stop.
“You think it wasn't?”
He didn't answer.
That night, Gabriel went to the family archives.
Nora went with him.
They found old insurance records.
The same shell company appeared.
Coleman Advisory.
Established six months before his mother's death.
Gabriel stared.
“My father created this.”
Nora looked up.
“Your father?”
“Yes.”
“Was he involved in Moretti's criminal operations?”
Gabriel smiled without humor.
“My father was a complicated man.”
“How?”
“He made money where laws became inconvenient.”
Nora swallowed.
“And you?”
“I spent years cleaning it up.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“Then why hide this?”
“I didn't know.”
Nora believed him.
Maybe because his anger looked too real.
Maybe because he had never once tried to stop her from asking questions.
They found another file.
A handwritten note.
The children are safer if Gabriel never knows.
Nora looked at him.
“Children?”
Gabriel went pale.
“My sister.”
“You have a sister?”
“Had.”
“I'm sorry.”
“She disappeared when she was nineteen.”
Nora stared.
“When?”
“The same year my mother died.”
Everything connected.
Two family members disappearing.
A company takeover.
A hidden account.
Bradley stalking Nora.
The documents seemed to form a picture.
But there was one detail they couldn't explain.
Why Nora?
Then Nora noticed the date of one payment.
Eight years ago.
The amount was $400,000.
Recipient:
N. HIGGINS FOUNDATION.
Her breath stopped.
“Nora?”
She stared.
“That foundation was created by my father.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Your father?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
“Dead.”
“When?”
“Eight years ago.”
Silence.
Nora felt the world shift.
Both their fathers had died eight years earlier.
Both deaths had been called accidents.
Both were connected to the same company.
And now someone was trying to use Nora to expose something.
Gabriel looked at her.
“We need to find your father's records.”
“I don't have them.”
“You may.”
“My mother destroyed everything.”
“Did she?”
Nora remembered.
A locked box.
Her grandmother's attic.
She hadn't opened it in fifteen years.
She called her mother.
“Mom.”
“What happened?”
“Did Dad leave anything?”
Silence.
“What do you mean?”
“Anything about Moretti.”
Her mother stopped breathing.
Then whispered:
“You shouldn't have asked that.”
Nora's heart hammered.
“Why?”
“Because if you're asking, they know.”
“Who?”
“They always know.”
The line went dead.
Nora stared at Gabriel.
“My mother is scared.”
“So is mine.”
“You mean…”
“No.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“My mother is dead.”
Then his phone rang.
A hospital.
May you like
His mother's medical file had been accessed.
By someone alive.
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